The Abilene Cowboys avenged a January home loss to the Marysville Bulldogs with a 66-51 victory Friday night in Marysville.  Abilene took sole possession of first place in the NCKL with their victory.  The Cowgirls nearly avenged their loss from a month ago but came up short.  They lost to the Lady Bulldogs by 18 points last month but gave gave Marysville everything they could handle in 42-38 loss.

The Cowboys were doomed by a slow start in their 60-50 loss on January 18th in Abilene.  In the first match-up the Cowboys fell behind 21-10 at the end of the first quarter and trailed by as many as 18 points in the second half of that loss.  There was no slow start Friday night.  Abilene scored the first 6 points of the game and led 20-10 at the end of the opening quarter.  Thanks in part to the play of Senior, Travis Beetch.  He scored 12 in the first quarter which include a three-pointer at the buzzer to end the quarter.  Beetch led all scorers in the game with 21 points.  It was the 7th time this season that he scored 20 or more points.

Marysville struggled with their shooting throughout the game.  The scored only 5 points in the third quarter.  Abilene was able to capitalize and got up by as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter.  Junior, Avery Bryson helped put the game away as he poured in 10 of his career-high 18 points in the final quarter.  Abilene improved to 9-5, 6-1 with the victory and Marysville fell to 11-3, 4-2 with the loss.

The Cowgirls carried their improved play from Monday’s loss to Clay Center into Friday night’s match-up with the Lady Bulldogs.  In the first meeting Marysville defeated Abilene 50-32 and led by as many as 26 points in the final quarter.  Abilene stayed close the entire night and never trailed by more than 10 points.  The Cowgirls got a good look at a three with just a few seconds left in the game that would have tied it but couldn’t convert.  Abilene fell to 5-9, 2-5 with the loss and Marysville improved to 6-8, 2-4.