Scott City and Holcomb spit a pair of lopsided games

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Tuesday night’s doubleheader between Scott City and Holcomb was a rematch of a doubleheader that was played in the same gymnasium as last year’s sub-state championship games. Just like those results last March, the first meeting of the year would prove to be no different. The only difference was that these newest games in the rivalry were lopsided. The Lady Beavers would erase an early 9-2 deficit, and roar back for a 56-32 win, while the Longhorn boys would never trail and cruise to a 67-41 win.

Girls
The Scott City guards were virtually non-existent on Friday night in Ulysses from the floor. Tuesday night was a different and welcome sight to see for the Lady Beavers. While it wasn’t a good start, it was a great finish. Scott City led early 2-0, then went on nearly a seven-minute drought when Holcomb scored the next nine points to lead 9-2 with 3:23 left in the first quarter. The Lady Beavers would go on a tear, scoring the final points of the first quarter, then scored the first 11 points of the second frame to take a 15-9 lead with 3:45 left in the half. Their lead would grow to 24-14 at the break, as they closed the half on a 6-0 run. The Lady Longhorns also went on a lengthy drought in the first half, going 8:31 without a basket.

In the second half, Holcomb (4-4, 1-2 GWAC) closed the gap to 24-18 with 6:48 remaining in the third quarter on a pair of baskets to begin the second half. After that, it was all Scott City. When Holcomb’s Eboni Sapien picked up her fourth foul just 90 seconds into the third quarter, the Lady Beavers took advantage of her on the bench. Scott City (6-1, 3-0) went on a 15-0 run over the next three and a half minutes to lead 39-18 with 2:46 left in the third quarter. Their lead would grow to 49-24 after the third quarter, and the biggest lead of the game would be at 27 points on two occasions, before Holcomb pulled back to within 24 to finish the game.

Leading the charge for Scott City was Macie Price with 14 points, while Kaitlyn Roberts and Bailey Latta added 11 and Emily Weathers had 10. The Lady Beavers scored 20 second quarter points and 25 in the third frame. They committed 16 turnovers and were 6-12 at the foul line. Holcomb was led by Courtney Wren with eight points. The Lady Longhorns had 21 turnovers and shot 7-10 at the free throw line.

Scott City’s win was the largest in the series since January 27, 2004, when they won 56-29. It was also the fourth straight win in the series, the longest since winning six straight from 2001-2004. The four-game GWAC winning streak that started last year is also the longest for Scott City since the 4-0 start to the 2003-04 season.

Boys
What many thought would be a good matchup between the rivals turned out to be one-sided. Holcomb jumped out early with hot shooting and never looked back. The Longhorns raced out to an 18-6 lead after the first quarter, and 24-9 with 4:31 left in the half. In the first half, Holcomb (7-1, 3-0 GWAC) used runs of six, seven and five to push their lead to 15. Scott City would not back down, as they scored the final five points of the half to get to 31-21 at the break.

The Longhorns would have an early second half turnover, giving Scott City (3-4, 2-1) an opportunity to get to within single digits. Unfortunately for the Beavers, they were unable to, as Holcomb recharged their red hot shooting with a 21-9 third quarter run to lead 52-30 after three quarters. A 12-0 run in the middle of the third quarter put the game well in doubt. In the fourth frame, the Longhorns scored the first seven points to force a running clock to lead 62-31 with 6:17 left. The teams would go back and forth the rest of the night, as Holcomb cruised to their 13th straight GWAC win.

Kobe Dickson would lead the charge for the Longhorns with 19 points, while Trey Gilbert added 17. They had only seven fouls and 10 turnovers and were 12-18 at the free throw line. Scott City was led by Marshal Faurot with 12 and Zach Carson with 10. The Beaers finished with nine turnovers and were 6-7 at the foul line. Holcomb dominated the glass with a 35-16 rebounding edge.

With the win, Holcomb has now won six straight in the series, the longest for them since they won the first seven in the series from 1987-1993, when the teams played just one game per year. The loss by Scott City was their largest at home since January 13, 2004, when they lost 77-47 to Ulysses.

Coach Brian Gentry Postgame

Up next for Holcomb is a doubleheader at Colby on Friday, while Scott City travels to Hugoton on Friday.