Scott City boys avenge lone loss to Holcomb; Lady Longhorns pull away late

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–In a near-capacity crowd on Tuesday night at Scott Community High School, you knew the atmosphere would be similar of that to a postseason atmosphere. With the Great West Activities Conference boys title on the line, Scott City would tie Holcomb in the league standings with two games left, knocking off the Longhorns 75-64, while in the girls game, Holcomb would pull away in the fourth quarter to win 57-31.

The first game of the night may have not had the talk of the boys game, but both teams started off well. While Scott City had a 3-0 lead early on, Holcomb would score 10 of the final 11 points of the first quarter to take a 15-6 lead after one period. The Lady Beavers would not go down without a fight. They may have played one of their best, if not, their best quarter of the season, outscoring the Lady Longhorns 16-11 in the second frame to trail 26-22 at the break. That’s where Holcomb (10-8, 5-3 GWAC) took charge. They put in the first eight points of the third quarter to lead 34-22 with 4:52 left in the third quarter. Scott City (3-15, 0-8) would pull to within 39-29 heading into the final quarter. Unfortunately for the Lady Beavers, that’s was their last run of the game. The Lady Longhorns put the game in doubt with an 18-2 fourth quarter run en route to their 10th win of the season. A trio of Holcomb players scored in double figures, led by Eboni Sapien with a game-best 16 points, followed by Taylor Deniston with 15 and Jordan Jarnagin with 14. Scott City was led by Bailey and Nicole Latta with eight points each. 

Shelby Crawford Postgame

Not too many times in a season you see two No. 1 ranked teams facing each other. Holcomb entered undefeated and ranked at the top of Class 4A, Division II, while Scott City, ranked No. 1 in 3A, was looking to return the favor to Holcomb, who gave them their lone loss on January 13 in a 61-53 final. The game saw four lead changes and five ties all in the first half. After Holcomb scored seven straight in the first quarter, the Beavers had a 9-5 run in the final 2:08 of the first quarter, including four in the final 32 seconds of the first period to take a 14-13 lead after one quarter. Scott City (17-1, 7-1 GWAC) and the Longhorns would trade baskets for the first couple minutes of the second quarter. The Beavers would eventually take the lead using a 7-0 run, and would never relinquish the lead the rest of the way. It was 32-25 Scott City at half. To start the second half, Holcomb (17-1, 7-1) would pull to within 32-29 early in the third quarter, then the Beavers used a 13-2 run over a two-minute, 18-second stretch to lead 45-31 midway through the third quarter. The Scott City lead would stay at 14 after the third at 53-39. In the fourth period, the Beavers led by as many as 15 at 60-45 with 4:54 left, before the Longhorns would make their final push of the game. A 14-2 run cut the Beaver lead to 62-55 with 2:27 left in the game. Scott City would weather the storm, and hit their final six free throw attempts of the game, en route to a share of the GWAC lead with two league games remaining, and win 75-4. Only five players scored for Scott City, and four finished in double figures, led by Brett Meyer with 24 points, while Trey O’Neil had 18, Bo Hess with 16 and Sloan Baker 15. Holcomb got 24 points from Trey Sleep, and 15 from Conner VanCleave.

Glenn O’Neil Postgame

After Tuesday night, the Larned Sub-State for Holcomb has Hugoton’s girls well into the top spot with a 15-2 record, Pratt is 14-4, Holcomb is 10-8, while Larned is sitting in the fourth spot with a 3-15 record. Holcomb’s boys have the top spot with a 17-1 record, Larned is 13-5, Hugoton 12-5 and Pratt is 10-8.  

For Scott City in the 3A Sub-State, the Lady Beavers remain tied with Ellsworth for the seventh spot with 3-15 records. Beloit clinched the top seed in the Beloit sub-state, thanks to a Minnepolis loss, who remains in the second spot. The Beaver boys, coupled with a Beloit boys loss, now has the top record with their 17-1 record, while the Trojans and Norton are 16-2. Russell will be the eighth seed with their 2-16 record, and Phillipsburg is currently sitting in the second spot with a 5-12 record.