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KEARNEY — Daubert Pinnacle Nebraska I made sure Sunday wasn’t the right
time for Kansas Prime Time.
Using its superior depth and a key first half run, Daubert Pinnacle won
the Miss Basketball Showcase with a 52-42 victory over Prime Time at the
University of Nebraska at Kearney’s Health and Sports Center.
The 2005 win is the second consecutive Miss Basketball title for the
Daubert Pinnacle team. The team has won four titles in the 10-year
history of the tournament, also going back-to-back in 1998 and 1999.
“We always think we can play better, but to come here and win this
tournament is a pretty big deal,” Daubert Pinnacle coach Matt Fritsche
said. “We go into every tournament with the mindset that we’re the team
to beat.”
Daubert Pinnacle’s defense held Prime Time, the second-highest scoring
team in the tournament, to nearly 20 points below its average. Nebraska
also held Kansas’ incomparable Ashley Sweat, a Kansas State recruit and
Miss Basketball’s all-time leading scorer, to 11 points — 12 below her
average.
Daubert Pinnacle’s
airtight man-to-man keyed a first half-closing 15-2 run after Kansas
tied the game at 14 with 5:40 left in the half. Prime Time had plenty of
chances to build a lead early in the game, but misfired on several
point-blank opportunities.
“These girls have really bought into playing defense,” Fritsche said.
“They’re fundamentally sound and they do a really nice job. It was
really impressive because that team is so hard to guard. They’re a very
good offensive team and Ashley Sweat was the best player in this
tournament.”
But for all its skill, Prime Time simply ran out of bodies.
The Kansas team suited up just seven players for the entire tournament,
and the fatigue began to show in the second half of the championship
game. Prime Time cut the lead to seven points early in the second half,
but could get no closer as Daubert Pinnacle extended its advantage to as
many as 14.
Besides Sweat’s 11 points, Utah recruit Brette Ulsaker had nine while
Janae Volker and Larissa Richards each had six. Prime Time shot an
ice-cold 24 percent in the first half.
“It was just tough today,” Kansas coach Bob Runge said. “We’re short on
numbers and when you’re playing three games in one day, that doesn’t
make it any easier.”
All 12 players on Daubert Pinnacle’s roster saw playing time Sunday, and
nine of them scored. Brooke Delano, a 6-foot-4 post out of Bellevue
West, led the way with 12 points and six rebounds while her Thunderbird
teammate Abby Henry finished with 11.
“Our depth was huge all weekend,” Fritsche said. “We have 12 girls we
can put on the floor at any time and you can’t really tell the
difference between any of them. We’re always able to find a go-to
player.”
The loss brought an end to a great three-year run for Kansas Prime Time,
which had its own local cheering section Sunday when members of the C-2
boys state champion Ravenna Bluejays stopped in to watch the final.
The team, made up of essentially the same group of players for the last
three years, was a semifinalist in 2003 and a quarterfinalist last
season. The group of small-town Kansas girls has been playing on the
same traveling team together since they were in seventh grade.
“When we first wanted to come up here, Doug (Koster) thought we were too
young,” Runge explained. “So we added a couple of older girls, which got
us into the tournament, and we end up going to the final four and coming
within overtime of going to the finals.
“We’ve changed a couple of players in and out over the years, but the
core group has been together since the beginning,” Runge added. “The
community of Kearney and the people here have been awesome. It’s been
great coming here.”
DAUBERT PINNACLE NEBRASKA
I 52, KANSAS PRIME TIME 42
Score By Halves
KANSAS PRIME TIME 16 26 — 42
DAUBERT PINNACLE NEB, I 29 23 — 52
KANSAS PRIME TIME — Brette Ulsaker 2-4 4-5 9, Beth Keeley 1-3 0-0 2,
Janae Volker 3-11 0-0 6, Juli Anne Chisolm 2-3 0-0 4, Erin Runge 2-5 0-0
4, Ashley Sweat 5-12 1-1 11, Larissa Richards 2-8 2-2 6. Totals 17-46
7-8 42.
DAUBERT PINNACLE NEB. I — J.J. Hall 1-2 0-0 2, Abby Henry 3-4 3-3 11,
Yvonne Turner 2-4 0-0 5, Dominique Kelley 2-3 4-8 8, Kelsey Woodard 0-3
2-5 6, Katie Frank 1-5 0-0 2, Tiffany Mockenhaupt 0-2 0-0 0, Sam Schuett
1-2 0-0 2, Jasmine Mosley 0-1 0-0 0, Ashley Nelson 2-4 0-0 4, Brooke
Delano 5-8 2-2 12. Totals 19-43 9-13 52.
Three-point goals — Kansas Prime Time 1-8 (Ulsaker 1-2, Sweat 0-3,
Keeley 0-1, Volker 0-1, Chisolm 0-1). Daubert Pinnacle Nebraska I 5-11
(Woodard 2-5, Henry 2-3, Turner 1-2, Hall 0-1).
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