Lady Broncos named Tournament Champions

By Sandy Anderberg

The Lady Broncos blew through three different teams to be named the Tournament Champions last week in Claude. Taylor DeGrate was named the tournament MVP, and Allyson Grahn was named to the All-Tournament Team.

The Lady Broncos took on Tulia in the first round and squeezed out a 77-72 win in overtime.

“The girls shot the ball real well,” coach Kalen Grahn said.

Carlee Johnson was on fire with 21 points and Taylor Gaines, Taylor DeGrate, and Allyson Grahn all finished in double figures.

The ladies took on River Road in the second round. And after defeating them earlier in the week, the ladies had no problems getting another win at 47-30.

“We had a little let down after the Tulia game,” Grahn said. “But we played well enough to win.”

Gaines and DeGrate led the scoring.

The Lady Broncos took on Borger in the third game. Grahn knew the ladies played a great game.

“Skyler White and Hannah Hommel played great interior defense against their big girls,” Grahn said. “We controlled the tempo of the game and won by 10, 66-56.”

DeGrate had a great game with 26 points, and Grahn scored 20.

Those three wins put the Lady Broncos in the Championship game where they met up with Tulia once again. This time the ladies made short work of their opponent and took a 50-29 win.

“We outscored them each quarter and won by 21,” Grahn said. “Hannah Howard had a great game playing out of position as a post. She had 11 points and led us in rebounding. We limited their second shots, and we were able to get second and third shots.” DeGrate led the scoring with 24 points.

The Lady Broncos went up against River Road earlier in the week and battled to a seven-point win at 53-46. The ladies are finding their rhythm and playing sound basketball. Taylor DeGrate came back strong after sitting out several games due to an ankle injury.

The Lady Broncos were on fire from the beginning and stayed strong throughout. They held a commanding lead at the break and played the same type game into the final two quarters of play. The scoring was led by three strong seniors who pumped in an average of 15 points each. Grahn led with 18 points, DeGrate had 16, and Gaines helped with 11.

The Lady Broncos will travel to Valley December 16 and play Canadian at home on December 19 at 5:30 p.m.