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Most teams advance at sub-state

Marion County teams tackle sub-state tournament play this week and many of them are off to a great start.

Hillsboro High School’s girls team won a Central Kansas League title and the boy’s team defeated Ell-Saline to advance.

Centre High School’s girls team also grabbed a victory along with both Peabody-Burns and Goessel High.

Hillsboro girls win league championship

Winning a Central Kansas League basketball title would’ve seemed unfathomable for the Hillsboro High School girls’ team four years ago. 

Halstead’s owned the series and features one of the state’s top players in Karena Gerber. Nickerson’s one of Class 4A’s best, and Hesston and Haven have provided its share of headaches for Hillsboro, too. 

That was then and this is now, and believe it.

The Trojans are CKL champions for the first time in eight years. 

Hillsboro outlasted visiting Nickerson on Senior Night and whipped Larned, 51-20, two nights later in Hillsboro to clinch the title. 

The Trojans take the top seed and their 17-3 record to the Ell-Saline sub-state at Brookville this week. 

Trojan boys defeat Ell-Saline

The top-seeded Trojan boys opened the first round of sub-state Monday night in Hillsboro against winless eighth-seed Ell-Saline. 

Hillsboro exploded out of the gate, racing to a 20-6 lead after the first quarter, en route to a 68-32 waltz over the Cardinals. 

The Trojans will travel to Thursday to Brookville for a rematch with the Moundridge Wildcats, who handed Hillsboro one of its three losses in the second game of the season. 

Hillsboro left little doubt it’s going to be a bone to be chewed, beating the Cardinals 33-23 in rebounding, including an 11-2 edge in offensive rebounds. 

Grayson Ratzlaff and Matt Potucek combined for 26 points with 13 each and Brekyn Ratzlaff tossed in 11 in a contest which all Trojans scored a basket. 

Ell-Saline was done by halftime, down 36-16, with the stifling Hillsboro defense forcing 23 turnovers — 19 off steals with Potucek picking up a game-best 4. 

A 24-7 third quarter made for a running clock the second half with the Trojans building a 60-23 lead heading into the final stretch. 

The Trojans’ 1-for-9 shooting from behind the arc was the biggest sore spot on the night with Hillsboro hitting 47 overall, but Brekyn’s triple 20 seconds into the fourth quarter opened a 63-23 lead. 

The win lifts the Trojans to 17-3 heading into Thursday’s rematch. 

Peabody-Burns scores victory over Burrton

Peabody-Burns scored a sweet victory over Burrton 62-22 in front of the home crowd Friday and is now ranked eighth in the state.

The team faces Central Plains at home again this Friday.

Marion boys end season 5-15 for the year

The season came to a bumpy end Monday night in Cottonwood Falls with the Marion boys taking on the hosting Chase County Bulldogs in the first round of the Chase County sub-state. 

The Bulldogs eliminated the sixth-seed Warriors with a 57-41 loss, ending Marion’s season at 5-15 in coach David Rayner’s first year. 

The loss marked the end for seniors Will Alleven, Seth Lanning, Bryce Mermis, Braeden Mercer, and Burt Harshman. 

Centre girls advance; boys’ season ends

Playing a team with a record of 1-14, the Centre girls defeated Chase 42-4 at home Thursday in a quarterfinal of the Class IA Division II sub-state tournament.

Scorers were Samantha Espinoza, 15; Alyssa Espinoza, 13; Lexis Brewer, 8; Lili Espinoza, 6; Alex Remmers and Cailey Barney, 5 each; and Allie Stuchlik, 2.

Centre will play Elyria Christian on Thursday in the sub-state semifinal at host Peabody-Burns.

Lane Methvin, the only senior on the boys team, played his last game as a Centre Cougar Friday in a quarterfinal sub-state game at Central Plains in Claflin. He scored 15 points and had five rebounds.

Luke Hudson led the team with 19 points, nine rebounds, and five steals. He made 9 of 10 free throws. Quinten Bina and Mikey Silhan scored 6 points each.

The Cougars fought hard against the quick, aggressive Oilers but lost 72-48, ending a winless season.

Coach Richard Idleman hopes his young team will come back bigger and better next year.

Goessel boys advance in substate play

Canton-Galva started the game with three three-pointers and led 9-3 in the first three minutes of Friday’s first-round sub-state game.

The taller Bluebirds had to scrap for every rebound and found a way to break the full court pressure.

The score was tied 13-13 at the end of the first quarter. Skyler Wuest hit the first of his five three-pointers to start the second quarter and Goessel would never relinquish the lead. The evenly matched game played to a 24-23 lead for Goessel at half-time.

The Bluebirds began the third quarter with four three-pointers (Wuest 3 and Jake Hiebert 1) to jump out to a 36-25 lead, but Canton-Galva would battle to within 8 points several times. Dawson Stutzman hit a lay-up to end the third quarter, giving Goessel their biggest lead 47-33.

Goessel’s rebounding allowed the Eagles only one shot on each possession, and even though the Bluebirds held a 10 point lead through most of the fourth quarter, the game seemed tense.

Goessel won this contest 69-55, advancing to the Class 1A Div 1 semi-final round against Little River (19-1) to be played at Canton on Friday. The Bluebirds have a record of 14-6.

Skyler Wuest hit a season high 31 points, 8 of 10 free-throws, 5 three-pointers, and 4 field goals. Caiden Duerksen finished with 12 points, Jake Hiebert 7, Eddie Gaeddert 6, Dawson Stutzman 4, Caleb Burkholder 4, Nate Zogleman 2, Luke Wiens 2 and Jacob Schrag 1.

Goessel High’s girls win at Lincoln

In the first round of sub-state action, the Goessel girls traveled to Lincoln as the fifth seed out of seven schools.

The Bluebirds led at the end of every quarter 16-11, 26-18, 37-24 and a final score 53-29. Lincoln played full court pressure the entire game and forced Goessel into 30 turnovers.

“When we were able to get into our offense and sets, we executed well,” said head coach Ryan Hoopes. Elizabeth Schmucker, the Bluebird senior point guard, hit three three-pointers and six of 10 freethrows, scoring a total of 20 points.

“The girls showed great perseverance and poise. Lizzie was huge for us today,” said Hoopes.

Goessel’s offense hit 46% of their field goals and forced the Leopards into shooting 17% from the field. The Bluebirds out-rebounded Lincoln 32-22.

Scoring for the Bluebirds: Schmucker 20, Lyna Lehrman 12, Kaleigh Guhr 9, Sarah Spurlin 4, Emily Flaming 4, Bethany Herrel 2, Jaicee Griffin 2.

Goessel (6-14) will play the number one seed, Little River (17-3) at Canton in the semi-final game of sub-state on Thursday evening.

Last modified March 4, 2021

 

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