DORCHESTER, Neb. - Cross County made a trip of almost exactly an hour to the southeast from Stromsburg to Dorchester where the Cougars comfortably pulled off a doubleheader sweep of the Longhorns on Tuesday night: Cross County never trailed in either game of the set, dealing the Dorchester girls just their first defeat of the season and extending what’s been a challenging season for the Dorchester boys.  

 

GIRLS BASKETBALL: Cross County (13-2) defeats Dorchester (12-1) 58-35 

On paper, this looked like an excellent matchup between two 12-win teams that had both excelled to this point in the season. But on Tuesday, the Cougars, which are a couple of classifications higher in this C2 vs. D2 matchup, looked a class or two above the Longhorns, who were without the services of injured senior point guard Baylor Behrens for the first time this year. 

That absence didn’t help matters for the Longhorns, but regardless the Cougars were the much more clinical team on this night. The game was close for the entire first half – Cross County led by just three after one quarter and seven after two – but the Cougars seized full control of the contest by scoring the first eight points of the second half, part of an 11-1 run and a 20-8 edge in the quarter, more than enough to create a hill Dorchester could not overcome.  

The Theis sisters were Dorchester’s offensive engines with Behrens unavailable: Gabrielle Theis hit three threes to score a team-best 14 points while younger sister Bailey added nine. Meanwhile, the Cougars got the contributions they customarily get from nearly every player to net a result they are used to earning: Cross County averages 54.6 points per game scored and 32 points per game allowed this year and hit those marks almost exactly in the 58-35 win. Eden Peterson paced the Cougars with 15 points, and Ema Dickey, Lindee Kelley and Adrienne Waller all scored nine in a typical balanced outing for Cross County, which has made the C2 state tournament the last two years.  

 

BOYS BASKETBALL: Cross County (12-2) defeats Dorchester (1-12) 66-6 

This was about as comprehensive of a performance and as systematic of a takedown of a basketball team imaginable. The Cougars were excellent in all phases, making progress difficult for the Longhorns, forcing turnovers constantly, sharing the ball extremely well, and finishing with a high level of accuracy. Cross County consistently shuffled in many different players, all of whom combined to create an emphatic win.  

This has been the latest in a long line of challenging season for Dorchester boys basketball, but this result was far from standard. Sure, this year the Longhorns have won only once and have lost by an average of 27 points per game, but a 60-point setback is not the norm – and this result reflects more on how good of a team Cross County was, and how well the Cougars played, than an indictment of Dorchester, which only rosters six players. A team that won the third-place match in the C2 state tournament last year, the Cougars were excellent throughout on Tuesday and earned a win that was expected in a manner that certainly was not. 

Freshman Max Novak scored all six points for the Longhorns – a three-pointer in the first quarter and an and-one in the fourth. 12 different Cougars scored at least two points in the contest, led by nine points from Langdon Arbuck and seven points in an excellent all-around outing from Thatcher Hanson. Ill-used senior James Keilig dressed for the game and knocked down a three that brought the margin up to a flat 60 points in the final moments of the game, earning a rousing ovation from his teammates and fans.  

 

 

UP NEXT: Dorchester at Shelby-Rising City, time TBA, on Thursday, January 23 

Cross County vs. Hampton, 6/7:30 PM, on Thursday, January 23 

 

NEXT ON OL RED: Hastings @ Norris, 5:30/7 PM, on Tuesday, January 28