JOHNSON, Neb. - Lourdes Central Catholic traveled south to Johnson-Brock Tuesday for girls and boys basketball doubleheader in front of an impressive crowd for the first games of the new year. 

The Lady Knights were able to pull the upset over the Eagles, while the JB boys prevailed in runaway fashion.

Box, Meyer lead Lourdes Central Catholic to momentum building victory

Despite poor free throw shooting, especially down the stretch, Lourdes Central Catholic controlled the game and tempo for the entire night, knocking off the Johnson-Brock Eagles 43-35. 

The Eagles (7-2), trailing by as many as 13 in the second half, managed to trim the lead to single digits time and time again in the final quarter behind Brooklyn Behrends constant drives to the rim. Behrends scored six straight points to trim the lead to seven with under a minute to play, but the Lady Knights split a pair of free throws at the line, forced a stop and ran out the clock to hold on for a potential season-changing win.

LCC got out to a 7-2 start with five quick points from junior Jenna Box and escaped the first quarter with a seven-point lead. In the second quarter, the Eagles stormed back behind a Natalie Knippelmeyer 3-pointer that cut the deficit to 20-15. 

The Lady Knights (3-6) then finished the final minute of the quarter on a 6-0 run with buckets from Aspen Meyer and Box, who stole a pass with seven seconds left and raced to the rim to score just before the halftime buzzer to extend the lead to 11 at the break. 

Box and Meyer combined for 21 points unofficially in the first half, and the 11-point lead proved to be the difference down the stretch when both teams struggled to score offensively. The Eagles shut down the Lady Knights duo in the second half, but they couldn't fight out of the deep hole in the end.

LCC's Sofia Fulton chipped in five of her 10 points in the fourth quarter to provide a nice third scoring option. Box finished with 15 points and number of terrific offensive rebounds while Meyer ended with 12 points unofficially. 

Behrends had a team-high 12 points for the Eagles in the defeat while Knippelmeyer scored eight. 

Box Score:

Lourdes (3-6): 13, 13, 7, 10 - 43

Johnson-Brock (7-2): 6, 9, 6, 14 - 35

Balanced scoring and suffocating defense lead Eagles to comfortable win

The Johnson-Brock boys basketball team didn't look sluggish coming off the holiday break into the new year as it unleashed a harassing man-to-man defense that befuddled Lourdes Central Catholic all night long. Combined with scoring from eight different players, JB pulled away and went home with an impressive 55-22 victory. 

The game started with three consecutive steals leading to three layups for the Eagles which prompted a Knight's timeout less than a minute into the game. Leading 17-10 after a second quarter timeout, the Eagles hit the accelerator, ending the half on a 9-2 run to take a 28-12 lead into the locker room. 

The Knight's (1-7) lost five key seniors off last year's state tournament team and struggled to move the ball for easy baskets offensively while getting beat in transition on the defensive end of the floor. 

JB was denying every pass, getting constant deflections and steals, which allowed it to get out and run for easy baskets at the rim and transition 3-pointers from the wings. The Eagles held the Knights to just four third quarter points while scoring 16 points to pull away for good. 

Sloan Pelican was terrific for the Eagles (7-2) in finding teammates in transition and down low in the half court. It seemed he was assisting on every basket while scoring 12 points himself. Sophomore Camden Dalinghaus added 12 points as well for JB. 

Blue Oggs provided a nice burst off the bench as he and fellow sophomore Gabe Baxa scored five points each to lead the Knights. 

Box Score:

Lourdes (1-7): 7, 5, 4, 6 - 22

Johnson-Brock (7-2): 14, 14, 16, 11 - 55