With a record sitting at .500, the Trojan girls basketball team hosted Kuemper Catholic on Tuesday, Dec. 17. Hot on a three-game winning streak, the Trojans were antsy to take on the 1-5 Knights. 

Coach Dan Vargason sent out the starting lineup with juniors Haley Rasmussen, Maycie Waters, and Taylor McCreedy, and seniors Corri Pelzer and Kenzie Waters taking the court.

Right away, Atlantic clinched control of the game. Junior Lauren Nicholas came off the bench in the first quarter to hit two three pointers, the same procedure she completed against Clarinda a week prior. Atlantic was up at the end of one, 15-7. 

However, Kuemper tightened their defense in the second frame. Atlantic’s offense was slowed down a bit, and the Knights crawled closer to taking the lead. The Trojans hung on and went into the locker room with a 26-21 lead.

The third quarter passed by with the Knights gaining ground. The Trojans continued to put up points, and exited the third quarter in front, 38-36. 

In the final eight minutes, Atlantic went on a scoring run, attempting to silence Kuemper’s attempts to snatch the lead. With under a minute to go, Atlantic was up by four. Both coaches used up all of their timeouts in order to go over the game plan for the final seconds. 

With 1.2 seconds remaining, Atlantic held the lead, still by four points. Kuemper inbounded the ball and tossed it up, making a buzzer-beater three pointer. However, Atlantic had chipped in just enough points to clinch the victory over the Knights, 56-55.

With the win, Atlantic’s record improves to 4-3. The girls have won four straight games. The last time the Trojans topped Kuemper was on Thursday, Jan. 21, 2016.

Against the Knights, Rasmussen led the pack with 18 points. K. Waters added on 15 for Atlantic.

The two teams will match up again on Friday, Jan. 10 in Carroll. That competition will be for conference credit.