Scott City, Holcomb split Tuesday night doubleheader

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Coming in to Tuesday night’s doubleheader, both games featured teams that had been on a similar course coming out of the Christmas break. Both the boys teams were 2-0 post break, while Holcomb’s girls were 1-1, and Scott City’s girls were 0-2, but could have been easily 2-0. Both games saw some streaks snapped by both winning teams, as the Lady Beavers took the first game 49-36, while the Holcomb boys prevailed 52-36 in the final game. 

Girls
For the second straight game, Scott City got off to a good start. There was no doubt that the Lady Beavers had their best first eight minutes of play all season, jumping out to an early 10-2 lead and a 14-7 advantage after the first quarter. Holcomb never tied or led in the game, and the closest in the first half they could get was three on a couple of occasions. On this night, the Lady Beavers would not have a scoring drought longer than 3:13. In the second quarter, both teams had a slower scoring pace, although Scott City outscored the Lady Longhorns 8-5 in the period to take a 20-12 lead at the break. Holcomb (3-5, 2-1 GWAC) scored the first point of the second half to pull to within seven, but that would be the closest they got the rest of the way. The Lady Beavers came in to the game hitting 12 three pointers on the year. They hit five in the third quarter. Scott City (2-5, 1-2) scored their first 12 points of the quarter and 15 of their 16 points were on three-point shots, as they led by as many as 16 at 32-16 with 4:46 left in the third period. The Lady Longhorns made one final push, as they used an 8-1 run in a three-minute span to pull to within 33-24 with 1:32 left in the third quarter. Going into the final quarter, the Lady Beavers led 36-24. Scott City controlled the final eight minutes of play, as they led by as many as 17 on two occasions. They scored their final nine points of the game all from the foul line in the final 4:56 of the game. While Scott City was 13-20 from the foul line, Holcomb scored half of their 36 points from the free throw line, going 18-28. Leading the way for Scott City was Bailey Latta with 15 points, hitting three three-pointers in the third quarter. Kaitlyn Roberts had a career-best 13 and Nicole Latta added 10. Holcomb got 14 points from Eboni Sapien. In the Scott City win, the Lady Beavers snapped a 13-game losing streak to Holcomb. Their last win against the Lady Longhorns came January 26, 2010, in a 58-49 win. Scott City’s 12-game GWAC losing streak is also over, as they last win in league play 45-44 over Goodland on February 25, 2014.

Coach Sarah McCormick Postgame

Boys
Two teams who have been at the top of the GWAC faced off, as both Holcomb and Scott City have won the first five league titles, splitting it last year. After two ties and two lead changes early on, the Longhorns took an 11-8 lead after the first quarter. The second quarter is where Holcomb (8-0, 3-0 GWAC) took control. They used a 14-2 run in the first 4:10 of the quarter to take a 25-10 lead. By half, they led 27-14. The Longhorns continued their big runs by using a 7-0 run in the first two minutes of the second half to extend their lead to 34-1 with 5:42 remaining in the third quarter. However, Scott City (4-3, 1-2) would chip back in to the lead. A 14-7 run by the Beavers got them to within 41-28 with 19 seconds remaining in the third frame. Holcomb would get a three pointer at the end of the third period by Christian Merz that ended Scott City’s momentum, and took a 44-28 lead into the fourth period. The Longhorns would also score the first five points of the final quarter to give them their biggest lead of the game at 49-28 with 6:04 remaining. Down the stretch, the Beavers would score eight of the games final 11 points, as both teams scored eight fourth quarter points in a 52-36 Longhorn win. Holcomb was led by Conner VanCleave with 15 points, while Christian Merz had 13, 11 coming in the second half. The 52 points by the Longhorns was their season low. Scott City was led by Bo Hess with 11 and Dylan Hutchins with 10. The Beavers’ 36 points were the second fewest of the season. The win by Holcomb on Tuesday night was their first win in Scott City since 2008, when they won 72-64. It was also the last time that the Beavers lost by double digits in league play at home since February of 2010, when they fell to Pratt 67-51. 

Coach Glenn O’Neil Postgame

Up next for Scott City is a road trip to Ulysses on Friday, while Holcomb travels to Goodland. Ulysses was swept by Hugoton on Tuesday night, as the Lady Eagles won 71-24, while the Hugoton boys needed overtime to defeat the Tigers 53-50. Colby swept Goodland, as the Lady Eagles won 52-47, while the Eagle boys snapped a 34-game losing streak in a 45-33 win over the Cowboys.