Northwest Rallies Past Sidney 47-44

Sidney's Lady Raider Basketball team lost to the Northwest Lady Vikings 47-to-44 in the quarterfinal round of the NSAA Class B Girl's State Championship Tournament Thursday morning.

The fourth seeded Northwest team rallied from a six point deficit at halftime to defeat the Lady Raiders and moved on to the semi-final round against number one seeded Crete on Friday, while the Lady Raiders' defeat ended their season with a 19-and-7 record.

Sidney faced a big challenge going into the game against the 21-and-5 Northwest team that was battle tested by playing a difficult schedule peppered with Class B and Class A teams. It was Sidney's fourth consecutive trip to the state tournament, and drawing Northwest meant that the Lady Raiders would need to play their very best game to advance.

The Lady Vikes were led by senior standout and Nebraska recruit Whitney Brown, and Sidney Head Coach Tyler Shaw devised an effective game plan that limited Brown's effectiveness for most of the game.

The game started slowly on offense for both teams, with both squads missing scoring opportunities in the first few possessions until Northwest junior Shanae Suttles put the Lady Vikes on the board with a layup and a successful foul shot for a 3-to-0 lead. Sidney finally responded when senior MJ Johnstone drove the lane for a layup to put Sidney on the board, 3-to-2. After Northwest responded with two more points, Johnstone was fouled and hit two free throws to keep pace at 5-to-4.

Sidney was already struggling with turnovers and passes that skimmed off of fingertips, but kept battling and took a 6-to-5 lead off of sophomore Brynna Ross' layup through the Lady Vikings defense. Northwest's Brown missed a three point attempt that was followed by a blocked shot by Sidney senior Mattie Johnson and a three point miss by Ross. But senior Nicole Birner was fouled cutting through the Lady Viking's defense and added a free throw to increase the lead to 7-to-5. Brown hit a layup to tie the score, followed by a Sidney turnover and Brown sinking two more free throws to give the Northwest team a 9-to-7 lead. Northwest struggled with turnovers and travels themselves, and Sidney was able to tie the game up at 9-to-9. But after Brown missed another three point attempt in the closing seconds of the first period, Northwest senior Lauren Hauser grabbed the rebound and laid the ball in off the glass at the buzzer to give the Lady Vikes an 11-to-9 lead after the first period.

Sidney was playing tight defense and kept the scoring low, while Shaw substituted early and often to keep Northwest off balance. Northwest's defense focused on Sidney scoring leader Mattie Johnson, limiting her opportunities, but junior Karly Sylvester stepped up and began to dominate under the boards. Sylvester started the second period with a layup to tie the game, then blocked a shot. After a time out by Sidney, Sylvester scored again on a turnaround jump shot to give Sidney a 13-to-11 lead. Sylvester grabbed another rebound off of a Northwest miss, then went down and scored again to increase the lead to 15-to-11.

Sidney ratcheted up the defensive pressure, and a Johnstone steal increased the lead after she hit a free throw after being fouled going for a layup. Another Sylvester lay in off a rebound put Sidney up 18-to-11, and after a series of misfires, Northwest took a time out to stop the Sidney momentum. Sidney's defense had the Northwest offense out of sync and allowed no easy shots for the Lady Vikings, and prevented the Northwest squad from capitalizing off of Sidney's turnovers. In the final minutes of the half, Northwest started to climb back, but Sylvester kept scoring to keep Sidney ahead, and the Lady Raiders went into the intermission with a 22-to-16 lead.

Mattie Johnson was shut out in the first half, but Sylvester picked up the pace and scored 12 points in the second quarter, and Sidney converted 4-of-6 free throws in a solid first half that played out exactly the way the Lady Raiders needed. Sidney turned the ball over 12 times in the half, but Northwest was not able to effectively capitalize on the Lady Raider errors and were outscored 13-to-5 in the second period.

But the third quarter would see a reversal in both team's play, and Northwest came out firing, going on an 8-to-2 run to tie the score at 24-to-24 two minutes into the period. Northwest junior Claire Caspersen hit for two to give the Lady Vikings a 26-to-24 lead while Sidney struggled to score and started to turn the ball over again. Sylvester and Birner kept battling to keep Sidney in the game, adding scores to keep within striking distance, but Northwest slowly started to pull away as Sidney continued to turn the ball over and miss their shots. Northwest junior Addy Esquivel drained a three pointer followed by a free throw by Suttles, and at the end of the period Northwest had built a 36-to-29 lead.

Sidney needed to shake off the disastrous 20-to-7 third quarter, and started with a Ross jump shot to narrow the deficit to 36-to-31. Sidney again ramped up the pressure on defense, and slowly started to claw their way back during the fourth period. Birner took charge of the offense and hit a three point shot then a layup to tie the score at 40-to-40 with 3:25 left to play.

The game was set for furious finish with Northwest re-taking the lead only to be countered by a Sylvester lay in, then took the lead again only to have Sylvester strike back with a 15 foot jump shot to re-tie the game at 44-to-44. In the last minute, Northwest was quickly able to convert on three free throws to take a 47-to-44 lead. Shaw called for a timeout with 47 seconds left to set his offense, but the strong Northwest defense was able to clog the inside and blanket Sidney's outside shooters, and Sylvester had to try a three point shot that missed with a little over 10 seconds left. Forced to foul Brown on the inbounds, Sidney could only hope the reliable free throw shooter would falter at the line.

The Lady Raiders had new life again as both of Brown's free throws missed the mark. Sidney hurried down the court and was able to get the ball in Mattie Johnson's hands for a final three point attempt, but the shot missed, time expired, and the Lady Raiders once again exited the tournament early.

Junior Karly Sylvester had an outstanding game, scoring 19 points and out-muscling the Northwest squad under the boards. Northwest's strategy to focus on stopping Johnson almost backfired with Sylvester's scoring outburst, but it was the Sidney turnovers and a 7-for-10 performance at the charity stripe in the fourth quarter by the Lady Vikes that ultimately doomed the Lady Raiders.

Senior Nicole Birner scored 12 points in her final game as a Lady Raider while Sidney senior scoring leader Mattie Johnson was held to just two points in her final high school game. Northwest's Whitney Brown led the scoring for the Lady Vikings with 14 points and Lauren Hauser had 10 points in the victory.

In the losing effort, the Lady Raiders played a tremendous game, responding in the fourth quarter to tie the contest twice while ultimately falling by three points to a Northwest team that moved on and took number one seed and eventual Sate Champion Crete to three overtimes before losing 48-to-47 in the semi-finals.

The Sidney loss capped a season that started with the Lady Raiders losing three out of four games followed by a 10 game winning streak and a fourth consecutive state tournament appearance. Sidney has not won a state tournament matchup since 1984.