The Abilene High School basketball teams completed the season sweep Friday in Hays, in what was both teams final regular season games. The Cowgirl’s got a big second half from the Senior combination of Hannah Willey and Sydney Burton in their 52-40 victory.  The Cowboys overcame a slow start and defeated Hays for a 4th straight time in their 51-43 win.

The Cowgirls pulled away in the second half behind the play of their Seniors.  Willey scored 18 of her game high 25 points in the final two quarters.  Burton carried her team early on and finished with 20 points with 9 of those coming in the second half.  Abilene led by as many as 13 in the 3rd quarter but Hays did get to within 4 points with 2:38 to play in the game.  Abilene put the game away at the line as Willey and Burton made 8 straight free throws to end it.  The pair connected  on 13-14 free throws in the final quarter.

The Cowgirls improved to 18-2 with the victory and have now won seven straight games.  Hays dropped 13-7 on the season.  Abilene will return to action next Thursday in the first round of sub-state.  The Cowgirls earned the #1 seed in the west and will host throughout sub-state.  They will play the winner of the play in game which will be between (16) Clearwater (2-17) and (17) Mulvane (2-17) Tuesday night.

The Cowboys picked up their 11th straight win on the season with the victory over Hays. The Cowboys fell behind 11-6 at the end of the first quarter but out scored Hays 17-10 in the second.  In that quarter, Abilene fell behind by 6 points after a T.J. Nunnery three-point shot with 2:14 to play in the half.  The Cowboys would close the half on an 8-0 run to lead 23-21 at the half.

In the second half Abilene started to pull away and did so with their two bigs out of the game.  Seniors, Preston Boyd went down with an injury late in the 3rd quarter and Senior, Tim Barbierri got into foul trouble which enabled Freshman, Kaleb Becker and Senior, James Mayden and opportunity to step up. Becker scored 8 of his 12 points in the second half and Mayden scored all 9 of his points in the final two quarters.  Junior, Travis Beetch carried the offense early with 10 of his team-high 14 points coming before halftime.

Abilene improved to 17-3 with the victory and Hays fell to 9-11 with the loss.  The Cowboys are the #3 seed in the west and will host throughout sub-state.  The will host Buhler Wednesday night at 6 PM.  Abilene defeated the Crusaders 47-40 at the Salina Invitational Tournament on January 19.  Buhler is the #14 seed and is 6-13 this season.