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Central Plains freshman Reagan Phelan drives against Sterling in Friday's title game of the Hilltop Hoops Classic. (Mike Courson / January 27, 2013) |
Only the St. John boys remain unbeaten in the CPL. The Lady Tigers lost to a Class 6A power in overtime on Saturday. The Central Plains girls played their big game on Friday.
St. John
The No. 3 Lady Tigers entered the Pratt tournament that featured two Class 6A teams as the No. 1 seed. St. John easily handled winless Wichita North 56-23 in the first round. In round two, the Lady Tigers knocked off Class 5A’s Maize South 43-30. That pitted the girls against Wichita South, the No. 2 team in Class 6A. St. John suffered its first loss of the year in a 26-24 overtime battle.
The Lady Tigers (12-1) managed just one field goal in the first half. That came with just 17 seconds to play on a Teresa Christie basket. South eventually built an 18-12 lead in the fourth quarter before senior Jamie Waters hit two free throws and two three-pointers to tie the game at 20. In overtime, senior Morgan Osborne’s three-pointer gave the Lady Tigers a 23-22 lead, but a South basket with 10 seconds left proved to be the difference. Waters finished with 12 points, and Osborne added seven points and five rebounds.
Central Plains
The Lady Oilers cruised through two games at the Hilltop Hoops Classic at Barton Community College. Then the girls had to face unbeaten Sterling. Even without freshman-phenom Kylah Comley doing her normal work at point guard, No. 6 Central Plains was unable to take down the No. 2 Lady Black Bears in a 66-56 loss. The Lady Oilers reached the championship by downing Ness City 64-30 and beating Southeast of Saline 58-33.
In Saturday’s championship battle, Central Plains (12-2) hung around for more than three quarters. A Reagan Phelan basket gave the Oilers a 44-41 lead late in the third quarter. Sterling went on to lead 46-45 at the end of the quarter and never trailed again. Phelan hit six of her first seven shots in the third quarter to lead the team with 18 points. Jennifer Hitschmann added 15 points, and Katie Hipp finished with eight points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
Ness City
Struggles for the Lady Eagle basketball team continued at the Hilltop Hoops Classic at Barton Community College last week. Ness City dropped all three games in the round-robin tournament to extend a seven-game losing streak that includes losses to ranked teams from St. John, Ellis, Sterling, and Central Plains.
After a 64-30 loss to Central Plains, and a 67-25 loss to Sterling, the Lady Eagles (5-8) finally found a match in Southeast of Saline on Saturday. Freshman Regan Stiawalt’s basket with 39 seconds to play in that game gave Ness City a chance at 61-57 though the Lady Trojans would go on to win 66-59. Stiawalt finished with 25 points on 9-of-13 shooting in that loss. Jessie Rubottom led the team with 10 points in the loss to Central Plains. In Thursday’s loss to Sterling, Stiawalt scored 13 of the team’s 25 points.
Otis-Bison
The Cougar basketball teams took it easy after tournament week with just one game on Tuesday. Dighton did not take it as easy. The Hornet boys outscored the Cougars 18-15 in the final eight minutes to sneak away with a 43-42 win. The Lady Hornets outscored Otis-Bison (4-10) in each of the four quarters, including a 24-12 stretch in the second half, to win 43-27.
The Cougar boys (5-9) led the 9-3 Hornets 22-20 at the half before faltering late. The Lady Cougars never scored more than eight points in a quarter, falling behind 19-15 by halftime. Hannah Bannister scored 21 of the team’s 27 points.
LaCrosse
The Leopard basketball teams resumed a normal schedule with Tuesday and Friday games in week eight. The boys salvaged the only win on the week with a 53-44 win against Chase on Tuesday. Friday, the squad fell to 6-8 with a 58-44 loss to Victoria. In Tuesday’s win, LaCrosse outscored the Kats in each of the first three quarters to lead 28-22 at the half and 40-29 after three quarters. Lucas Moeder and Marshall Jay each scored 15 points in the win.
The Lady Leopards are 3-11 after a 53-46 loss to Chase, and a 68-46 loss to Victoria. Tuesday, the girls held a sizable 42-31 lead heading into the final quarter before the Lady Kats scored 22 points to earn their second win of the season. Freshman Tessa Pierce hit three of her four three-point tries to lead the team with 18 points and four steals. Daye Hasenfratz added eight points, and freshman Morgan West added finished with seven points and 11 rebounds.
Victoria
The Lady Knights basketball team has been up-and-down throughout the 2012-13 season. Tuesday night, the squad nearly knocked off No. 4 Ellis in a 57-55 battle. Friday night, the girls bounced back to beat LaCrosse 68-46. In Tuesday’s loss, Victoria (6-7) stayed even with a 13-1 Ellis squad at the half. The Railroaders took a four-point lead into the final quarter and were able to hang on for the win. Audra Nowak paced the Knights with 17 points. Kristin Huser finished with 15 points, and Ashley Dome added 10 points.
The Victoria boys (9-4) also went 1-1 on the week. After a 72-60 loss to Ellis on Tuesday, the Knights responded to beat LaCrosse 58-44. The Knights outscored the Leopards 21-15 in the middle quarters, then used 26 points in the final frame to secure a double-digit win on Friday. Lane Braun scored 14 points in Tuesday’s loss, followed by 13 points from Dalton Dreiling and 10 points from Clayton Roth. Friday, Bryan Dome led the squad with 16 points and Sam Ottley finished with 10 points.
Kinsley
The Lady Coyotes finished fourth at the Skyline 54 Classic last week. The squad outscored South Barber 33-21 in the second half but still came up short in a 57-51 loss to South Barber in the opener on Tuesday. Kinsley (4-8) downed Attica 43-32 on Friday, then pounded Macksville 48-29 in Saturday’s fifth-place match.
Sophomore Amber Espinosa hit 7-of-9 shots, including 3-of-4 tries from three-point land to lead the Coyotes with 19 points in Tuesday’s loss. Senior Brittany Gleason added 15 points on 10-of-12 shooting from the stripe, and Shaylee Meyers just missed double-figures with nine points.
Macksville
The Lady Mustangs finished sixth at the 54 Classic in Skyline last week, but the girls did not come away empty handed. After a 71-45 loss to the eventual champion in Norwich to start the tourney on Tuesday, Macksville picked up its third win of the season in Friday’s 36-33 consolation win against Cunningham. Saturday, the Lady Stangs dropped to 3-9 with a 48-29 loss to Kinsley in the fifth-place game. Tuesday, unbeaten Norwich jumped out to a 16-5 lead after one quarter and a 37-15 halftime lead. Senior Mindy Wood paced the team with 13 points. Tara Bunker and Karissa Langlois added 11 and 10 points, respectively.
The Mustang boys picked up a 58-53 win against Pratt on Friday. Macksville (7-4) has now won five of its last six games with the one loss coming to top-ranked St. John. Pratt outscored the Stangs 22-16 in the third quarter to take a 41-38 lead into the final frame. Macksville bounced back to win the fourth quarter 19-7 to take the win. Adolfo Ibarra led all scorers with 23 points and Jordan Welch scored 13 points.
