Coming in to the matchup Millard West was riding a five game winning streak, putting them right near .500. The season started off 1-7, but the Wildcats have rebounded nicely to 8-9. The Lady Cats needed to keep the momentum moving forward and couldn’t afford a setback to the 2-17 Bellevue East Chieftains.  

The first quarter started out with a quick inside basket for senior Nicole Hruby. The next 5 points would come exclusively from sophomore Honnah Leo, courtesy of a few jumpers and a 1-2 at the line to give the Wildcats a 7-0 lead. Junior Taylor Farrell would get fouled and sink half of her two shots. The lead would only grow from there as sophomore Jenna Bohaty would dish a slick pass to freshman Lindsay Adams for an easy basket. After three more buckets from Bohaty and Farrell layup the Millard West edge was extended to 18-0.

Sophomore Mia Huffman would drain a three giving the Lady Cats 21 unanswered points to start the game before the Chieftains finally got on the board with a layup by senior Alexis Johnson. Right before the break, Adams sank a three ending the first period 24-2.

The start of the game was exactly what coach Marc Kruger was hoping for, knowing his team needed to get off to a fast start.

“I wanted to make sure we were focused because we had a big emotional win on Saturday and sometimes the next time out you can be flat and not play well,” Kruger said. “I felt like we did a great job enforcing our will on them by the results of the first quarter being 24-2.”

The second quarter started much like the first with junior Chaise Pfanstiel driving for an easy deuce and Leo stepping into a triple. Chieftain’s senior Sydnei Norwood would score seven unanswered points to cut the lead, but after a Pfanstiel layup, the Wildcat edge stood at 31-9. Senior Hannah Traster would then get fouled after driving to the basket and she would sink both her free throws, but two easy buckets for Adams would extend the Wildcat lead to 35-11. The next possession Hruby would get two blocks, but foul Taster who converted one of two on the line. After back to back threes by Huffman and Bohaty, the Wildcats would go into intermission with a 41-12 advantage.

Coming out of the halftime break, with a running clock, the Wildcats were firing on all cylinders with Pfanstiel starting it off with back to back triples and Leo would accumulate five more points to push the lead to 52-12. Bellevue East would try to make it closer with four consecutive points, but the Wildcats would counter with three points. The Chieftains came back with a layup by sophomore Keiley Hein to cut the advantage to 55-18 at the end of three.

The fourth quarter started off slow as sophomore Gabrielle Felker would score the Wildcats only six points, while junior Drema Smith would sink two free throws giving the Lady Cats a 61-20 win.

The game was a convincing victory for Millard West and coach Kruger feels in the last six games they have just played better and with more consistency in all areas.

“The start to our season was a mix of bad play, bad luck and some poor effort and attitude things, but we have changed a lot of those things and kids have really stepped up,” Kruger said. “We are playing together, and all of our talent is starting to show.”

Coming in off this winning streak the Wildcats will look to keep the momentum going and try and keep up with the stellar effort.

“We are trying to have “A+” practices everyday by giving our all for every drill and always picking each other up,” Leo said. “The team is really starting to peak and we are trying to keep the same routine so nothing will change in how we are competing.”

With confidence growing, the Lady Cats know the sky’s the limit on the court.

“We now know that we can be just as good if not better than the other top teams in the state, and even though we lost against Millard South, that was kind of our turning point and it finally clicked that we could do it,” Bohaty added.

The Wildcats improved to 9-9 on the season and they will look to get over .500 with their next game against Omaha Benson on Friday, Feb. 9th.