Stephanie Croston

    The Seward girls' basketball team earned third place in the Central Conference tournament, defeating Fairbury in overtime, losing to Holdrege and downing Aurora.
     The Jays topped Fairbury 69-59 in overtime Jan. 22 at Seward High. Coach Tom Tvrdy described the game as the Jays' biggest test of the year and credited the partisan crowd with playing the sixth man.
     "We had a huge crowd, and we appreciated the support," he said. "They pulled us through to victory."
     Alyssa Kamphaus and Emily Cady paced the Jays with 26 and 21 points, respectively. Cady hit 13 of 16 free-throw attempts in the game.
     Natasha Mueller added 14 for SHS.
     Tvrdy said Kamphaus and Cady played a lot of minutes but finished with huge outputs.
     The win put the Jays into a match-up with preseason No. 1 Holdrege in the tournament semifinals.
     Unfortunately, foul trouble plagued Kamphaus, Cady and Mueller, and Holdrege pulled out a 60-49 victory, handing the Jays their first loss of the season. In addition, Tvrdy said, Kamphaus was sick all week.
     "She gave what she had," he said.
     After an emotional and physical game against the Dusters, the Jays had to face Aurora, a team they defeated 70-29 last week. The Jays again built a big lead, but foul trouble allowed the Huskies to fight back into the game before SHS finished with a 59-45 victory.
     "The girls rose up and put together a run in the fourth quarter to win by 14," Tvrdy said.
     Cady led the team with 17 points, and Laural Wagner, in her first start, scored 16 for Seward. Mueller added 10.
     Heather Post came in for Mueller when she was on the bench in foul trouble to run the Bluejay offense. Tvrdy said Post did a good job taking care of the ball.
     "This was a good learning experience for us," Tvrdy said. "It makes us better playing top-level competition. Teams like Holdrege and Fairbury shine a light brightly on our weaknesses."
     One area Holdrege was able to exploit was ball-handling. The Dusters played a full-court man-to-man defense that tested Seward's guards' skills.
     "They have the best pressure defense in Class B," Tvrdy said. "They're relentless. We were tested to the hilt. It makes you go faster than you want."
    Upcoming action
     The Jays, now 14-1, will tweak their offense and work on execution and staying out of foul trouble heading into this week's games.
     Seward will play a rested Columbus Lakeview team Jan. 29 in Columbus, a game Tvrdy said would be a challenge. Lakeview was idle most of last week, while Seward was competing in the conference tournament, giving the Vikings a greater opportunity to prepare for the Jays.
     Saturday, Feb. 2, the Jays will travel to Lincoln to face 14-0 Lincoln Pius X.