Malcolm girls earn holiday tournament title

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Holiday tournaments are tough to begin with. After at least five days without practice, basketball teams take the court for competition.

Centennial and Malcolm had a day to knock the rust off before facing off Dec. 29 in girls’ basketball action. The Clippers picked up a 60-49 win over the Broncos in the opening round of the Malcolm Boosters Tournament.

“I thought we competed hard,” CHS Coach Jake Polk said. “A couple runs decided the game.

The Broncos shot well, tying the school record for three-pointers with 10.

“We were not good on our closeouts. We didn’t defend it well,” MHS Coach Andy Klepper said. “We knew they were a dangerous team. Especially if they get hot from three-point range.”

Ella Wambold made five and finished with 20 points.

The Clippers were able to pull away in the fourth quarter, thanks in part to back-to-back steals and layups from Halle Dolliver.

“The nice thing about Halle is basketball IQ. She knows when the team needs a spark and when she needs to take things over,” Klepper said.

Dolliver finished with 24 points, and Klepper said the Clippers needed all of them.

“Malcolm is tough. They’re tough to slow down, especially when they run their offense through (Alyssa) Fortik and (Halle) Dolliver,” Polk said.

In addition to Wambold’s 20 points, Catelynn Bargen scored 16, 12 in the second half.

With the outside shooting coming around, Polk said the team now needs to work on its posts and drives to the hoop. On defense, CHS needs to take away the easy shots.

The Broncos (4-4) defeated Wilber-Clatonia 49-26  Dec. 30 in the third-place game of the tournament. The Clippers (8-1) topped Oakland-Craig 58-51 for the championship.

Klepper said Oakland-Craig is a tough team with a good full-court press.

“They’re going to try to get us into a track meet. That’s not the kind of game we want to play. We’ll need to find ways to make them play our game,” he said.

On Jan. 3, Centennial hosted Heartland and won 48-12. Cora Payne recorded a double double with 11 points and 10 rebounds.