Warrior girls off
to their best start since ’17
Staff writers
Marion
The Warriors extended their winning streak to five, beating Council Grove 29-24 Friday evening.
“For most of the game, we struggled to get anything going offensively,” coach Jason Hett said. “Our defense really stepped up from the second quarter on, and we limited them to just 15 points the rest of the game.”
Kenna Wesner led the team with 12 points, three rebounds, and four steals. Taryn Kraus scored nine and pulled down seven rebounds. Dylan Kraus pulled down nine rebounds and scored three points.
“When shots don’t fall, your defense has to be great, and that is what won us the ball game tonight,” Hett said.
This is the best start the Warriors have had since 2017.
Marion finished 6-2 in January, are 10-4 overall, and won the Cougar Classic at Centre.
“They play for each other and are a tight-knit group,” Hett said. “We want to host a first-round playoff game, so we will continue to push them and go out and compete the rest of this season.”
The Warriors’ next game will be Friday at home against Moundridge. It will be their second-to-last home game of the regular season.
Hillsboro
Hillsboro won a low-scoring affair 32-20 Friday night against Minneapolis.
“We were good enough defensively and executed well at times on offense,” coach Micah Ratzlaff said.
The Trojans came out hot with a 16-5 lead after the first quarter but scored only one point in the second quarter, allowing Minneapolis to get back into the game before halftime.
“We go through stretches where we…find ourselves not finishing or making bad decisions,” Ratzlaff said.
Hillsboro clamped down in the second half on both offense and defense, leading to a 32-20 victory in the end.
“Our goal is to find ways to score in all four quarters, and if we can do that, we will be scary moving into the postseason,” Ratzlaff said. “We have and will continue to play the toughest schedule of any 2A team this year.”
The Trojans’ next game will be Friday at home against Halstead.
Goessel
The Goessel girls held off a flurry of Sedgwick scoring in the fourth quarter to defeat the Cardinals 35-33.
The Bluebirds led 15-9 at half time and extended their lead to 26-16 at the end of three quarters.
But the Cardinals scored more in the fourth quarter than they had in the previous three periods combined. The Bluebirds had just enough of a lead to hold off the barrage.
Brooklyn Wuest led the Bluebirds with a season-high 16 points and 9 rebounds. Isabel Alderfer and Aimee Funk each added 8 points.
Goessel finished the week with an overall record of 7-6.
The Bluebirds will celebrate homecoming Friday, playing Wakefield (5-6) in a Wheat State League contest.
Centre
The Cougars canceled school and all activities Friday because of illness.
They had been scheduled to play Canton-Galva, but that game was rescheduled for 2 p.m. Feb. 15.
The Lady Cougars have a busy schedule ahead of them, with eight games to play in the final three weeks of the season.