by Stephanie Croston

    The Seward girls' basketball team left York Dec. 29 with a 5-2 record and the York Holiday Tournament championship trophy.
     This was the first time in three years the Jays won the holiday tournament, Coach Tom Tvrdy said.
     After struggling in games against Columbus Scotus and Norris before Christmas, the Jays wanted to get back on the right track.
     "The girls were motivated to get that taste out of their mouth," Tvrdy said. "They did exactly that."
     In the opener Dec. 28, Seward defeated Gering 50-46. The Jays had double-digit leads more than once, but the Bulldogs kept coming back.
     "We were always on the verge of putting them away," Tvrdy said. "We got leads, and they'd make runs."
     Taylor Felix hit both ends of a one-and-one to put Seward up 48-43 in the closing seconds, but Gering's Linsey Trackwell, who finished with a game-high 22 points, hit a three-pointer to cut the gap to 48-46. Terrin Wurdeman knocked down a pair of free throws to make the final margin 50-46.
     Kerry Butzke led the Jays with 11 points, and Heather Post pulled down six rebounds.
     In the championship game against York, both teams started slowly before Seward came on to win 48-21. The score was 4-2 after the first quarter.
     Tvrdy said the Dukes came out in a zone defense, and the Jays couldn't hit their shots. The Bluejay offense came alive in the second quarter, scoring 18 points, including a three at the buzzer by Megan Schmidt for a 22-8 lead going into halftime.
     Schmidt hit all three of her shots in the game, finishing with eight points and four assists. Kelly Winterfeld also had a good game, coming off the bench to score eight points and spark the team. Butzke again led the Jays wtih 10 points, six rebounds and six steals.
     One of the keys to the victory was cutting down on turnovers, Tvrdy said. Against Gering, theJays turned the ball over 25 times. Against York, that number fell to 16, while York committed 30.
     "I thought our pressure would give them trouble," Tvrdy said.
    Upcoming action
     Seward will host Waverly Thursday, Jan. 5, at 7 p.m. and Beatrice Saturday, Jan. 7, at 5:30 p.m. Tvrdy said the game against the Lady Orange would be a good measuring stick for the Jays.