Road warriors; Scott City wins two games at Lakin

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Coming off mid-season tournaments, Scott City and Lakin faced off in their lone meeting of the season. Both teams saw each other in the sub-state semi-finals last year in the Lakin Middle School gym. Scott City’s boys won that game 64-54, and Lady Broncs prevailed in overtime 40-39. Tuesday night, it wasn’t pretty at times for both Scott City teams, but in the end, it turned out to be a win. Scott City survives hot shooting from Lakin in the girls game to win 63-50, while the Beaver boys picked up a pair of free throws with 4.5 seconds left to escape with a 34-33 win.

Girls
Scott City started slow, but finished strong. Lakin would take an early 7-3 lead, just over three minutes into the game, when the Lady Beavers would make their run. The first eight minutes saw three lead changes and two ties. Scott City trailed 10-6 midway through the first frame, and used a 13-4 run to close out the final 3:41 of the period to lead 19-14 after one quarter. Lakin (3-9) scored the first four points of the quarter to make the score 19-18, and that would be the closest they would get the rest of the night. The Lady Beavers put together another run, scoring nine straight to take a 28-18 lead with 4:12 remaining in the half, capped off by a Kaitlyn Roberts three pointer. Scott City (7-6) would also end the half on a three pointer by Bailey Latta to take a 34-24 halftime lead. The Lady Beavers kept the cushion between 10-13 for a majority of the second half, leading by as many as 15 points at 50-35, while seeing their lead trimmed to nine. Three players scored double figures for Scott City, led by Kaitlyn Roberts with 15 points, while Bailey Latta and Emily Smith added 11 points. Smith’s points were a new career-high. The Lady Beavers were 19-24 at the foul line and committed only 10 turnovers. Lakin got 20 points from Lizzy Webb and 18 from Kaylee Line. The Lady Broncs had 19 turnovers and were just 3-11 at the charity line. Scott City’s win snapped a five-game losing streak to the Lady Broncs, as they won their first game at Lakin since 2011. The Lady Beavers have now won five straight road games, the most since the 2008-09 season, and have scored over 60 points in back to back games for the first time since January of 2010, when they scored 64 points against Goodland and 65 against Wichita County.

Boys
When you’re in the middle of a rough patch in your season, finding a way to win can be hard. Both Scott City and Lakin could say the same thing Tuesday night. The Beavers were in rare territory, entering 2-5 in their first seven games in January, while the Broncs were 2-4 in January entering the game. Scott City jumped out with the first six points, before Lakin drilled a pair of three’s to tie the game at six after the first eight minutes of play. Lakin led by as many as five at 13-8 with 5:14 remaining in the half. The Beavers responded with five straight. After that, both teams would trade 4-0 runs, before the Broncs took a 19-17 lead at the break. Scott City would eventually lead 21-20 with 5:25 remaining in the third quarter, only to see Lakin respond with four straight to take a 24-21 lead with 2:14 left in the quarter. The lead would be exchanged twice, before the Broncs took the 26-25 lead after the third quarter. Overall, the game saw nine ties and six lead changes. Points would continue to be a premium in the final eight minutes. After struggling at the foul line in the first three quarters, Scott City (7-6) finally cashed in in the fourth quarter. They would go 7-11 in the final period, after being only 3-7 after three quarters. Lakin (4-8) would lead 30-28 with 5:52 remaining in the game, and go on a five-minute, 35-second drought. The Beavers would only score four points in that span, all coming at the foul line. Scott City took a 32-30 lead with 34.8 seconds left, after Jordan Horn connected on one of two free throws. On the ensuing possession, Lakin would drill their final points of the night, as Diego Davila was left open for a three-point shot, and hit it with about 17 seconds remaining. The Beavers would get the last points of the game with 4.5 seconds remaining, after Jess Drohman was pushed. Drohman, was only 7-8 at the foul line coming into the game, sank both free throws around a Bronc timeout to give Scott City a 34-33 lead. Lakin had one final chance, as Dawsen Shalberg’s last second three pointer hit off the side of the rim, and the Beavers escaped with the win. Bo Hess led the way with 10 points for Scott City, with eight in the second half. The Beavers ended up going 10-18 at the foul line, and had 11 turnovers. Lakin was led by Dawsen Shalberg with 14 points. The Broncs were 6-8 at the foul line and had only nine turnovers. With the win, Scott City has now won 14 straight games in the series since 2008, and have not lost in Lakin since 1995. That win streak in Lakin has reached 11 consecutive road wins for the Beavers in the series, that started in 1997. That does not include last year’s sub-state semi-final, which is considered a neutral-court game. Scott City is now 4-1 on the road this year.

Coach Brian Gentry Postgame