HOISINGTON — A 17-point lead is a nice way to start things off for a high school basketball team.
Otis-Bison High School let a 19-2 first-quarter lead nearly slip away, but the Lady Cougars held on  for a 40-34 victory over Minneapolis at the Hoisington Activity Center on Thursday afternoon during the Hoisington Cardinal Winter Jam.
“I thought we came out and started the game with a lot of enthusiasm,” Otis-Bison head coach Rick Schmidt said. “We were fired up. We took a big lead.
“Then I thought they picked up their defense, and it really caused us problems. We got so nervous, we were just throwing the ball.”
Leading by one after three quarters, the Lady Cougars (4-8) jumped ahead with a 7-1 run to lead 37-31 with 2:06 remaining.
Minneapolis forced back-to-back-to-back turnovers, but only turned them into three points.
The Lady Lions fouled Demi Bartonek, who missed both free throws to keep the score 37-34. However, Minneapolis turned the ball over on the other end.
Fouled again, Bartonek made 1 of 2 free throws to make it a two-possession game, but the Lady Lions squandered another opportunity.
With 4.3 seconds remaining, the Lady Cougars’ Annie Kraisinger drew a foul and made both of her free throws.
“I was really happy with our girls,” Schmidt said. “I thought when they closed on us, that they were going to pull away. We slowed it down, took our time and got good shots.
“Then at the end, we hit our free throws. I was really happy with that, too.”
Hannah Bannister scored 11 of her game-high 18 points in the first quarter to lead the Lady Cougars.
Vyctorya Allison scored the lone two points for Minneapolis in the opening eight minutes.
The Lady Lions outscored the Lady Cougars 13-8 and 15-4 in the second and third quarters, respectively, to close the gap to 31-30 heading into the final period.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Hoisington Cardinal Winter Jam

GIRLS

Thursday

At Hoisington
Hoisington Winter Jam

Otis-Bison 40, Minneapolis 34
OTIS-BISON (4-8)
    Annie Kraisinger 0 6-7 6, Demi Bartonek 0 1-4 1, Katie Tammen 0 0-0 0, Emily Schneider 0 0-0 0, Hannah Bannister 7 1-2 18, Kim Pechanec 5 3-4 13, Raegan King 0 0-0 0, Megan Tammen 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 11-17 40.
MINNEAPOLIS
    Lucy Giles 1 0-0 2, Grace Peters 1 0-0 2, Vyctorya Allison 0 0-0 0, Jacee Owens 8 0-0 16, Sydney Wedel 1 1-2 3, Kynedi Allison 2 0-1 4, Lindsay Shupe 0 1-2 1, Katie Steinbrock 1 0-0 3, Mara Pounds 1 1-2 3. Totals 15 3-7 34.
Otis-Bison      19    8     4    9  —  40
Minneapolis     2   13   15   4  —  34
    Three-point goals — Otis-Bison 3 (Bannister 3); Minneapolis 1 (Steinbrock). Total fouls — Minneapolis 18, Otis-Bison 14. Fouled out — Minneapolis (Pounds).