CHAPMAN, Kan.—
Chapman High School’s basketball teams did not experience much luck of the Irish Tuesday night as Wamego High School’s basketball teams ventured into Chapman with their tomahawks in full torture mode.The Red Raiders and Lady Raiders swept Chapman in a North Central Kansas League opener for all four teams.
Wamego’s Lady Raiders had their tomahawks in full swing in the opening game as they rolled up a 72-23 win over Chapman in which the mercy rule was in effect for the entire fourth quarter.
The Red Raider boys had a more difficult time with their tomahawks against the Fighting Irish, but Wamego still emerged with a 52-23 win in the boys’ game.
"The best thing I thought about tonight is that it was the first night that I felt like we really, really executed our stuff," Wamego girls’ coach Jim Page said. "I thought we really executed well and I thought that was the biggest thing is that we just executed our stuff tonight."
In the girls’ game, Wamego scored the game’s first 18 points, holding Chapman off the board until only 0:52 remained in the opening period.
The Lady Raiders took that early jump and coasted to the victory as Wamego led 23-3 after the first quarter, 37-13 at intermission, and 57-19 going into the final period instituting the KSHSAA running-clock rule in the fourth quarter.
In that "running-clock" fourth quarter the Lady Raiders were able to outscore Chapman 15-4 to seal up the 49-point victory.
"We came out and hit some shots and that made things look pretty easy," Page said. "I was proud of our defense. We played the way I know we can play."
The Lady Raiders were led in scoring by Kaylee Page’s 27 points, while Rikki Alderson pitched in 20 points to the victory. Chapman was led by Lindsay Hurford and Morgan Beemer, each scored 6 points.
The boys game proved to be much closer throughout the contest, but Wamego still led throughout most of the competition.
The Fighting Irish hit the first bucket of the game to jump out 2-0, but the Red Raiders followed that with an 8-0 run and never looked back.
Wamego outscored Chapman 13-7 in the first quarter, 10-8 in the second quarter, 13-9 in the third quarter, and 16-11 in the final period to seal the 52-35 win.
"We finally made some shots in the second half," Wamego boys coach Troy Hemphill said. "I thought we played pretty well, we just weren’t scoring in the first half. The second half we finally made some plays and had guys step up and make some shots and we were finally able to stretch it out."
Both teams will stay in NCKL action this Friday night as Wamego plays host to Clay Center and Chapman will travel to Marysville.
