Senior night sweep! Scott City takes care of Goodland
Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–The regular season is officially over. Tuesday’s games between Scott City and Goodland featured a pair of teams that will return to the same location next week for Sub-State. With a top seed on the line on Senior Night, the Lady Beavers held off a comeback effort from the Cowgirls in a 47-38 win, while the Scott City boys used a 22-6 second quarter run to take a 66-31 victory over the Cowboys to wrap up the regular season.
Girls
Second place in the Great West Activities Conference and the top seed in sub-state was on the line in the girls game. It took awhile for both teams to get going, but Scott City eventually led 12-10 after the first quarter, after a pair of ties. The Lady Beavers scored the first 10 points of the second quarter, and led 22-10 with 4:41 left before the break. Goodland rallied to pull to within 24-16 with 1:10 before half, when Scott City (11-9, 7-3 GWAC) scored a basket right before half to lead 26-16 at intermission. The Cowgirls scored only one field goal in a 14-minute, 56-second stretch from late in the first quarter to late in the third quarter. Scott City opened up the second half on a tear, with a 10-2 run to push their lead to 36-18 with 3:21 left in the third quarter. Goodland (9-11, 5-5) would come roaring back, scoring the final five points of the period to pull to within 36-23 heading into the final quarer. They would score the first five points of the fourth period to get to within eight in the first two minutes of the final quarter. The Cowgirls would use another run to get to within 40-36 with 2:26 left. However, the Lady Beavers scored the next seven points to go up 47-36 with 47 seconds left. A pair of free throws by Goodland would close the scoring out. Emily Smith, who was scoreless on Friday at Hugoton, bounced back with a career-high 14 points, while Bailey Latta had 1o for Scott City. The Lady Beavers had 24 turnovers and were only 9-25 at the free throw line. Goodland got a game-high 16 points from Margaux Thompson. The Cowgirls finished with 17 turnovers in the game, and were 12-26 at the foul line. With the win, Scott City clinches the top seed in the Scott City Sub-State, while Goodland will be the second seed. The Lady Beavers also snapped a five-game losing streak to the Cowgirls. Their 7-3 mark in GWAC play and the second place finish is their highest finish since the league was formed. It is their highest finish in conference play since finishing second in the MSAA in the 2008-09 season, and the seven conference wins were the most since going 7-3 in the 2003-04 season.
Coach Sarah McCormick Postgame
Boys
Scott City and Goodland knew they would be playing each other in back to back games heading into Tuesday night’s game. With the teams set to match up again in sub-state next week, carrying momentum into the postseason would be big. Despite trailing 2-0 early on, the Beavers had control of this game. They scored the next six points and never trailed. Scott City took a 14-7 first quarter lead, and stretched to 20-9 with 5:47 left in the half. After the Cowboys got to within 22-13 with 2:31 left before the break, the Beavers closed out the half on a 14-2 run to lead 36-15 at intermission. Scott City (12-8, 5-5 GWAC) led by as many as 31 points in the third quarter at 49-18 with 4:21 left in the third frame. The closest Goodland (9-11, 3-7) was able to get was at 25 points with 3:27 left in the third quarter at 49-24. It was 57-29 after thre quarters, before the Beavers forced a running clock by scoring the first seven points of the fourth quarter, en route to the 35-point win at 66-31. Bo Hess led the way for the Scott City with 21 points. The Beavers only committed five turnovers and were 6-8 at the foul line. Goodland got a team-high six points from Dawson Raymer, as they had 21 turnovers, and were only 1-3 at the charity line. With the win, Scott City has now won their eighth straight in the series over Goodland, and have now had 13 consecutive seasons of a non-losing record in conference play. The Beavers are 10-4 when scoring 50 or more points this season.
Coach Brian Gentry Postgame
Sub-State pairings for the Class 4A, Division II Sub-State in Scott City will be made official on Saturday, but it looks like on the boys side it will be Holcomb vs Colby and Scott City vs Goodland on Thursday, March 2. On Friday, March 3, Scott City will take on Colby and it will be Holcomb vs Goodland on the girls side.
