High Plains pushes past Hampton in tournament opener

For the second time this season, High Plains and Hampton met for a girls basketball game and rounded out with an eerily similar finish.
The Lady Storm was in firm control all night Saturday in the opening round of the CRC tournament from York University, picking up a 51-36 win behind a balanced scoring attack. In their first matchup in Hampton on Jan. 9, HPC won by a final score of 49-33. 
Saturday’s first quarter between High Plains and Hampton featured hot starts offensively from both sides.
High Plains jumped out to a 7-0 lead after the first two minutes, getting five quick points from Gahvi Lesiak, who finished the night with 11.
The lead for HPC eventually became 13-4 after Emma Brown and Courtney Carlstrom got involved in the Storm offense while Hampton’s offense hinged on the early success of Sophia Schulze.
Carlstrom buried a corner three and finished the first quarter with seven while Brown added a hoop and foul to take a 21-10 lead to the second.
It was part of a 9-1 run for HPC that leaked into the second quarter with shots from Peyton Hofmann and Brown before Hampton used a timeout to stop the bleeding.
Hampton’s Gavin Gilmore snapped the scoring drought but did little to prevent HPC from continuing to rally with back-to-back shots from Brown, who finished with a game-high 14 points and a 31-12 lead.
The Storm would go the final 3:34 without scoring, though, as Hampton finished with a five-point flurry with the halftime lead at 31-17.
While its offense wasn’t as potent as it was in the first quarter, the Storm still put together an 8-2 run to begin the second half with six of those from Lesiak.
The final quarter was Hampton’s best in terms of offensive output with 13 points, a huge chunk of that credited to Gilmore and Schulze, who finished the night with 21 of Hampton’s 36 points.
For High Plains, Saturday’s win over Hampton was its eighth in a row, dating back to the final game of its holiday tournament.

Hampton loses two
As for Hampton, the Hawks were on the wrong end of two other games last week, losing 54-33 to Nebraska Lutheran at home Jan. 21 before falling to Cross County on the road Thursday, 54-20.
In the loss to Nebraska Lutheran, the Hawks kept it close early, trailing 12-9 after the opening quarter and down 26-18 at the half. The Knights outscored the Hawks 28-15 in the second half to win.
Gilmore finished with 12 points and 13 rebounds for her sixth double-double of the season (now has seven after the HPC game). Khloe Luebbe added nine points while Schulze and Kynleigh Joseph each had seven rebounds.
In the Cross County loss, the Hawks were held to just 11 first half points and trailed 30-11 at the break. Luebbe led the Hawks with nine points and five steals while Gilmore tallied eight rebounds.