The Abilene High School basketball teams finished off the Salina Invitational Tournament Saturday with a pair of wins Saturday.  The Cowgirls snapped a five game losing streak with a 34-20 victory over Concordia in the seventh place game at Salina Central.  In the boy’s game Abilene held off Wichita South for third place 50-47 at Kansas Wesleyan.  The Cowboys led by as many as 18 points in the fourth quarter in their victory over the Titans.

The Cowboys appeared to have put the game away with 6:55 to play in the game on a bucket by Travis Beetch to take a 41-23 lead.  That basket capped an 8-0 run that started with his three-pointer at the buzzer to end the third quarter.  He led all scorers in the game with 21 points.

Wichita South would respond with an amazing 24-7 run that was capped on a three-pointer by Terrence Hutton with 16.9 seconds to play in the game that brought the Titans to within 48-47.  Beetch hit a pair of free throws to stretch the lead back to three points with 16.4 seconds left in the contest.  Hutton got a good look at three with just seconds remaining on the final possession of the game but it rimmed out.

The Cowboys also got a big game from Kaleb Becker.  Becker finished with 12 points in the victory.  Beetch and Becker were named to the All-S.I.T. Team.

In the girl’s game Abilene struggled in the third quarter yesterday in their loss to Andover.  Their fortunes were reversed on Saturday.  The Cowgirls outscored Concordia 7-1 in the third quarter and pulled away in the second half for the 14 point victory.  Abilene led by as many as 16 in the final quarter.  The Cowgirls got another big game from Beth Holmes, who finished with 15 points.  She was selected to the All-S.I.T. Team.

The Cowgirls improved to 4-6 and the Cowboys 6-4 with their victories.  Abilene will host Concordia on Tuesday, both Panther teams finished in 8th place at the S.I.T.