Cardinal Basketball Begins Season at Western Conference Tournament

     Chadron Cardinals Boys' and Girls' Basketball started their season on Friday Dec. 1 at Western Conference.
     The boys' team started its season against Sterling, Colorado. Sterling was state champions last year, and returned a plethora of players with starting experience. The Chadron Cardinals ended up losing to Sterling 36-68.
     The girls played against Mitchell, who is expected to win their district this year. Their speed and quickness put up a lot of points on the Cards. The final score ended up being a staggering 60-19. The leading scorer that game was Carstyn Hageman with eight points.
     As Friday rolled around, the Chadron boys played in a barn burner with the Gering Bulldogs. After missing three shots that could have put the Cards ahead with 10 second to go, the Cards fell to Bulldogs with a score of 44-45.
     In the second round for the girls, they took on the Greeley West Spartans. After being close the whole game, senior Dana Dunbar scored 10 points to put the Cardinals up 50-34 to win the game. This win put the Lady Cardinals in the 5th/6th game.
     On the last day of the Western Conference tournament, the Cardinal men took on the Mitchell Tigers in the 7th/8th place game. After balanced scoring among the Cardinal players, the Cardinals were victorious, winning the game 55-44. Sophomore Cooper Heusman ended the weekend scoring 55 points, which led the boys in scoring for the weekend. Senior, Coy Bila, stated, "We showed everyone we can play as a team, and showed we can be competitive. My favorite game was Gering, because of how close and intense it was; our team showed a lot of resilience."
     The girls took on a talented Scottsbluff team, and showed a lot of promise by keeping up with Bearcats throughout the game. As the Bearcats pulled away in the fourth, the final score was 56-43, giving the Lady Cardinals a 1-2 record for the weekend.
     Senior Dana Dunbar said, "We showed strength and had some bad times, but we overcame our loss on Thursday. I really felt like our team had a good starting point to the season."