Abilene Cowgirls 35 Concordia 21
The Abilene Cowgirls put together their finest performance of the season in their home victory over Concordia. Abilene has struggled with turnovers all season. They had averaged 24 per game but only turned over the ball, unofficially, 15 times in the victory over the Lady Panthers. The Cowgirls also have had issues with starting out games slowly. That was not the case Thursday night. Abi Lillard scored the first 6 points of the game as the Abilene built an early 6-1 lead with 4:40 to play in the first quarter. The Cowgirls would take a 8-6 advantage into the second quarter.
Abilene outscored Concordia 13-7 in the second quarter and led 21-13 at halftime. The Cowgirls kept an 8 point advantage as they two teams entered the fourth quarter with the score 27-19. Abilene’s 14 point margin at the end of the game was their largest lead.
The Nex-Tech Wireless Players of the Game were Abi Lillard, who finished with 12. Reagan Ditto was the co-player of the game with a career-high 9 points for the Cowgirls. Concordia was led in scoring by Terin Rundis, who finished with 10 points.
Abilene finished the regular season with a 5-13, 3-7 while Concordia finished 8-12, 3-7. The two teams will play in the first round of Sub-State, next Wednesday at Concordia, at 7 PM. The two teams split during the regular season. The Cowgirls lost at Concordia 43-36 in Overtime on December 18.
Abilene Cowboys 49 Concordia 33
The Abilene Cowboys need a miracle finish in their February 8th, 59-57 victory at Concordia. No miracle was needed Thursday night. The Panthers scored first on a 3-point play by Chase Parker but their excitement would be short-lived. Abilene would go on a 17-0 run and take complete control of the game. Abilene led 11-3 at the end of the first quarter and 23-7 at halftime. The Cowboy defense was impressive, considering Concordia scored 78 points in their victory over Clay Center Tuesday night. Abilene defeated Chapman Tuesday 60-50 but the Cowboys weren’t pleased with the fact that they gave up 30 points to the Irish in the fourth quarter.
The Cowboys continued to pull away in the second half against the Panthers. They led 36 to 18 at the end of the third quarter and got up by as many as 24 at 42-18 with 5:44 to play in the fourth quarter.
Abilene was led by Kaleb Becker, who poured in 17 points. Blaise McVann tied his career-high with 10 points. Jaylen West was the Nex-Tech Wireless Player of the Game with Becker. West finished with 8 points, which tied his career-high. West does more than score points. Against Chapman he finished with 9 steals, which is the most by a Cowboy in a game, with records dating back to 2008. Concordia was led by Chas Carlgren with 10 points. It was his first game of the season after being out with a knee-injury.
The Cowboys finished the regular season 11-5, 7-3 while the Panthers finished 9-11, 4-6. Abilene will host Chapman in the opening round of Sub-State Tuesday at 7 PM. Concordia will host Clay Center also on Tuesday at 7 PM.
