Holcomb boys headed to state; girls season over

Lady Jays oust Lady Longhorns; Cimarron girls head to state

The Holcomb Lady Longhorns saw their season come to an end Saturday night, while the Cimarron Lady Bluejays extended theirs by at least one more game, as Cimarron pulled away from Holcomb 64-48 in the girls’ sub-state final. The Lady Jays’ Morgan Ediger proved to be too much from the field and Ashtynn Burns did her damage from the free throw line to lead the way. Ediger scored 22 points, including 7 of 8 from the free throw line and 3 treys; while Burns hit 18 of 20 from the charity stripe and 1 from beyond the arc to finish with 21 points. Taylor Deniston led the Lady Longhorns with 16 points, while seniors Kylee Amos and Haley Heydman finished their careers with 13 and 9 respectively. Cimarron jumped to an 11-1 lead, but Holcomb battled back, taking a 25-24 lead late in the first half, only to watch Burns hit two free throws to give Cimarron a 26-25 halftime lead. A Kylee Amos 3, one of three she hit from beyond the arc, tied the game at 28 a little over a minute into the second half, but the Lady Jays went on a 9-0 run and never relinquished the lead. Cimarron led 45-34 at the end of three quarters. Holcomb twice closed to within 7 points, the last spurt making it 52-45 with less than 2 minutes to play, but Cimarron scored the next 9 to put it away. The Lady Longhorns finish their season at 20-3. The Lady Jays improve to 21-2 and advance to the 3A state tournament in Hutchinson. Cimarron is the third seed and will play Council Grove on Thursday at 8:15.

Longhorn boys headed to state

The Holcomb Longhorns used a dominant third quarter and then held on to beat the Cheney Cardinals 53-50 Saturday night at the sub-state final in Cimarron and earn their first trip to the state basketball tournament since 2009. Led by junior Cameron Hill, who was outstanding at both ends of the court, Cheney held a 24-23 lead at halftime. Hill, who scored 7 straight points off steals, netted 12 of the Cardinals’ 24 first-half points and added 14 more in the second half to finish with a game-high 26. The Longhorns got untracked in the third quarter, outscoring the Cardinals 18-9, to take a 41-33 lead into the final stanza. Trey Sleep led the onslaught, pouring in 12 of his 18 second half points on his way to a team-high 24. Late in the third, Holcomb led by 10, 41-31, but Cheney got the final bucket of the third and the first 3 points of the fourth to cut the lead to 5 with just over 7 minutes to play. After the Cardinals cut it to 3, 46-43, the Longhorns scored on back-to-back trips to rebuild the lead to 7, 50-43, with 2:45 to play. Hill struck twice for Cheney in the next 35 seconds, completing back-to-back three point plays, to make it a 2-point game with 2:00 to play. Holcomb would finish it off from the free throw line. With 27 seconds to play, and the Longhorns up 52-50, freshman Conner Van Cleave stepped to the line and hit one out of two for the final margin. Cheney fired up several errant shots in the closing seconds and Holcomb held on for the win. Hill was the only Cardinal in double figures. In addition to Sleep’s 24, Dalton Gottschalk had 11 points for Holcomb. The Longhorns improve to 20-3 and will enter the 3A state tournament at Hutchinson as the 6th seed. Holcomb will face 3rd-seeded Nemaha Valley (21-2) at 4:45 on Wednesday in first round action. The winner will move on to the semi-finals on Friday, with the finals on Saturday.