Scott City girls pummel Goodland, boys rally falls short

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Friday night was the midway point of the Great West Activities Association, as Scott City hosted Goodland in a pair of league games. In the end, it was a split, as the Lady Beavers poured it on in the second half with a 66-32 win, while the Cowboys held off Scott City’s late surge for a 63-59 win.

Girls
Scott City never trailed, jumping out to an 8-0 lead and 16-3 lead midway through the first quarter. They would also close out the period on a 9-4 run to take a 25-7 lead after the opening quarter. Goodland would show more fight in the second quarter, outscoring the Lady Beavers 10-9, despite not getting back to back baskets, and pulled to within 34-17 at the break. Scott City was only able to hit two field goals in the second period of play.

Whatever was said in the locker room was taken to heart by the Lady Beavers. Scott City (12-1, 5-0 GWAC) used a 14-2 run to build a 48-19 lead with 3:10 left in the third frame, and led by 31 points late in the third quarter. Goodland (1-13, 0-5) scored the final points to trail 53-27 heading into the final period. The Lady Beavers would score the first five points of the final quarter to force a running clock with 5:24 left at 58-27, and would proceed to score six of the final 11 points of the game, en route to their season-high 66 points in a 66-32 win.

For a second straight game, 10 Lady Beavers scored, led by Emily Weathers with 12, 11 by Emily Smith and 10 off the bench from Lyndi Rumford. Weathers scored 10 of her points in the second half while battling foul trouble. Scott City went 11-19 at the foul line, and committed 13 turnovers. Goodland was led by Elle McDaniel and Kerrigan Rudolph with 12 points. Rudolph’s 12 were a career-high. The Cowgirls were 9-15 on free throw shooting, and had 25 turnovers.

With the win, it was their first time since the last meeting of the 2012 season and the first meeting in the 2013 season that the Lady Beavers have won back to back against the Cowgirls. It was also their largest margin of victory over Goodland since December of 1982, when they won 73-53. Scott City has won six consecutive league games dating back to last season, dating back to the 2001-02 and 2002-03 seasons.

Coach Sarah McCormick Postgame

Boys
It definitely seemed like deja vu again for Scott City. In Tuesday night’s loss against Lakin, the Beavers trailed by 21 in the first quarter, aided by poor shooting and the Broncs hardly missing anything. Friday night felt like a mirror image. After Scott City led 5-2 with 5:05 remaining in the first quarter, Goodland (8-5, 3-2 GWAC) went on a 21-0 tear to take a 23-5 lead with 4:57 left in the half. It would be a nine-minute, 50-second scoring drought, and a 10-minute, 15-second field goal drought for the Beavers that hurt them. The Cowboys closed the first half on a 6-2 run to take a 33-13 halftime lead, and led by as many as 22 in the first half.

Scott City would get the scoring going in the second half, primarily from behind the arc. Following a Cowboy 39-18 lead with 6:36 remaining in the third frame, the Beavers used a 12-0 run to pull to within 39-30 with 5-11 left in the quarter. It would get to 43-35 with a minute left in the third quarter when it seemed that would be the last rally for Scott City (5-8, 2-3). Goodland used a 10-2 run to take a 53-37 lead with 6:07 left, aided by a four-point trip. The Beavers would eventually chip away at the deficit. A 20-7 run got them to within 60-57 with 25.4 seconds left. However, the Cowboys would sink three of their final four free throws to hang on for the win.

Peyton Siek, who came in shooting just 45% at the free throw line, was 7-7 there and led Goodland with 19 points, while Dawson Raymer added 14 and Wence Hendrich finished with 12. The Cowboys finished 12-21 at the charity line, including a 7-15 fourth quarter, and finished with 16 turnovers. Scott City was led by Jordan Horn’s game-high 20 points and Marshal Faurot added 10. Horn has scored 20 points in four of his last five games. The Beavers were only 3-4 at the foul line and had 10 turnovers. They connected on 13 three’s in the loss.

Goodland snapped a 12-game losing streak in Scott City, and won in Scott City for the first time since February 20, 1996, when both teams were in the Northwest Kansas League. It also snapped a nine-game losing streak to the Beavers. Scott City’s last loss was in Goodland on February 11, 2014 in a 46-42 setback.

Coach Brian Gentry Postgame

Scott City will host the Cimarron Bluejays on Tuesday night. Both of Cimarron’s teams are 7-6 on the year after the Lady Jays won 58-37 and the boys 60-45 at Wichita County on Friday. Goodland returns home to host rival Burlington on Tuesday.