Cimarron girls hold on over Lady Beavers, Scott City boys crush Bluejays

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–It was a 16-day wait for Scott City and Cimarron to face off. Thursday’s matchup with two teams that will be in the Lakin Sub-State were not only playing to improve their seeds, but have bragging rights in non-league play. The Lady Bluejays would survive a comeback effort in a 43-38 win, while the Beaver boys used two big runs in the first half to cruise to a 65-48 win.

Girls
With a win Thursday, Cimarron would clinch the second seed in the Lakin Sub-State, while Scott City would maintain fifth place with two games remaining in the standings. Both teams would get off to slow starts. The Lady Bluejays scored the first four points of the game, and eventually took an 11-6 first quarter lead. Their momentum carried them into the second quarter, where they raced out to a 21-11 lead with 4:51 left in the half, thanks to a 10-5 second quarter start. That would be their biggest lead. The Lady Beavers found a way to claw back in to the game, scoring four of the half’s final six points to get to within 23-15 at intermission. They scored the next five points to pull to within 23-19 with 6:22 left in the third quarter, after a Nicole Latta three-point play. Scott City (5-13) kept coming back, and would use a 10-4 run to get to within 30-29 with 1:14 left in the third quarter. Cimarron (12-6) scored the quarter’s final points to make it 32-29 after three periods, and ended up getting the first three points of the fourth quarter to lead by six with six minutes left. When it looked like it would be a tough deficit to overcome, the Lady Beavers scored seven points in a three-minute span, capped off by a pair of Latta free throws to give Scott City their first lead at 36-35 with 2:20 remaining. Their lead would be short lived. Just 16 seconds latter, Taylor Jantz buried a left wing three to give the Lady Bluejays a 38-36 lead. The Lady Beavers would tie the game at 38 with 1:46 left, only to see Cimarron execute and get the game-winning basket from senior Korina Bailon with 1:19 left. Bailon missed the free throw after she was fouled. Scott City missed two or three chances to tie the game in the last minute, as Bailon nailed two free throws with 11.6 seconds left to secure Cimarron’s sixth straight win over Scott City in the series. Leading the charge for the Lady Bluejays was Korina Bailon with 16 points, while freshman Taylor Jantz added 11. Scott City was paced by Nicole Latta and Kiana Yager with 13 points each. The big difference of the game was at the foul line. Cimarron was 17-23, while Scott City was only 4-8. The Lady Bluejays clinched the No. 2 seed in the Lakin Sub-State, while the Lady Beavers are in a three-way tie with Lyons and Southwestern Heights for the fifth spot, and are now only a game ahead of Larned for the eighth spot.

Coach Sarah McCormick Postgame

Boys
Only one game separated Scott City and Cimarron in the Lakin Sub-State standings entering Thursday night’s games. Both teams were also trying to shake off tough losses the previous Tuesday night. In the first three-plus minutes, there were five lead changes and two ties. The Beavers ended the final 4:44 of the first quarter on an 11-2 run and never trailed the rest of the way, leading 18-10 after the opening eight minutes. Scott City’s defense would hold the Bluejays without any points for stretches of 4:56 and 3:04 in the first half. Their first big run was in a six-minute stretch of the first and second quarters, using a 14-2 run. The last run of the first half was a 10-0 run that gave them their biggest lead of the first half at 34-16 with 1:32 remaining before recess. Cimarron (11-7) would pick up a little momentum, cutting a 34-18 halftime deficit to 38-27 with 5:01 left in the third quarter. That was the closest they would get the rest of the night. Scott City (13-5) turned in a 14-6 run to build up a 52-33 lead heading into the fourth frame, which was capped off by a Dylan Hutchins three, his fifth of the night. The Beavers added five straight points to build their lead to its peak at 57-33 in the first minute of the fourth quarter. After that, it was a game pretty much on cruise control the rest of the way. The Bluejays scored seven of the final nine points of the game. Scott City finished with three players in double figures, led by Dylan Hutchins with 19, matching a season-high with five three’s in a game, while Drake McRae added 16 points, and Bo Hess finished with 11 points in his return to the lineup. The Beavers finished with only five turnovers and hit 28 field goals in the game. Cimarron was led by Jaylen Pickle with 13 points, Bkae Neuschafer with 12 and Colton Hamilton with 11. The game saw a combined 16 fouls called. With the win, Scott City moved in to a first-place tie with Sterling in the sub-state standings, while Cimarron dropped to fifth place in the standings.

Glenn O’Neil Postgame