The St. John boys remain the only No. 1 team in the league. Friday, they showed why with a 31-point first quarter against Ness City, the No. 3 team in Class 2A.
St. John
The Tiger boys are the No. 1 team in Class 1A. Friday, St. John looked to be tested by Ness City, the No. 3 team in Class 2A. It was not to be. The Tigers improved to 8-0 with a 69-44 league win. They did it early, scoring 31 points in the first quarter and leading 51-32 by halftime. That included an 11-1 run in less than two minutes. The Tigers hit 7-of-16 three-point tries. Zuriel Reyes hit four of those triples for a 22-point night. Spencer Nusser also scored 22 points. Kade Kinnamon finished with 12 points.
The No. 5 Lady Tigers also improved to 8-0 with a 62-28 win against Ness City. St. John piled on 44 points in the first two quarters while never allowing more than nine points in a quarter. That effort yielded a 58-22 lead after three quarters. The Lady Tigers had 30 steals against the No. 7 team in Class 2A. Teresa Christie led all scorers with 16 points. Jamie Waters hit two threes to add 14 points. Morgan Osborne finished with 13 points.
Central Plains
The Oiler basketball squads welcomed in the new year with a split against Macksville Friday in Claflin. The Central Plains girls dominated Macksville 69-27 to improve to 6-1 on the year. The Lady Oilers averaged 20 points through each of the first three quarters to build a 60-21 lead. Katie Hipp led all scorers with 19 points. Jennifer Hitschmann added 15 points and Janae Hekele finished with 14 points.
The Oiler boys dropped to 4-3 after failing to slow down the Mustang offense in a 75-62 loss. Macksville won each of the four quarters, leading 36-32 at the half and 52-46 after three quarters. Sophomore Layne Bieberle hit a pair of threes to pace the squad with 20 points. Evan Liebl added 11 points. Konner Hickel scored all nine of his points behind the arc, and Michael Ryan also finished with nine points.
Ness City
With two ranked programs in the Class 2A ranks, Ness City is not accustomed to the sweep this basketball season. Friday was a different story as the teams headed to St. John to battle the No. 1 boys and No. 5 Lady Tigers.
The No. 3 Eagle boys suffered their first loss in a 69-44 contest. Ness City put up a respectable 32 points in the first half but still trailed 51-32 at the break. Dalton Gantz hit half of his six three-point tries to finish with 22 points. Garrett Flax added a pair of threes to finish with 10 points. The Lady Eagles struggled on both ends of the floor, giving up 30 steals to the notorious Lady Tiger defense and falling behind 44-13 by halftime. Erin Flax and Regan Stiawalt did most of the scoring for Ness City with 13 and nine points, respectively.
Victoria
The Knight basketball teams hosted Otis-Bison on Friday, picking up their first league wins of the season. The Lady Knights (4-2) outscored the Cougars 30-13 in the first half, doing just enough in the second half to hold on for a 42-29 win. The boys (5-1) were tied at 29 with a quarter to play but outscored Otis-Bison 12-4 in the final eight minutes to sneak away with a 41-33 win.
Junior Kristin Huser led the Lady Knights with 20 points, including 4-of-8 shooting from the outside. Huser was one of four girls with six rebounds. Brooke Schmidt added six points and Audrey Crawford five points in the win. Nine Victoria boys scored in their win, led by seven points apiece from seniors Dalton Dreiling and Phillip Nowak. Sam Ottley grabbed 10 rebounds and added six points.
Macksville
The Mustang boys picked up a second-straight win with a 75-62 win against CPL-foe Central Plains on Friday. The Mustangs outscored the Oilers in each of the four quarters to lead 52-46 after three quarters. Macksville lit up the board with 23 fourth quarter points to hold on for the win. Adolfo Ibarra had the hot hand with 27 points to lead all scorers. Tanner Tranbarger hit five three-pointers to add 21 points, and Clayton Wood finished with 10 points. The Mustangs are now 4-3 on the year.
The Lady Mustangs had their hands full with 6-1 Central Plains, falling to the Oilers 69-27. Macksville trailed 40-12 by halftime. Mindy Wood was the lone scorer to reach double-figures with 11 points. Karissa Langlois added six points, and Kristina Murphy five points in the loss. The Lady ‘Stangs fall to 1-6 on the season.
Otis-Bison
The Cougar basketball teams began the new year with a pair of losses at Victoria on Friday. The Lady Cougars won the second half 16-12, but a 30-13 halftime deficit doomed the squad. Hannah Bannister paced the Cougars with 11 points. Kim Pechanec also reached double-figures with 10 points. Otis-Bison is now 2-6 on the year, 0-2 in league play.
The Cougar boys fell to 3-5 with a 41-33 loss to the Knights. Otis-Bison won the first quarter 10-7, and the third quarter 11-6 to knot the score at 29. Victoria made a 12-4 run in the final eight minutes to take the win.
Kinsley
The Coyote teams opened the 2013 portion of the schedule with nearly identical losses to Cunningham on Friday. The girls fell to 2-6 with a 49-40 loss to the Wildcats. The boys came just a point closer, also dropping to 2-6 with a 48-40 loss.
The Kinsley girls won the middle quarters 20-15, but Cunningham opened the game with a 15-8 lead, and finished strong with 19 points to pull away for the win. Brittany Gleason scored 12 points in the loss. Shaylee Meyers hit two threes to finish with 11 points. The boys led 13-8 after one quarter before falling behind 33-25 with a quarter to play. Nathan Frame scored nearly half of the 48 points with a 21-point performance.
