Scott City basketball has rough Friday in Colby

Colby, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Playing in the championship semi-finals, Scott City faced a pair of teams that are making their debut in the 34th Annual Paul Wintz/Tom Bowen Orange & Black Classic. Both were going to be tough tasks for the Beavers. Unfortunately in both, it would end in a pair of losses. Hays would knock off the defending tournament champion Scott City 68-50 in the girls game, while the Maize boys pulled away in the second half for a 67-45 win.

Hays Girls 68, Scott City 50
Turnovers and foul trouble would plague Scott City in their first-ever matchup with Hays High. The Lady Indians did jump out to a 6-0 lead early on, only to see the Lady Beavers respond. Trailing 8-2, Scott City went on an 11-3 run to take a 13-11 lead with 1:40 left in the first quarter. Hays closed out the quarter with the last five points, and added the first two of the second period to lead 18-11. Their run after trailing 13-11 turned out to be 12-2 over a three-minute stretch to lead 23-15 with 6:47 left in the half. Foul trouble plagued the Lady Beavers, as Lyndi Rumford and Emily Weathers sat a majority of the second period with three fouls. Hays would eventually explode, with a 14-2 run to lead 40-22 at intermission.

Scott City (6-4) made one early surge to begin the second half, pulling to within 40-27 with 6:24 left in the third frame. However, the Lady Indians would slowly pull away and lead 56-36 to end the third period. They led by as many as 20 on a pair of occasions. The Lady Beavers used an 8-0 run to get to within 62-50 with 3:20 left. That would be their final points of the afternoon, as Hays (6-3) scored the games final six points en route to their third consecutive win. The 68 points by the Lady Indians were a season-high yielded by the Lady Beavers.

Hays was led by Savannah Schneider with 25 points, while Jaycee Dale and Mattie Hutchinson each had 10 points. The Lady Indians finished 22-26 at the foul line and had 19 turnovers. Scott City got 18 points from Lyndi Rumford. They shot 4-8 at the free throw line and had 26 turnovers, with 20 coming in the first half. Unofficially, Scott City held a 24-19 rebounding edge.

The Lady Beavers dropped to 30-41 all-time in Orange & Black play, and 4-4 in the championship semi-finals.

Coach Sarah McCormick Postgame

Maize Boys 67, Scott City 45
Scott City knew it would be in for a big task against the No. 1 team in Class 5A. Maize would never trail, staring off leading 7-0, and after the Beavers pulled to within 9-6 with 3:36 remaining in the first quarter, a 9-2 run closed out the period to take an 18-8 lead going into the second quarter. The Eagles were able to keep the Scott City at arms length. Maize (11-0) built a 28-14 lead with 2:11 left in the first half, before the Beavers ended with a 6-0 run to pull to within 28-20 at the break.

Scott City (6-4) pulled to within six on four occasions in the first two minutes of the second half, with the last coming at 36-30 with 5:41 left in the third quarter. The Beavers would have a couple chances to get closer, but misfired on a couple shots. Then a lengthy scoring drought would take place. Over the next eight minutes, Maize went on a 21-0 run to lead 57-30 with six minutes remaining. Scott City would get as close as 63-44 with three minutes left, before falling 67-45 in their first-ever meeting with the Eagles.

Maize got 18 points from Brandle Easter, 16 from Devon Koehn, 12 by Caleb Grill and 10 from Chase Schreiner. The Eagles did not commit a turnover in the first 15 minutes and 22 seconds of the game, and finished with only six. They shot 14-17 at the foul line. Leading Scott City was Marshall Faurot with 13 points and Evyan Smith had 10. They were 9-15 shooting at the foul line and had 14 turnvoers. Maize won the rebounding battle 26-21.

Scott City drops to 7-4 in the championship semi-final and are now 34-19 all-time in the Orange & Black. Maize is in their first Orange & Black Tournament.

Coach Brian Gentry Postgame

The Scott City girls will take on Highland Park in the 3rd & 5th Place game Saturday afternoon at 4 pm at Colby High School. Highland Park fell to Colby 46-42. Scott City’s boys will face Colby in the Community Building at 4 pm Saturday afternoon in the 3rd & 5th Place game, after the Eagles lost to Pine Creek 66-51.