SANDY CREEK- The Sandy Creek Holiday basketball tournament was the last stop for the Cozad Lady Haymakers basketball team in 2009.
In the first game, Cozad would stumble from the beginning and lose to host Sandy Creek 56-35.
The first quarter, Cozad found themselves in a rather large hole, trailing 16-5 after one quarter of play.
The second quarter fared better, but no luck in trying to erase the deficit, trailing at halftime 28-16.
The second half wouldn’t get any better for the Lady Makers, being outscored in the second half 28-19, as Sandy Creek pulled away for win.
For Cozad, senior Carlie Pinkleman led the Makers with nine points. Senior Kendra Harbison scored seven points and Jessica Finnegan scored six points for Cozad.
In the second game, Cozad took on a tough Blue Hill squad. Once again, shooting was key as the Lady Bobcats would take the second game 51-32.
The Makers stayed close after one quarter, only trailing by four at 15-11. Cozad looked strong as they trailed 27-22 going into the break.
Then the wheels began to fall off.
The Cozad offense went ice cold in the second half, failing to score over 10 points in both quarters, as Blue Hill used that opportunity to seal the win.
Pinkelman and Finnegan both had a good tournament scoring, as they each scored 10 points. Harbison scored eight points and Carly Henry chipped in with four points.
“This is a solid holiday tournament,” Head coach Will Reutzel said. “ We had a strong second and third quarter against Sandy Creek, but we just couldn’t convert on shots early in the game. I thought that we did a nice job against a couple of pressing teams, we are going to have to get a little better in our half court offense to put a few more points on the board.”
Cozad drops to 3-7 on the season, as the girls’ and boys’ teams take on Ogallala in their first home game since Dec. 18. The game is schedule for Jan. 8.

• Cozad Boys Basketball
• Cozad Girls Basketball
• Cozad Haymakers

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