ELLEN MORTENSEN

Their final season record of 16-6 might be a bit deceiving. You see, the South Loup Bobcats had a fantastic season on the basketball court; and their losses? Well, most of those came at the hands of teams who went on to the state championships.

The Bobcats won their first game of the year over Twin Loup, and fell victim to Amherst in the second game of the season. Amherst went on to win the Class C2 state title.

Following their loss to the Broncos the Bobcats bounced back with an overtime victory over Cambridge, the start of an eight game winning streak. Their second loss of the season didn’t come until Jan. 16, when Arcadia/Loup City was able to pull out an overtime win over the Bobcats.

South Loup also lost to Sandhills-Thedford but came back to win their next four consecutive games before meeting S-E-M on Feb. 16. The Bobcats lost to the Mustangs by just four points, as S-E-M continued on to finish 4th in the Class D2 state tournament.

Heading into subdistricts the Bobcats went up against Sandhills-Valley in the first round where they cruised to victory, 53-39. That set up a sub-district final match with a very tough Ansley-Litchfield team. The Spartans outscored the Bobcats in every quarter of the game and earned the number three seed in the Class D1 state tournament.

Though they were beaten in the sub-district final, the Bobcats earned a chance at the district finals on a wild card berth. There they met the Plainview Pirates, with a trip to Lincoln on the line for both teams. It was a showdown from beginning to end, with the Pirates squeaking out the win 55-53 to end the season for the Bobcats.

Plainview and Ansley-Litchfield then squared off in the opening round of the state tournament, with the Pirates coming out on top. Plainview went on to finish in 4th place in Class D1.

The Bobcat fans and coaches said goodbye to a fine crop of senior athletes - Joey Sallach, Rio Remund, Brady Brestel, Cache Gracey, Lance Wooters, and Trey Connell. However, the Bobcats also bring back a healthy crop of athletes for next year along with a few underclassmen who could contribute big to the team.

Thank you Bobcats for a fun-to-watch season.

FINAL SEASON STATS

                                      Shooting   Points   RB   Assist   Stl  Blk

Trey Connell                  105/256        307    108       157     78   4

Caleb McFate                      5/21          14       4           2        1   0

Lance Wooters                    3/15            6     12            3       1   0

Dylan Pandorf                   43/96         101     51          21    19   4

Conner Paulsen              43/134         133     33          20    29   6

Cache Gracey               150/289         370     66         52     40   9

Carter Wood                        5/15           11     12           1       5   0

Harper Johnson                 12/53           35     31         27     13   3

Brady Brestel                         0/3             0       3           2       0   3

Rio Remund                        25/61          57     88           5    20   6

Crew Witthuhn                   46/115        118    100          7    16   6

Joey Sallach                      43/100        103    116        10    29 10

Malachi Neth                           0/3            0      10          1      0   0

Haydn Stretesky                      0/0            0        2          0      0   0

Elijah Cool                               0/0            0        0          0      0   0