WAUSA — A busy week of makeup games for the Wausa Vikings basketball team might be just what it needs to get ready for the Class D1 subdistrict tournament that starts next week.
Wausa (11-9) went 3-1 last week and will play rival Bloomfield (12-7) for a third time this season come on Feb. 16 before seeing the Bees again in next week’s subdistrict opener.
The Vikings beat Hartington- Newcastle 48-36 on Feb. 6, Neligh-Oakdale 70-34 on Feb. 8 and Crofton 44-30 on Feb. 9 after dropping a Feb. 5 decision to Osmond/ Randolph (38-35). “The Crofton win on the road was great for us because they are a good athletic team,” Wausa head coach Tim Schindler said. “We like our chances in subs. We know we are capable. We just got to limit turnovers, play defense and rebound. Makings shots is always nice, also.”
Junior Colton Baue led the Vikings against Osmond/Randolph with 16 points and he added six points against Hartington-Newcastle while sophomore Preston Schlote (12 points) and freshman Matthew Schindler (11 points) led the way for the Wausa win on Senior Night.
Schindler (19 points), senior Cashe Carlson (15 points) and senior Henry Kumm (11 points) led the Vikings in the rout against Neligh- Oakdale while Baue and Schlote provided nine and eight points apiece, respectively.
In the victory over Crofton, Wausa used a 24-10 run through the middle quarters to finalize the big win. Schindler (13 points), Schlote (10 points) and Carlson (nine points) ignited the mini-upset.
“I’m disappointed we didn’t go 4-0, but we kind of let Osmond/ Randolph slip away from us and we should have taken that one,” Carlson said. “We shot pretty well and we played good defense the last three games. If we can play really good defensively, we’re going to win games.”
Playing a rival twice in the next week and the second one being for a postseason win in the subdistrict means a lot to the Vikings.
“It should be a good game and I’m excited,” Carlson said. “Obviously, we all know what they bring to the table — we live 10 miles away from each other. It’s a big rivalry game and it’s going to be a dogfight no matter what. It’s not going to be a blowout either way.”
