Lady Indians Earn Win Over Cheylin
Boys Lose Close Contest
The Cheylin Cougars were in St. Francis on Valentine's Day, February 14, to compete in high school basketball. The varsity Lady Indians earned a nice win over the Lady Cougars. The varsity Indians lost a highly contested game to the Cougars by a narrow margin.
In the varsity girls contest, the Lady Indians held a slim 9-8 lead after the first quarter of action, but increased their lead throughout the remainder of the contest to win easily, 48-28. A basket by Clarice Neitzel with 3:15 left in the second period gave the Lady Indians a five-point advantage (17-12). The Lady Indians earned a 22-14 lead by halftime.
A nice pass from Justice Wiley to Clarice Neitzel resulted in the final basket of the third period (0:32) to bring the score to 36-18. Both teams were committing numerous turnovers, but the Lady Indians were converting some of the Lady Cougar miscues into baskets, while Cheylin was having trouble scoring. The Lady Indians led 41-18 with just over seven minutes left in the final period and coasted to a 48-28 victory.
Clarice Neitzel led the Lady Indians in scoring with 16 points, Kyla Bandel added 10 and Kaitlin Figgins 9. The Lady Indians were 10-18 from the free throw line.
Shayla Hubbard led the Lady Cougars with 9 points. The Lady Cougars were 1 of 2 from the line. There was no junior varsity girls contest as the Lady Cougars only had seven available players.
The varsity boys game was close throughout with the largest point spread being seven points and the lead changing several times during the contest. St. Francis trailed 10-12 after one quarter of play.
A steal and basket by Mason Schiltz moved the score to 14-12 with 7:32 left in the second period and sparked a run by the Indians. A trey by Cade Bracelin followed by a steal and basket by Bracelin advanced the scored to 21-14 with just over 5 minutes left in the half. The Cougars would mount a comeback, helped in part by a couple of Indian turnovers and fouls. The score stood at 29-25 at halftime.
Cheylin took the lead (31-32) at the 4:42 mark in the third period and stretched the lead to 32-38 with just over two minutes remaining on two consecutive treys. A trey by Mason Schiltz tied the contest with 1:32 left in the third quarter. St. Francis trailed 40-42 after three quarters of action.
Cheylin scored on an out-of-bounds play at 6:42 to increase the deficit to 40-46. Another trey by Mason Schiltz moved the score to 43-46. A stick-back basket by Cheylin's 6' 8" Joshua Keltz (plus one) gave the Cougars a 43-49 advantage at 5:18. At 4:36, a foul on Cheylin, followed by a player technical foul, placed Isaac Schiltz at the line. Isaac made both free throws to trim the lead (45-49). Jonathan Butler made a nice pass to Matt Tygart for a basket with 3:56 left (47-52). Isaac Schiltz followed with a long two-point basket from the left corner to get the Indians within three points. After a Cheylin time-out, Ty Carmichael scored for the Cougars (2:08, 49-54).
With 1:32 left, Isaac Schiltz was fouled on a three-point shot. Isaac made only one of the throws (50-55). Cheylin begain to "milk the clock," and the Indians were forced to foul. St. Francis did not have enough team fouls to send Cheylin to the line and were forced to play some more defense. Jonathan Butler stole the ball from Cheylin with 58 seconds left, but quickly turned the ball over to the Cougars again. With 47 seconds left, Cheylin called time out.
Dylan Peter grabbed the rebound on the missed shot by the Cougars. Isaac Schiltz missed his three-point attempt on the next Indian possession, but the ball was rebounded by Jonathan Butler. Cheylin fouled on the rebound and Jonathan made the first free throw. With 16 seconds left, St. Francis called time out.
After the time out, Jonathan made the second free throw. The score now stood at 52-55, Cougars. St. Francis fouled on the inbounds pass, and Kenan Reeh made both free throws to preserve the win for the Cougars. St. Francis had two more unsuccessful shot attempts in the final seconds, but lost the hard-fought contest 52-57.
The St. Francis scoring was led by Isaac Schiltz (17), Mason Schiltz (13), and Cade Bracelin (9). The Indians were 6 of 9 from the line.
Cheylin was led by Jeremiah White with 16 points. Joshua Keltz added 14. The Cougars were 5 of 9 from the stripe.
The junior varsity boys led 12-11 after one period. The Indians earned some nice baskets on the break to gain a 27-18 advantage by halftime. The Cougars had a tough time scoring in the third period, and Indians led 42-20 after three periods of play. The Indians turned the ball over several times in the fourth period allowing Cheylin to close the margin, but the Indians held on to win the contest 54-41.
Karly Bandel and Brady Dinkel were awarded basketballs for their participation in the youth basketball program. The basketballs were presented by Kaitlin Figgins and Mason Schiltz.
The teams will play Greeley County (Tribune) in St. Francis on Friday, February 17th. Games begin at 4:45 PM with all games being played in the high school gymnasium. The JV girls and boys will each play two quarter contests.
