HAMLIN – Ninth-rated Aberdeen Roncalli battled one of the elite Class A girls’ basketball teams in the state for three quarters Tuesday night before Hamlin pulled away down the stretch.
The second-rated Chargers outscored Roncalli 17-4 in the fourth quarter to secure a 50-36 Northeast Conference victory.
Northern State recruit Addie Neuendorf scored a game-high 22 points as the Chargers pulled away from a one-point lead entering the fourth quarter.
“We went into the fourth quarter down by one,” said Roncalli coach Derek Larson, “and then they kind of caught fire. … They hit big shots. For us, that’s something we talked about afterwards. We just need someone to lead us right now. We’ve got to have someone that wants the ball in pressure situations. I thought Addie did a phenomenal job of that in their fourth quarter and that’s something we need to grow into.”
Up until that point, Roncalli held its own, despite Gabby Thomas getting injured in the first half and not returning to the contest.
“I thought (Hamlin) did a really good job of offensive rebounding. We gave up too many o-boards. And I thought 50-50 balls, they won every single one it felt like,” Larson said. “It felt like we kind of got outworked the first half, and then to only be down four when that’s the case, we were fortunate to be in that spot.”
The Cavaliers outscored Hamlin 12-9 in the third quarter to set up the final stanza which belonged to the Chargers, who improved to 14-1 with the win.
Issie Steffensen added 19 points to the Hamlin total.
Claire Crawford paced Roncalli with 10 points, while Elyana Roach followed with eight.
The Cavaliers, 12-4 on the season, are in the middle of a demanding stretch of their schedule with four games in eight days against quality opponents. Roncalli plays at Miller on Friday night, and then faces Highmore-Harrold at Warner on Saturday afternoon.
“We’re happy to play good teams down the stretch at the end of the year,” Larson said. “Hopefully, it prepares us for the postseason.”
ABERDEEN RONCALLI (12-4): Gabby Thomas 1 0-0 2, Morgan Helms 1 0-0 3, Claire Crawford 3 2-2 10, Rylee Voeller 2 1-2 6, Jillian Ellwein 1 1-3 6, Elyana Roach 4 0-2 8, Olivia Dix 0 1-2 1. Totals 13 5-11 36.
HAMLIN (14-1): Addie Neuendorf 7 3-3 22, Paxton Neuendorf 1 0-0 2, Issie Steffensen 6 4-4 19, Addie Jensen 2 0-0 4, Ava Taschner 1 0-0 3. Totals 17 7-7 50.
Aberdeen Roncalli 11 20 32 36
Hamlin 10 24 33 50
3-point field goals – Helms, Crawford 2, Voeller, Ellwein; A. Neuendorf 5, Steffensen 3, Taschner. Total fouls – Aberdeen Roncalli 13; Hamlin 11.
