Junior High Girls Place Third
The Lady Indians placed third in the Northwest Kansas League Junior High Basketball Tournament in St. Francis on Tuesday, February 21. The Lady Indians played two games during the day, losing to Rawlins County and defeating Quinter.
St. Francis received a forfeit from Oakley in the game that was to be played on February 20. Oakley did not travel to St. Francis due to inclement weather conditions. The forfeit moved the Lady Indians into the championship semi-final game versus Rawlins County. Rawlins County received a bye in round one due to higher seeding.
Journey Lee hit a shot for St. Francis just before the first quarter buzzer sounded, but the Lady Indians trailed the Lady Buffs after one period 5-7. In the second period, the Lady Buffs capitalized on turnovers by the Lady Indians and converted several of the turnovers into lay-up baskets. After scoring an easy basket on an out-of-bounds play, Rawlins County had jumped out to a 7-13 lead with 2:55 left in the first half. St. Francis trailed 7-15 at half.
St Francis cut the lead to two (13-15) with just over a minute left in the third quarter with three quick baskets, but Rawlins County answered with baskets of their own to move the score to 15-21 after three periods.
The Lady Indians trailed by eight points (15-23) with just over four minutes left. The Lady Indians trimmed the margin to 21-25 but could get no closer. The Lady Indians lost to Rawlins County 21-27.
Journey Lee scored 6 points to led the Lady Indian's offensive attack. McKenzie Taylor added 5 points. Emily Elfers, Kayla Reed, Kylie Sherlock, Kattie Jenik, and Sydney Sundstrom each scored 2 points. The Lady Indians were 1 of 2 from the line. The Lady Indians had 28 turnovers in the contest. Olivia Chvatal and Mandilyn Horinek each scored 8 points for the Lady Buffs. The Lady Buffs were 3 of 6 from the line.
The loss to Rawlins County County set up the Quinter - St Francis match-up for third place. The game was played in the St. Francis Grade School Gymnasium. Quinter jumped out to a 4-8 lead after one quarter of play. Kylie Sherlock and McKenzie Taylor each scored a couple of times in the second period to help the Lady Indians tie the contest at 11-all by halftime.
Taylor scored 4 baskets in the third period to give the Lady Indians a 19-16 lead after three quarters of play. Quinter tied the ball game in the fourth quarter, and the game stood at 23-all when the fourth period buzzer sounded.
Each team scored one basket in the first overtime. St. Francis out-scored Quinter 6-3 in the second overtime to take a thrilling 31-28 win for third place in the NWKL tournament.
McKenzie Taylor scored 25 points for the Lady Indians. Many came on baskets created by the 12 steals credited to Taylor. Kylie Sherlock added 5 points and Kayla Reed 1. The Lady Indians had 13 turnovers but earned 25 steals with their defensive pressure. The Lady Indians shot poorly from the from the line (3 of 18), and Quinter wasn't much better hitting 4 of 15. Katherine Simon led the Lady Dawgs with 16 points.
Good job, Lady Indians!
Click the photos to see more photos!
Click here to view/print the A-Team tournament bracket.
St. Francis did not play in the B-Team division of the tournament due to limited player numbers.
