The Norwich girls and Central Christian boys, both ranked No. 2 in their respective classes, each claimed league basketball titles. Stafford's Tristin Paulsen is headed to Hays to wrestle at state.
Norwich
The Lady Eagles secured a league basketball title with big wins over the No. 2 and No. 3 teams in the HOPL in week 11. Tuesday, the girls pounded Sklyine 41-18. Friday night, No. 2 Norwich downed No. 10 Fairfield (Div. I) 60-40. In Tuesday’s win, the girls allowed just three first half points from Skyline while jumping out to a 25-3 lead. Kenzie Klaver, Bailey Poe, and Haley Poljansek each scored 10 points. Klaver nearly pulled off a triple-double with eight rebounds and eight assists.
The boys still sit on just two wins following a 62-52 loss to Skyline and a 67-45 loss to Fairfield. The Eagles fell behind 46-19 by the half on Friday. Garrett Wise hit four threes and poured in 13 points for Norwich. Freshman Jacob Norris added six points and seven boards, and Caleb Bartel also scored six points.
Central Christian
The Cougar boys have climbed all the way to No. 2 in the Div. II ranks. Last week, they picked up two more HOPL wins to secure a league title. Tuesday, the squad downed Burrton 54-43. They followed that with a 64-22 win against Skyline on Friday. The teams hit the fourth quarter tied at 30 on Tuesday. Central Christian woke up in the fourth quarter by outscoring Burrton 24-13. Kyle Patrick and Cody Moore each scored 14 points, and Zac Krehbiel finished with 11 points.
The Lady Cougars picked up their third win of the year at Burrton in a 36-33 contest. The Lady Cougars outscored the Chargers 11-4 in the final quarter to get the win. Sarah Hagen scored 19 points.
Pretty Prairie
The Lady Bulldogs picked up two wins to improve to 12-7 on the year. Tuesday, the girls edged out Attica 37-35. The picked up another close 30-29 win at Cunningham on Friday. In that later win, the Bulldogs were cruising along with a 25-15 halftime lead. The offense stopped from there as Pretty Prairie was outscored 14-5 in the second half. Selena Wapelhorst scored 11 points. Shanay Wewe and Emily Moore each added four points. Freshman Kristin Haflich went 6-of-9 from the floor against Attica to lead the way with 16 points and eight rebounds. Wapelhorst scored 13 points. The Bulldog boys got by Attica 46-34 on Tuesday.
Attica
The Lady Bulldogs picked up the lone basketball win for the school in week 11 with a 50-31 thrashing of Stafford on Friday. Tuesday, the girls fell played close to Pretty Prairie all night, trailing 18-17 at the half and 28-25 after three quarters. Junior Grigsby scored 13 points in the loss, and Brittany Ricke hit two threes to finish with 10 points.
The Bulldog boys fell to 12-7 overall with a 46-34 loss to Pretty Prairie and a 76-69 loss to Stafford on Friday. In that game, Attica outscored the Trojans 35-27 in the second half to force overtime where Stafford piled on 16 points for the win. Derrick Newberry drained five threes to finish with 21 points. Vince Ramirez also scored 21 points, Damon Howell scored 15 points, and Jack Deviney added 10 points.
Skyline
The Thunderbird boys managed to stay out of the HOPL basement with a 62-52 win against Norwich on Tuesday. Things turned around quickly as Skyline then had to play No. 2 Central Christian, falling to the Cougars 64-22. The T-Birds outscored the Eagles in each of the four quarters on Monday to lead 29-22 at the half and 44-36 with eight minutes to play. Cole Patterson paced the team with 16 points, followed by 14 points from Brandon Abbott and 10 points from Dustin Abbott.
The Lady T-Birds also had to play a No. 2 ranked opponent in Norwich on Tuesday. Skyline managed just three points in the first half in a 49-19 route. Alyssa Swonger scored six points and Kaitlyn Stark added five points.
Fairfield
The No. 10 Lady Falcons struggled to a win in week 11. Tuesday, the girls were outscored 29-22 in the final three quarters of regulation in a 50-49 overtime win against South Barber. Friday, the Falcons (15-4) lost to No. 2 Norwich 60-40. Senior Brandy Burns filled the stat sheet in Tuesday’s win with 19 points, seven rebounds, five steals, and three assists. Brittany Carter added 11 points, and Caitlyn Owens finished with eight points and 10 rebounds.
The Falcon boys downed Norwich 67-45 on Friday. That game was decided early as Fairfield jumped out to a 21-6 lead after eight minutes and a 46-19 lead by the break. Brennyn Pankratz scored 21 points in the win, followed by 16 points from Trace Basye and 13 points from John Dealy.
Stafford
Stafford was one of the smallest schools at the Class 3-2-1A Wrestling regional Friday and Saturday at Garden Plain. The Trojans still managed 33 points for 14th place out of 23 teams. No. 2 Hoisington won with 169.5 points and Lyons finished second with 111.5 points. Junior Tristin Paulsen picked up most of those points as the lone state qualifier for the Trojans. The 182-pounder opened with a bye, then used a first-round pin to win his first contested match. After a loss to the regional runner-up, Paulsen pinned his Southeast of Saline opponent to grab a spot at state. Paulsen (32-10) went on to pin his final opponent for third place.
