Last NWKL Games with Goodland Played
On Friday evening, February 5th, a longstanding tradition came an end. St. Francis and Goodland played their last Northwest Kansas League contest in high school basketball. Goodland (and Colby) will no longer be members of the NWKL after the close of the 2009-2010 school year. Goodland won four of the five contests played during the evening.
The varsity boys game was a very exciting contest as the score and competition were close throughout the game. Both teams played good defense and worked the ball on offense to get good shots resulting in a low scoring contest early in the game. St. Francis lead 8-6 after one quarter and 22-16 at the halftime break.
In the second half, the pace of the action increased. Goodland regained the lead with 5:37 remaining in the third period (22-23). The game was a back and forth battle with the two teams exchanging the lead throughout the rest of the quarter. Goodland hit a trey at the 3rd quarter buzzer to take a 36-38 lead into the fourth quarter.
Goodland gained a six point advantage early in the fourth period, and the lead extended to seven points late in the contest. The score was 42-46 with 38 seconds remaining after Matt Raile sunk an critical trey. An Indian steal and the resulting lay-up by Trent Raile cut the lead to 44-46 with 24 seconds to go. The Indians were mounting a comeback. The Indians immediately fouled and Goodland made two free throws. The score was 44-48 with 22 seconds remaining. Trent Raile connected on a three with 14 seconds remaining to cut the Cowboy lead to 47-48. The Indians could not steal the inbound pass and were forced to foul again. Goodland sank both free throws to advance their lead to three points. A final Indian three point attempt at the buzzer rimmed out. The Indians lost an exciting contest to the Cowboys 47-50.
Trent Raile led the Indians in scoring with 20 points. Matt Raile scored 18 and Issac Schiltz had nine. No other Indian scored in the contest. Hillmer (15), Luther (12) and Colvan (10) all scored in double figures for the Cowboys.
In varsity girls action, the Lady Indians led 8-5 at the first quarter break. The Lady Indians extended their lead to 13-7 early in the second quarter, but the Cowgirls came back to take the lead 13-14. The Lady Indians trailed by two points (16-18) at halftime. In the second half, the Cowgirls forced several St. Francis turnovers and got a few easy conversion baskets to take command of the game. The Lady Indians trailed 23-31 after three quarters and lost the game 31-45.
Shayla Hilt led the Lady Indians in scoring with 10 points; Mikaela Grace added eight. Ashley Archer (19) and Jade Herl (15) were the leading scorers for the Cowgirls.
In junior varsity boys action, the Cowboys defeated the Indians by a score of 51-64. The C-Team boys lost a close contest to Goodland 37-38.
The junior varsity girls defeated the Goodland Cowgirls. The Lady Indians jumped out to a 10-7 lead after one quarter and extended the lead to 21-14 by halftime. Goodland cut the lead to 21-20 in the third quarter, but consecutive baskets by Jacquline Ketzner extended the St. Francis lead to 25-20 after three quarters. The Lady Indians went on to win the contest 36-26.
Next action for the teams will be on Tuesday, February 9th, when the teams travel to Sharon Springs to compete with the teams from Wallace County High School.
