Oakley Sweeps Sainty in Basketball
The St. Francis teams traveled to Oakley on Friday evening, January 11th, to compete with the Plainsmen in high school basketball. Oakley earned four wins on the night.
The evening's first action saw the girls junior varsity teams playing two quarters. St. Francis played hard, but lost to the Lady Plainsmen by a score of 19-32. Oakley defeated the Indians in the junior varsity boys game by a score of 23-66.
In girls varsity action, the highly ranked Lady Plainsmen wasted little time in showing their skills jumping out to a 7-16 first quarter lead. Using changing half court defenses and a swarming 2-2-1 press, the Lady Plainsmen gave the Lady Indians constant pressure which resulted in numerous mistakes by the Sainty team. The Lady Indians trailed 12-34 with 3:05 remaining in the 2nd quarter and 12-40 at halftime. Oakley continued to extend their lead throughout the game, leading 22-64 at the end of the third quarter and went on to win 27-77. Sidnee Crabtree led the Lady Indians in scoring with 8 points. Three Lady Plainsmen scored in double figures (Kuhlman 21, Weiser 13, and Teeters 13).
The boys varsity game was a low scoring contest. The game was close throughout most of the game. The score was tied at 6 at the end of the first quarter and at 15 points at halftime. Both teams showed good patience on offense and worked hard defensively. Neither team shot the ball very well on the evening. The Plainsmen jumped out to quick 10 point lead with 3:10 left in the 3rd quarter. Matt Raile fouled out with about a minute left in the quarter. St. Francis cut the lead to 19-26 at the end of three quarters of play. The fourth quarter saw St. Francis close the gap to 2 points with 3:40 remaining in the game. Both teams struggled to score during the closing minutes and Oakley won the game 33-34. Ted Crabtree (10) and Trent Kinen (9) led the Indians in scoring.
Next action for the teams will be Tuesday when the team play in the Oberlin Invitational.
