Lady Dragons end season in district final

Deshler ended its season in a respectable district final against D-1 No. 3 Exeter-Milligan (24-1) Friday night at Fairbury. The Timberwolves claimed the victory, 44-34, but Deshler battled tough throughout the match, even though there with a scare or two.

In the first period, following an Amber Deepe jumper and Tiffany Herbek trey, the Dragons led 5-0 before the Exeter-Milligan team went on a 15-point scoring jag. A free throw from Shelby Schardt ended the Timberwolf run and a second free throw from Jenscena Hansen plus a 3-pointer from Schardt put Deshler back into the competition ending the first period down by only five, 10-15.

Three hits in a row ala Kelsey Durflinger and Jenscena Hansen pulled Deshler to a one-point lead in the beginning of the second period, 16-15, but the Timberwolves collected five more points before Durflinger managed a couple of free throws to break that string. Shots from the Exeter-Milligan charity stripe ensued and a final dunk from the Timberwolf team ended the period with E-M on top, 26-20.

Tiffany Herbek started the third period on a jumper, but the Timberwolves were able to string together six points before Kelsey Schilf hit two and drew a foul. There she managed one-of-two free throws to pull the Dragons to 25-32. The period ended as Shelby Schardt scored her second trey of the evening making Deshler’s lag the original six points going into the quarter, 28-34.

Although the Dragons stayed tough in the fourth quarter, at one point getting to within three points of catching up and staying there for most of the period, Exeter-Milligan controlled the final minutes and took the victory.

Six players evenly contributed to Deshler’s scoring including Kelsey Durflinger-7, Shelby Schardt-7, Amber Deepe-6, Tiffany Herbek-5, Kelsey Schilf-5, and Jenscena Hansen-4.

The Lady Dragons, who end their 2011 season on a 13-9 mark, lose five seniors to graduation this year including Tiffany Herbek, Kylie Betten, Amber Deepe, Kelsey Schilf, and Shelby Schardt.

On the road to the final, Deshler defeated Bruning-Davenport/Shickley and Diller-Odell. Details appear below.

In the contest against Diller-Odell, the Dragons leaped to a ten-point lead in the first period stretching that to 18 by the half, 27-9.

Kelsey Durflinger led the attack with 13 points while Jenscena Hansen, Amber Deepe and Shelby Schardt each provided six points. Others contributing to the Deshler score included April Maschmann with four and Tiffany Herbek and Kelsey Schilf with three each.

Prior to the game against Diller-Odell, the Lady Dragons managed to pull out a win against the BDS Eagles Tuesday night, 56-45, but it took free throws and sticky defense in the fourth quarter to do it.

Heading into the final period down by one, 38-39, the Lady Dragons drew enough fouls to line up at the charity stripe 12 times collecting 14 points in the process; six by senior Tiffany Herbek alone. The rest came on a jumper by Shelby Schardt and layup by Jenscena Hansen, Deshler’s high scorer of the night. Hansen put up 17 points over the course of the game.

Bruning-Davenport/Shickley was held to just six points in the final period, but suffered cool shooting throughout the contest only able to muster 19-59 (32.2 percent) field goals. Deshler was good for 17-33 or 51.5 percent.
Scoring for Deshler included Hansen 17, Amber Deepe 15, Shelby Schardt 9, Tiffany Herbek 8, Kelsey Durflinger 7.

Scoring for BDS included Shelby Garland 18, Erika Schroeder 10, Caressa Reinsch 8, Kallie Schroeder 5, Kaitlyn Krupicka 3, Cynthia Mick 1.

The Lady Eagles finish the season 16-8 overall.