Boys Win Third Place in NWKL Tournament
Girls Defeat Western Plains
In the final round of the Northwest Kansas League Basketball Tournament in Quinter on Saturday, January 21st, the St. Francis teams both earned victories. The Lady Indians defeated Western Plains 67-31 and the boys earned an exciting come-from-behind win over Rawlins County.
In the boys third place game, the Indians faced the Rawlins County Buffaloes, a team they had played twice earlier in the season. The Indians won the first match-up and Rawlins County won the second. The Indians fell behind 0-5 before Isaac Schiltz connected on a trey wtih 5:33 left in quarter one to open the Indian scoring. The Indians had trouble stopping the excellent interior passing of the Buffaloes and trailed 6-15 with 1:30 left in the period. The first quarter closed with the Indians trailing 10-17.
Jonathan Butler nailed a trey with 7:04 left in the second period to cut the RC lead to 13-19, but the Buffaloes went on another run to advance the score to 13-28 with about 5 minutes left. Wyatt Landenberger connected on a trey at the 4:20 mark to give the Indians their second score of the quarter. With 3:23 left, the Indians had slipped to a 16-32 deficit. With 2:47 left in the half, Rawlins County's Damian Kogl, picked up his third foul and went to the bench. The Indians cut the lead to 13 points (26-39) by halftime.
The third quarter found Isaac Schiltz picking up his third foul at the 7:04 mark. A steal and basket by Isaac soon trimmed the lead to 30-39. With 5:46 left, Kogl picked up his 4th foul and again went to the bench. Without Kogl inside, the Buffaloes interior presence was not as strong. Things were looking better for the Indians. But.....Isaac Schitlz picked up his 4th foul at the 5:07 mark and also took a seat. The Indians were forced to play without their leading scorer. The Indians cut the lead to nine points several times, but got no closer until Steve Nelson drained a trey with 1:10 left in the third to cut the lead to seven (38-45). The third period closed with the Indians fighting hard but still down by eight (38-46).
A trey by Jonathan Butler with 6:59 remaining dropped the deficit to seven (41-48). The Buffaloes responded with three points. A basket by Isaac Schiltz moved the score to 45-53. With 5:24 remaining, RC's Kogl fouled out of the contest defending a post move by Matt Tygart. A stick-back basket by Mason Schiltz with 5:09 left cut the advantage to six (47-53). The Buffaloes scored a basket, and Isaac Schiltz answered with a trey with 4:20 left (50-55). Again the Indians could not get a stop, and the Buffaloes added to their point total. With 3:10 left, Mason Schiltz stole the ball from RC and passed ahead to Wyatt Landenberger who took the ball strong to the basket for two. (52-57). A short time later (1:52), Landenberger was fouled. Wyatt made one of two (55-59). On the next possession, Matt Tygart intercepted a errant Buffalo pass but the Indians could not capitalize and were forced to foul with 1:07 left. RC missed the free throw attempts, but St. Francis turned the ball over on their next possession. With 38 seconds left, Mason Schiltz scored to cut the deficit to two points (57-59). The ball become loose on the next RC possession, and Dylan Peter recovered the ball for the Indians with 23.4 seconds left. The Indians called time out. The Indians discussed their options, and executed their offense beautifully resulting in a trey from the left corner by Isaac Schiltz with 13 seconds left. The Indians had their first lead of the contest 60-59.
Rawlins County aggressively brought the ball down court and took the ball to the rim. Rawlins County was called for an offensive foul on the play with 5.7 seconds left. The Indians mishandled the ball, but Matt Tygart blocked a shot attempt by the Buffaloes with 2 seconds left to preserve the 60-59 win.
Isaac Schiltz scored 19 points to lead the Indians. Matt Tygart added 9 and Mason Schiltz 8. Kyler Zweygardt was 6-6 from the free throw line.
Rawlins County was led by 6'5" sophomore James Peterson with 22 points. Collin Clark (6'4" senior) scored 10 while Damian Kogl (6'2" senior) chipped in 8.
Click here to view/print the boys tournament bracket with results.
The Lady Indians picked up a much needed win over the Western Plains Bobcats in the seventh place game of the girls division. The Lady Bobcats roster looked much like the Lady Indians roster possessing only one junior and one senior. The Lady Indians jumped out to a quick 11-2 lead in the contest. The Lady Bobcats had trouble handling the Lady Indians full court pressure and did not get a shot attempt until the 5:48 mark of the first period. The Lady Indians led 20-1 with 2:13 left in the first period. The Lady Indians also picked up several fouls early in the contest and had the Lady Bobcats in the bonus with 1:53 left in the first period. The period closed with the Lady Indians leading by twenty (26-6). Every Lady Indian suited for the game played in the first quarter.
The Lady Indians led 40-17 at halftime with the substitute players getting most of the the first half playing time. The advantage ballooned to 61-29 after three periods. The Lady Indians dominated the contest and cruised to a 67-31 win under a running clock.
Kaitlin Figgins scored 22 points in the contest. Freshman Kyla Bandel added 18 and Aly Schlepp chipped in 8 points. Freshman Kassi Paredes and sophomore Maci Hagelganz each scored eight for the Lady Bobcats.
The teams will host Weskan in St. Francis on Tuesday, January 24th.
Click here to view/print the girls tournament bracket with results.
Click the photos to see more photos!
