Murray, NEB- On Thursday, Nov. 30 the Conestoga Cougars faced the Louisville Lions in the first basketball games of the season. The junior varsity boys game started at 4:45 p.m. at the elementary school and the varsity game began at 7:30 p.m. in the high school gym.

As it was the first game of the year, things were not perfect for the JV team but coach Nick Hegge said how it was fun to see how the boys learned to play together. The Cougars were defeated but they are working on more consistent offense, defense, and effort.

“JV basketball is all about development and improvement. Unfortunately sometimes losing can provide you lessons that you need to learn, and hopefully motivate you to improve,” said Hegge.

The varsity team promptly started warm-ups after the girl’s varsity game. The Cougar Mania theme was rock and the student section was packed with students wanting to support their school. The team did not win the tip-off and were behind by a few points early in the game. They did not lose motivation though and quickly put points on the board and secured the lead and a score of 37-25 at the half. During this half-time, the dance team put on a hip-hop performance called “Raise the Roof”. This had the audience cheering and was some entertainment before the game resumed.

During the third and fourth quarter, the Lions started to get a run and were close behind but Conestoga pushed hard to win with a score of 67-50. Head coach Jason Ahrens hopes the team can continue making progress and be at their best at the end of the season but this win was a good start to the season.

“The main thing that led to victory was our energy and effort. I thought we did a good job of competing for 32 minutes,” said Ahrens.