The No. 6 Norwich girls will stay in the Class 1A, Div. II rankings with another win. The unbeaten Lady Falcons of Fairfield are making their case for a spot in the Div. I rankings with a 7-0 start.
Fairfield
The Lady Falcons have yet to climb into a stacked top 10 in Class 1A, Div. I. Two wins in the final week of 2012 may help. Tuesday, the girls (7-0) snuck past Kiowa County 53-51. Friday, the Fairfield defense reared its head in a 33-21 win against Pretty Prairie. In that game, the Falcons jumped out to a 19-0 lead after one quarter, then allowed just 10 points in the second half. Senior Kristen Roberts led the team with 12 points and eight steals. Senior Brandy Burns filled the stat sheet with 11 points, eight rebounds, and seven steals. Fairfield finished with 21 steals in the game.
The Falcon boys drop to 3-4 with a 51-37 loss to Kiowa County, then a 46-45 loss to Pretty Prairie.
Pretty Prairie
The Bulldog basketball teams closed out the season with a busy and successful week with a combined three wins. The boys downed Burrton 51-45 on Friday, then edged out Fairfield 46-45 on Friday. Tuesday, a big first quarter vaulted the Bulldogs to the win. Burrton outscored Pretty Prairie 34-24 in the second half, but the Bulldogs led 21-6 after one quarter and that was enough. Stetson Broce won the battle of high-scorers with a game-high 27 points. Trey Tallant added 10 points.
The Lady Bulldogs (5-2) downed Burrton 44-33, but struggled offensively in a 33-21 loss to Fairfield. In that loss, Pretty Prairie went scoreless in the first quarter and added just 10 points in the second half. Tuesday, the girls won three of the four quarters to take the win. Senior Tiffani Hines led the team with 21 points, 12 rebounds, five steals, and three blocks. Freshman Kristin Haflich added nine points and 12 rebounds, and Emily Moore contributed eight points.
Burrton
The Charger basketball teams came up just short in losses to Pretty Prairie on Tuesday. The boys trailed their game 21-6 after one quarter and 27-11 at the half. They shaved a point off that gap in the third quarter, and won the fourth quarter 19-10, but the comeback halted six points shy of completion. Trae Lane was the main offensive force with 25 points.
The Lady Chargers trailed 18-16 at the break but gave up six points in the third quarter and three more points in the fourth quarter to fall 44-33. Sophomore Abbie Winter paced the Chargers with 12 points. Alissa Satterfield added six points.
Cunningham
The Wildcat teams skipped out on Tuesday, instead traveling to Macksville on Thursday. The trip was not kind. The Wildcat boys fell to 83-72 after losing an 83-72 shootout against the Mustangs. The Cunningham girls hit the break at 3-4 after giving Macksville its first win of the year in a 51-27 game.
In the boys game, the teams combined for 91 first half points with Macksville holding a slight 46-45 lead. Cunningham could not stay with the Mustangs in the second half, falling behind 66-57 after three quarters. The Wildcats made only 5-of-22 three-point tries in the loss. Nick Huhman hit three of them to finish with 17 points. Cody Huhman scored six of his eight points from the outside. Jordan Schaller led squad with 21 points. The girls never scored more than eight points in a quarter, trailing 25-14 by halftime.
Norwich
The Eagle basketball teams closed out the 2012 portion of the schedule on the road at Caldwell on Tuesday. The No. 6 Lady Eagles downed the Blue jays 34-27 despite putting up an egg in the third quarter. Norwich led 20-12 at the half, and still lead 20-17 heading into the fourth quarter where 14 points sealed the win.
The boys close out the year at 1-5 following a 43-33 loss to Caldwell. The Eagles battled to win the middle quarters 21-16, but the Blue Jays used a big start and big finish to take the contest. Junior Jackson Coleman hit half of his six three-point tries to pace the Eagles with 11 points. He also had six takeaways in the loss. Freshman Jacob Norris added eight points and a team-high seven rebounds.
Skyline
The Lady Thunderbirds went 1-1 in the final week of 2012. Tuesday, Skyline downed Minneola 49-17. Friday, Skyline fell to No. 10 Ashland 38-31. In Tuesday’s win, the T-Bird defense stymied Minneola early as Skyline built a 28-9 halftime lead. Janessa Davis finished with 13 points and Alyssa Swonger added 10 points. Brooke Fisher scored six of her nine points in the fourth quarter. Friday, Kaitlyn Stark scored 16 points in the Ashland loss.
The Skyline boys fell to Minneola 69-43, and lost to Ashland 52-20. Cole Patterson paced the team with nine points on Tuesday but missed Friday’s game with illness. Kasey Gilpin’s five points led the T-Birds in Friday’s loss.
