Scott City closes out regular season with a sweep of Goodland

Goodland, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Coming off a couple of tough losses on Friday night at home, the Scott City Beavers looked to cap off the regular season with wins in Goodland on Tuesday night at the Max Jones Fieldhouse. And the Beavers would deliver. The Lady Beavers would lead most of the night to clinch a share of the GWAC title with a 57-41 win, while the boys would survive a wild fourth quarter in an 81-77 win.

Girls
Coming off a pair of close losses on Friday, Scott City and Goodland met up for their second meeting of the year. After the Cowgirls led 2-0, the Lady Beavers never trailed the rest of the night. A 9-0 Scott City run gave them the 9-2 lead with 5:33 remaining in the first quarter. They would also use runs of 1o-0 and 9-0 in the first half. Their 10-0 run started in the final minute of the first quarter, as they led Goodland 17-8 after the first quarter, and started the first two and a half minutes of the second quarter with six straight to lead 23-8. The Lady Beavers would go scoreless for the next four minutes. Unfortunately for the Cowgirls would only be able to score three points during that stretch. A 9-0 Scott City run, highlighted by a Lyndi Rumford three gave Scott City the 32-11 lead.

In the third quarter, the Lady Beavers would lead by as many as 22 early in the third quarter, before the Cowgirls would pull to within 18 on several occasions. Scott City (16-4, 8-2 GWAC) would lead by no more than 22 in the third quarter, as they took a 43-23 lead into the fourth quarter. The Lady Beavers led in the final frame by as many as 26 at 53-27 with 4:40 left. Goodland (1-19, 0-10) would close the game with a 14-4 run to make the final 57-41.

Lyndi Rumford had a career-high 15 points, with 12 coming in the fourth quarter. Emily Weathers added 14 points and Emily Smith finished with 10 points. Scott City was 13-19 at the charity line and finished with 16 turnovers. Goodland got a career-high 13 points from Demi Mitchek and 10 for Brooke Drennan. The Cowgirls finished 11-22 at the free throw line and had 21 turnovers. Scott City won the rebounding edge 26-18.

With the win, Scott City has won three straight in the series for the first time since a string a runs from December, 2011-February 2013. It was Scott City’s first win in Goodland since December 2, 2011. The Cowgirls lead the series 25-21 since 1985. Tuesday night’s win gave the Lady Beavers at least a share of the GWAC title, their first. It was also their eighth conference win, their most since the 2001-02 season. Ulysses plays at Colby on Friday. A Lady Tiger win would give them a share of the title with Scott City.

Coach Sarah McCormick Postgame

Boys
In the first meeting, Goodland used a 21-0 run in the first half to build a big lead, and hang on for the win. This time around, Scott City would start out hot shooting, hitting seven three pointers in the first period on their way to a 27-20 first quarter lead. The Beavers led by as many as 12 in the first period at 26-14 with 2:14 left in the period. Goodland answered back with 10 straight in a three and a half minute stretch to get to within 27-24 with 6:42 left in the half. Scott City scored the next three points, only to see the Cowboys close the first half on a 10-3 run to make it 39-36 Beavers at the break.

The second half saw Scott City score the first four points to lead 43-36 in the first 64 seconds of the half. Goodland (12-8, 5-5 GWAC) scored the next nine points, and went on an 11-3 run to take their second lead at 47-46 with 3:47 left in the third quarter. After a three pointer by Jackson Lewis gave the Beavers a 49-47 lead with 3:38 left in the period. That would spark a Scott City 10-0 run to lead 56-47 with under a minute left in the third quarter. After taking a 56-49 lead into the quarter, the Beavers would maintain the lead in the final eight minutes. They would take a 65-55 lead with 4:27 left. Goodland would pull to within six on a pair of occasions to get to within 68-62 with 3:02 left. When it looked like Scott City (10-10, 5-5) would lock the game up with a Marshal Faurot three-point play with 2:49 left, the Cowboys would cut the margin down to nine at 71-67 with 1:50 left. The Beavers would eventually pull away once again to take a 79-71 lead with 41.9 left. Somehow, some way, Goodland got back late in the game. It all started for the Cowboys at the foul line, hitting the next six points to pull to within 79-77 with 6.2 seconds left. That included Jordan Horn fouling out, and a questionable technical foul on the Beavers, that gave the Cowboys four free throws and the possession back. After some confusion on who should be shooting the free throws, Goodland would eventually shoot the free throws from the foul and then the technical fouls. The Cowboys hit three of four, then hit two more to pull to within 79-77. The Beavers would put the game on ice with a pair of Lewis free throws with 5.2 seconds left, and somehow escaped Goodland with an 81-77 win.

Jordan Horn finished with a career-high 31 points, with 15 coming in the first quarter, while Marshal Faurot finished with 17 and Jackson Lewis added 15, which was a career-high. Horn has had at least 30 points for a second time this year. The Beavers were 24-33 at the free throw line, including a 22-28 performance in the fourth quarter. Goodland got a career-high 26 points from Dawson Raymer, 15 from Wence Hendrich, 12 by Levi Archer and 10 points off the bench from Mark Rodriguez. The Cowboys went 21-28 at the foul line and had 12 turnovers. Goodland outrebounded Scott city 21-16.

With the win, Scott City has now won 23 out of their last 25 over Goodland since 2005, and are now 1-8 when allowing over 60 points. Both teams not only had their season high in points, but also allowed their most points of the season. The teams will also finish in a tie for fourth place in GWAC play. The 81 by Scott City was the most in a game since scoring 81 vs Russell in 2015 in a sub-state first round game. It was also the most on the road since scoring 80 at Colby in February of 2015.

Coach Brian Gentry Postgame

Scott City girls will be the top seed in the Colby Sub-State and will host Goodland on Tuesday, who is the eighth seed. Cimarron will be the second seed, followed by Norton, Colby, Southwestern Heights, Phillipsburg and Lakin in the seventh spot.

The Scott City boys, who also got a win by Southwestern Heights, moved into the fourth spot in the Colby Sub-State, will host the Mustangs on Monday. Goodland is the third seed and will host Cimarron on Monday. Lakin is the second seed, Colby the seventh and North the eighth seed.

Brackets will be officially released on Wednesday.