GBB: Ogallala upsets Gothenburg 75-61 on Tuesday night

By: Evan Troxel

The Ogallala Lady Indians defeated the Gothenburg Lady Swedes 75-61 in Girls' Varsity high school basketball in Ogallala, Nebraska, on Tuesday night.

The senior basketball players for Ogallala: Aelyn Cain, Marlee Ervin and Eideann Tuttle got to go out on top in their final regular season home game of their high school basketball careers.

Gothenburg came into the contest with 16 wins and 4 losses while Ogallala had 10 wins and 9 losses.

For Gothenburg, Aubrey O' Hare led the team with 16 points. Ogallala's Mallory Murphy led all scorers on either team with 20 points.

Aubrey O’Hare connected on zero three-pointers, made six two-point shots and made four free throws.

Murphy made three three-point shots, made just two two-point shots and connected on seven free throws.

As a result of teamwork on both offense and defense (and the fact that Ogallala’s Laney Caskey had to sit on the bench due to foul trouble for much of the game), Ogallala’s Mallory Murphy, Hayden Shaw and Eideann Tuttle were able to flourish offensively (in terms of scoring) on Tuesday night, something that really hasn’t happened very much at all this season at home.

According to nsaahome.org, Gothenburg came into Tuesday night’s game ranked 7th in Class C-1 overall while Ogallala was ranked 26th in Class C-1 overall.

According to Maxpreps.com, both Gothenburg and Ogallala, both in Class C-1 District 11, were both 3-0 and undefeated coming into Tuesday night’s game.

So a win by either team could possibly position them well for a better seeding in the subdistrict and/or district playoffs/postseason after the regular season concludes.

Gothenburg was going to be positioned well in Class C-1 for the playoffs/postseason regardless of the won/lost result on Tuesday night.

On the other hand, Ogallala has known for the last few weeks (or at least should know by now) that they have needed to win as many games as possible for the rest of the regular season if they want to be in the final 16 (or Sweet 16) in Class C-1.

At this point, Ogallala absolutely is going to have to win the subdistrict and district tournaments after the regular season concludes if they really want any shot to go to the state tournament.

So here is a brief summary of Tuesday night’s game:

The score was tied at 15 apiece after one quarter.

Ogallala’s Laney Caskey had three fouls before halftime.

The game was still close throughout the second quarter and Ogallala led 35-34 at halftime. Gothenburg’s Aubrey O’Hare scored fourteen points in the first half.

Caskey picked up foul number four early in the third quarter and basically had to sit on the bench for the remainder of the third quarter.

Early in the second half, Ogallala started to pull away and they led 47-40 with 3:53 left in the third quarter.

I don’t believe either team had a lead that big up until that point. The scoring was very close throughout the whole game up until that point.

Gothenburg made a surge in the third quarter and benefited greatly from Ogallala’s turnovers and fouls, but could get no closer than by being behind to Ogallala 55-49 after three quarters.

Ogallala then scored some more points early in the fourth quarter and led Gothenburg 60-51 with 4:47 left in the fourth quarter.

Ogallala kept making their shots and led 67-56 with 1:51 left in the fourth quarter, essentially ending the game right there.

Ogallala’s Laney Caskey then fouled out with not much time left in the fourth quarter (I think there might have been less than a minute left in the game), and fortunately for her and her teammates, the game was already clearly decided at that point.

Gothenburg’s Girls’ Varsity high school basketball team came into Tuesday night’s game playing basketball games on three of the previous four days, including traveling to Valentine on Friday, February 2nd, and traveling to Chase County (Imperial) on Monday, February 5th.

Gothenburg’s lone home game over the four-day stretch was on Saturday, February 3rd against Minden.

Aubrey O'Hare only scored two points in the entire second half of the game.

Ashlyn Richeson scored 10 points for Gothenburg and made two three-point shots and four free throws.

Gothenburg’s Taryn O’Hare and Alex Beveridge each scored eight points. Taryn O’Hare made two three-point shots and a two-point basket. Alex Beveridge made two two-point baskets and four free throws.

Halsey Thomalla scored seven points for Gothenburg by making three two-point shots and a free throw.

Gothenburg’s Clara Evert and Zoe Beveridge each scored six points.

Evert made two two-point shots and two free throws while Zoe Beveridge made two three-point baskets.

Perhaps the key to Tuesday night’s win for Ogallala is that they played Broken Bow (who is also in Class C-1 like Gothenburg) on Saturday, February 3rd, with a very similar won-lost record to Gothenburg at Ogallala. (Broken Bow had fifteen wins and three losses this regular season before playing at Ogallala).

Ogallala’s Hayden Shaw scored 15 points. Shaw made two three-point baskets, two two-point shots and five free throws.

Aelyn Cain finished with 11 points for Ogallala by making a three-point shot, two two-pointers and four free throws.

Ogallala’s Marlee Ervin scored 10 points, including four two-point baskets and two free throws.

Eideann Tuttle scored eight, Laney Caskey scored five, Aniston O’Neil scored four and Addison Powell scored two points all for Ogallala.

Tuttle made a three-point shot, a two-point basket and three free throws. Caskey scored two two-point baskets and a free throw. O’Neil made two two-pointers and Powell made one two-point shot.

Gothenburg travels to Ainsworth for a game on Friday, February 9th.

Ogallala had just one win at home during the regular season before Tuesday night's win.

Ogallala has concluded their regular season, and now they will be practicing and awaiting where they will be playing subdistrict and/or district tournament games at in the near future.

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