By Dave Vrbas

The Wauneta Breeze

The Lady Broncos had finally evened up their record when Hayes Center spoiled their string of wins in overtime on Saturday night.

Struggling offensively all night and with three players fouled out, the Broncos weren’t able to take a winning record into the holiday season, falling in overtime, 53-49.

The night before, the Broncos had cruised to a 69-25 win over South Platte at home. Earlier that week, they surprised Dundy County-Stratton by taking their first win of the season, 67-58.

Overtime loss to Hayes Center

Struggling to put an offensive attack together against Hayes Center’s tough defense, the Broncos shot an unusually low 18.8 percent from the field.

Katie Flaig posted a game-high 22 points, but with her, Bethany Riener and Jenae Bischoff riding the bench during most of overtime, the Cards were able to get the best of the Broncos, outscoring them 9-5 during the extra four minutes of play.

Hayes Center jumped out 27-14 going into the half, but the Broncos held on during the last two quarters to slowly chip away at that lead, hitting the bucket needed to tie the game with less than a minute left on the clock.

A Hayes Center shooter threw up a shot right at the buzzer that swirled on the rim for a while before dropping in, but officials determined that the shot left her hand after the buzzer, giving the Broncos another shot to take a win.It wasn’t to be, as the Broncos kept losing players to fouls and Hayes Center amped up their defense.

In addition to Flaig’s 22 points, Riener added eight points for the Broncos, Dawnta Harchelroad and Renae Gardner had six each, Shelby Hamilton five and Bischoff two for the Broncos.

Samantha Deaver led Hayes Center with 21 points.

Harchelroad led on the boards with 13 rebounds in the matchup in Hayes County. Hamilton pulled down nine and Gardner used height to her advantage to pull down seven boards.

Big win over Lady Knights

It didn’t take the Lady Broncos long to show their dominance against on Friday night, jumping out 39-16 before halftime and coasting to a 69-25 win.

Harchelroad posted the first double-double of her high school career, dropping in 10 points and pulling down 13 boards.

Flaig led all scorers with 18 points and Riener put up 13 points to round out Broncos in double digits against South Platte.

Rebecca Strand added nine points, Bischoff seven, and three Broncos — Sheyla Christner, Gardner and Hamilton — scored four points each.

Flaig also led in steals with five and Riener helped out Bronco shooters with six assists.

First win comes in Benkelman

The Broncos found that elusive win on the road at Benkelman on Tuesday, taking a 67-58 win against the Dundy County-Stratton Tigers.

Flaig led the Broncos with 24 points. Riener chipped in 15 to round out double-digit Bronco scorers.

Harchelroad pulled down 16 rebounds and posted nine points. Other Bronco scorers were Bischoff with eight, Strand with six, and Hamilton with five.

Thanks to Harchelroad’s performance underneath, the Broncos outrebounded DCS, 34-26.

Jayvee action

The Bronco jayvees grabbed three wins last week.

Against Hayes Center, the Broncos won 13-12 in two quarters of play. Gardner had 10 points and Laura Rundback scored a trey for three.

Hosting South Platte, the Broncos won, 29-14. Christner led with 14 points. Rundback and Gardner each chipped in five, Strand added three and Emma Skelton two.

At Benkelman, Gardner and Runback led their team to a 42-40 win. Gardner scored 14, Rundback 12, Christner nine and Strand seven.

Upcoming action

The Broncos will head to Brady next Monday for a matchup against 0-6 Anselmo-Merna in the first round of the Brady Holiday Tourney. Brackets are below.