Kate Mullally of Seward starts to bring the ball down the court against Crete Jan. 29 in the first game of the Central Conference tournament.
The Seward girls’ basketball team finished third in the Central Conference tournament after what Coach Tom Tvrdy described as a great week for the Bluejays.
Seward defeated Crete 63-51, lost to York 55-39 and beat Central City 51-27 in the consolation final.
Seward played Crete Jan. 26. Tvrdy said the Cardinals were a challenge for the Jays because they’re a very athletic team. SHS trailed 11-8 after the first quarter but outscored the Cardinals 22-11 in the second to take a 30-22 lead into halftime. Anna Schulz scored 17 of Seward’s 22 in the second quarter, Tvrdy said, and finished with 26 points.
Crete cut into the lead slightly in the third quarter, but the Jays outscored CHS 24-18 in the fourth, paced by Camryn Opfer’s 12 points.
“It was a tremendous offensive effort,” Tvrdy said.
The win put the Jays in the tournament semifinals against York. SHS led 26-25 at halftime, but the Dukes put up 30 points in the second half to just 13 for the Jays.
“York had kids hit shots that normally don’t,” Tvrdy said.
Anna Baack was 3-7 from three-point range and scored 12 points for Seward. Schulz added 10 points, four assists and four steals.
In the consolation finals, the Jays defeated Central City for third place.
“We wanted to get this one,” Tvrdy said.
Carley Hartman paced the offense with 15 points, and Baack added 12. The two combined to go 8-19 from three-point range.
“It was a great finish to the week,” Tvrdy said.
The win was the 400th of Tvrdy’s career. He said he’d forgotten about the milestone until the girls started chanting it when he boarded the bus after the game.
Seward (10-7) was scheduled to travel to Columbus Lakeview Feb. 2, but the game was called because of impending bad weather. The Jays are slated to visit Falls City Friday, Feb. 5, and host Bishop Neumann Saturday, Feb. 6, at 3:30 p.m.
