Scott City boys, Lakin girls take home wins

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Coming off midseason tournaments this past Saturday, Scott City and Lakin battled in a doubleheader Tuesday night at Scott Community High School. Both the winning teams never trailed in their games. Lakin took the girls game 55-41, while the Beaver boys prevailed 66-33.

Lakin’s lead didn’t grow until the second half. Scott City was able to stay within striking distance in the first half, trailing 14-9 after the opening quarter. The closest the Lady Beavers could get was three at 18-16 with 4:28 remaining in the half. That’s when the Lady Broncs used a 7-3 run to push their lead to 25-19 at the break. Lakin (7-7) was able to pull away in the third quarter, holding Scott City without a basket for nearly four minutes, while scoring 12 straight during that time frame, to build up their biggest lead at 42-24 with 1:20 left in the quarter. The Lady Beavers weren’t finished though. They would score seven straight to pull to within 48-38 with 5:01 left, but, six unanswered by the Lady Broncs would put the game away for good, and they would ride onward to their seventh win in their last nine games. Leading the way for Lakin was Robin Ritsema with 15 points, while Kara Simmons added 14 and Mariah Watkins finished with 11. Scott City (2-9) got two players into double figures, as Riley Hawker had a career-best 13 points, and Kelly Wycoff had 11.

The finale of the night turned out to be a one-sided affair. Scott City pulled away early on and led 19-7 after one period. They would end up with a 10-0 run to build a 15-point lead early in the second quarter to lead 22-7. The run would eventually end up being a 17-4 run, as the Beavers led 29-9 with 2:56 left before intermission. Lakin came back with an 11-5 run right before halftime, but a Trey O’Neil pull up halfcourt shot to end the first half ended any momentum the Broncs have, as it was 37-20 at the break. Scott City (10-1) used a 15-0 run to put the game away in the third quarter, and led 52-20 before Lakin scored their first points of the half. Leading 56-27 going into the fourth quarter, Scott City rattle off eight straight to push their lead to the biggest of the night at 37, before the final margin settle in on 33 points at 66-33. Four Beavers were in double figures, led by Trey O’Neil with 19, Brett Meyer and Sloan Baker with 11 and Dylan Hutchins with 10. Lakin (5-8) got 10 points off the bench from Javier Esquivel.

Scott City will hit the road for a doubleheader on Friday at Liberal, while Lakin hosts Deerfield in the Kearny County Shootout.