Scott City basketball drops two in final day of Sterling Invitational

Sterling, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–The Scott City basketball teams wrapped up their final day of competition on Friday at the Sterling Invitational. It would be a tough day for both teams, as the Lady Beavers dropped a 32-31 heartbreaker to Smoky Valley in the third place game, while the boys would suffer a 56-16 loss to Southeast of Saline in the fifth place game. 

Smoky Valley Girls 32, Scott City 31
For a second consecutive Friday, the game would come down to a final shot. Smoky Valley would come out shooting hot at 64% in the first half, after the teams exchanged the lead early on. The Lady Vikings took a 17-12 lead after the first quarter, and used an 8-0 run to build a 25-14 lead with 2:36 left before intermission. Scott City made the final basket of the half to pull to within 25-16 at halftime, and after trailing 27-18 early in the second half, the Lady Beavers would go on a 13-0 run over a 10-minute stretch to lead 31-27 with 4:58 left. Unfortunately for Scott City, that would be their final points of the afternoon. Smoky Valley broke a 10:34 scoring drought with a banked in three midway through the fourth quarter to pull to within 31-30. The Lady Vikings hit two free throws out of four attempts down the stretch, with the last coming at the 43 second mark of the fourth quarter. Scott City had a final shot, and despite getting a good look, their three pointer would be too strong, as they dropped the game 32-31. 

Smoky Valley was led by Ellie Brumbaugh’s 11 points, all coming in the first half. They went 5-11 at the free throw line and had 16 turnovers. The Lady Vikings shot 34% for the game from the floor at 11-32. Scott City was led by Brooke Strine with 12 points, as they shot 32% for the game at 14-44. The Lady Beavers had nine turnovers and were just 2-4 at the foul line.

In the loss, Scott City dropped their first-ever meeting with Smoky Valley, and have lost two straight to Central Kansas League teams. 

Scott City       12-4-13-2-31
Smoky Valley 17-8-2-5-32

Scott City (2-8): Rumford 4 0-0 8; Strine 5 2-4 12; Latta 3 0-0 7; Felker 2 0-0 4; Cupp 0 0-0 0; Patton 0 0-0 0; Team: 14 2-4 31
Smoky Valley (6-4): Johnson 0 0-0 0; Brumbaugh 4 0-0 11; Priddy 2 1-2 5; VanDerWege 0 0-0 0; Haxton 0 2-3 2; Mullen 1 0-0 2; Rose 1 0-0 3; Adam 0 0-0 0; Hazelwood 2 2-4 7; Broxterman 1 0-2 2; Team: 11 5-11 32

Three Pointers: Scott City 1 (Latta 1), Smoky Valley 5 (Brumbaugh 3, Rose 1, Hazelwood 1); Turnovers: Scott City 9, Smoky Valley 16; Rebounds: Scott City 22, Smoky Valley 25; Fouls: Scott City 11, Smoky Valley 11; Fouled Out: None.

Southeast of Saline Boys 56, Scott City 16
This would be a game where Southeast of Saline could barely miss from the field. The Trojans shot 66% in their win over Kingman on Tuesday, and continued that trend from the beginning. They used runs of eight, and seven in the first half to build an 18-4 lead after the first period of play. Scott City would go ice cold from the floor over a stretch of nearly 14 minutes, where they saw Southeast of Saline score 26 straight, as they led 36-4 at the break and 41-4 with a little over five minutes left in the third quarter. The Beavers eventually put up eight third quarter points to get to within 47-12. A running clock in the final period saw the Trojans push their lead to 40, as they won 56-16. It was their fifth win in six games.

Nakari Morrical-Palmer led the way with 15 points, while Jaxson Gebhardt added 12 for Southeast of Saline, who shot 62% for the game at 24-39. They were 5-8 from the free throw line and had 11 turnovers. Gus Hawkins led Scott City with four points, as the Beavers shot just 19% for the game at 6-32 and were 3-6 from the foul line. They finished with 26 turnovers.

It was the first meeting between the two schools, and the first for Scott City against a team from the North Central Activities Association since 2015. 

Scott City      4-0-8-4-16
SE of Saline 18-18-11-9-56

Scott City (2-8): Serrano 0 0-0 0; I. Tarango 0 0-0 0; Rosin 1 0-0 3; King 0 0-0 0; Stevens 0 0-0 0; Thon 0 0-0 0; Culp 0 2-2 2; Hawkins 2 0-0 4; Bailey 1 0-0 2; Metzger 1 1-1 3; E. Tarango 0 0-2 2; Gooden 1 0-0 2; Team: 6 3-6 16
SE of Saline (6-5): Spano-Lund 1 0-0 2; Augustine 1 0-0 2; J. Gebhardt 5 1-1 12; Banks 4 1-2 9; Stumpf 1 0-0 2; Richardson 1 0-0 3; Harris 0 0-0 0; L. Gebhardt 1 0-0 2; Morrical-Palmer 7 0-1 15; Murray 0 2-3 2; Isaacson 0 0-0 0; Sawyers 3 1-1 7; Team: 24 5-8 56

Three Pointers: Scott City 1 (Rosin); SE of Saline 3 (J. Gebhardt 1, Richardson 1, Morrical-Palmer 1); Turnovers: Scott City 26, SE of Saline 11; Rebounds: Scott City 22, SE of Saline 25; Fouls: Scott City 12, SE of Saline 13: Fouled Out: None.

Coach Brian Gentry Postgame

The girls finals on Friday also included Chaparral defeating Hutchinson Trinity in the seventh place game 54-52, SE of Saline knocking off Kingman in the fifth place game 40-26, and Hugoton repeating as tournament champions with a 65-44 win over Sterling in a battle of unbeatens.

The boys finals on Friday saw Smoky Valley defeat Kingman 60-49 in the seventh place game, Lyons defeating Sterling 41-27 in the third place game, and Hugoton knocking off Hutchinson Trinity 73-60 in the championship game.

Scott City will have four of their next five games at home, beginning with Hugoton on Tuesday night.