It was the Ava Jones show at Nickerson tonight as the 6’2″ sophomore dropped 27 on Smoky Valley. The game, overall, was fairly well contested, however, a 16-0 run to open the second quarter got the Panthers up 30-14 at the half. The final two quarter scores saw the Vikings stay reasonably close for each period – outscored 12-10 in the third and 14-10 in the fourth, but the early margin was too much as Nickerson proved worthy of its No. 4 ranking in Class 4A. McKinzie Starnes also had eight points for the Panthers in what was balanced scoring by the other NHS varsity players. For Smoky Valley, Ellie Brumbaugh had 13 points to lead the Vikings, however, an ankle injury in the fourth quarter forced her out of the game. Eight of the 10 girls for SV scored in this game.

With a 15-10 tight first quarter in the boys’ contest, Smoky Valley had solid quarters in the middle by outscoring the Panthers 15-5 in the second and 11-4 in the third to put some distance between them then dropped the hammer in the fourth to win 61-30 in a game where three varsity Vikings were out with Covid issues, another one injured and a fourth ill, the shorthanded Vikes had the rest of the team step up to win going away. A foul-plagued Haven Lysell nevertheless led SV scorers with 17 – mostly in the fourth quarter and Jake Lucas was just behind with 15 and a solid all-around game. Nine players scored for Smoky Valley. Carson Linn led Nickerson with 15 points.