Scott City sweeps Southwestern Heights

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Tuesday night’s doubleheader featured a pair of teams that are in the same sub-state. Scott City played host to the Southwestern Heights Mustangs in their final non-conference game of the year. The Beavers, looking to continue positive momentum into the postseason. And Scott City got just that. The Lady Beavers were never challenged from the beginning, and coasted to a 55-16 win, while the Beaver boys pulled away in the second half to take a 67-48 victory.

Girls
As much of a mismatch as it looked on paper, it certainly was on the court. The heavily-favored Lady Beavers wasted little time getting a lead, scoring the game’s first 10 points and led 16-3 after the first quarter. Another big run of 11-0 for Scott City (14-2) in a four-minute stretch pushed their lead to 23-3 lead with 5:43 left in the first half. They would also push that to a 21-2 run to lead by as many as 28 in the first half, before settling for a 35-11 halftime lead.

In the third quarter, the game would become stagnant, as few points were scored by both sides. The Lady Beavers would take a 41-15 lead into the final quarter. Scott City would score the first 14 points of the final frame to lead 55-15 with 2:07 remaining. Southwestern Heights (5-10) scored the final point of the game with around 30 seconds to make the final 55-16.

Two Lady Beavers scored double figures, led by Emily Weathers with 15 points, while Kaitlyn Roberts hit four second quarter threes to finish with 12 points. Scott City was 5-7 at the free throw line and committed 19 turnovers. Southwestern Heights was led by Tagan Couch’s six points on a pair of threes. The Lady Mustangs were just 6-15 at the charity line and had 19 turnovers. Scott City won the rebounding edge 34-12.

With the win, the Lady Beavers matched their win total from last year at 14, and it’s also the first time they have won 14 regular season games since the 2008-09 season. Scott City now leads the series with Southwestern Heights 3-1. The 16 points surrendered are the fewest by the Lady Beavers since February 10, 2011, when they gave up 13 to Ulysses. The 39-point margin was their largest win since their 43-point win against McCook in 2010.

Coach Sarah McCormick Postgame

Boys
Two teams that have not only won four of their last six games, but were attempting to get back to .500 on the season met up. It was tight early on, but in the end, it was Scott City that saw themselves pull away. The first quarter alone saw two ties and two lead changes, as both teams used a pair of 5-0 runs to exchange the lead. Scott City would take a 14-11 lead into the second quarter, and grow it to five early in the period. The Beavers grew their lead to 20-14 with 4:43 remaining in the first half, only to see Southwestern Heights go on an 8-0 run to lead 22-20 with 2:27 left in the first half. However, the Mustang lead would be the last of the night. Hunter Yager’s answerback three gave Scott City a 23-22 lead 10 seconds later, and it eventually saw the the Beavers counter with an 8-o run. It would be a 28-23 lead for the Beavers at the break.

To begin the second half, Scott City (8-8) started out on a 7-2 run to take a 35-25 lead with 6:23 remaining in the third quarter. Southwestern Heights would slowly get back into the game on a 10-4 run to pull to within 39-35 with 1:30 left in the third quarter. That was the closest the game would be the rest of the way. The Beavers closed out the final 1:11 on a 9-1 run to take a 48-36 lead into the fourth quarter. Only once did the Mustangs the the margin into single digits in the final eight minutes of play. After Southwestern Heights (6-8) pulled to within 51-42 with 6:14 left, Scott City put the game away for good with a 13-2 run and led 64-44 with 2:29 left, and eventually settled for a 67-48 win.

Nine players scored for Scott City, with six scoring at least five points. Jordan Horn led all scorers with 25 points, and Joe Evans tied a career-best nine points. The Beavers were 10-14 at the free throw line and finished with 11 turnovers. Southwestern Heights had three in double figures, led by Raul Alvarado and Efren Mercado with 12 points, while Jesse Olvera added 10. The Mustangs were only 5-12 at the foul line and had 18 turnovers. Scott City won the rebounding battle 25-15.

In the win, Scott City has a season-best three-game winning streak. They are now 3-2 when scoring at least 60 points. The Beavers have now improved their series advantage over Southwestern Heights 5-0, all played since 2013. Scott City remains in a tie with Cimarron for the fourth seed in the Colby Sub-State. The Beavers do hold the tiebreaker, and are scheduled to have all four of their remaining games count toward the sub-state seeding, while Cimarron will only have three games count. Southwestern Heights is one game behind both teams.

Coach Brian Gentry Postgame