Pictured is Brax Fisher from Thursday’s win over Salina South, picture courtesy of Brad Anderson 

JUNCTION CITY 26 ABILENE COWGIRLS 25

SALINA: Something had to give when the Abilene Cowgirls and Junction City met on the basketball floor for 7^th Place in the S.I.T.  Neither team had a win on the season entering Saturday match-up.

Junction City took their only lead of the second half with 18 seconds to play in the game on a layup by Amyah O’Neal.  The Cowgirls had a couple more possessions but they resulted in a turnover and a missed shot.  The Cowgirls got up by as many as 6 points in the third quarter but couldn’t put away the Lady Jays in the loss.

Abilene fell to 0-10 with the loss.  The Cowgirls were led by Senior, Callie Powell, who finished with 6 points. Junior, Renatta Heintz, finished with 5 points and was the Nex-Tech Wireless Player of the Game.

𝗚𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀 𝟳𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲
𝗖𝗼𝘄𝗴𝗶𝗿𝗹𝘀         5  10  18  25  (0-10)
𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆  6   9   15  26  (1-10)
𝗔𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗲: Callie Powell 6, P.O.G. Renatta Heintz 5, Sammy Stout 4, Claira Dannefer 4, Hannah Walter 2, Adin Bruna 2, Jordan Signer 1, Kit Barbierri 1

𝗝𝘂𝗻𝗰𝘁𝗶𝗼𝗻 𝗖𝗶𝘁𝘆: Nevaeh Rushing 8, Sara Rexrode 7, Amyah O’Neal 4, Makenna Hatcher 3, Breya Allen 2, Cassidy Miller 1, Morgan Naybus 1

𝗚𝗜𝗥𝗟𝗦
𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽
(1) Andover 55 (3) Great Bend 37
𝟯𝗿𝗱 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲
(5) Liberal 54 (2) Salina South 50
𝟱𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲
(6) Buhler 34 (4) Salina Central 23
𝟳𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲
(8) Junction City 26 (7) Abilene 25

GREAT BEND 58 ABILENE COWBOYS 52

SALINA: The Abilene Cowboys fell behind by as many 15 points in the first half and nearly came back in the 3^rd place game, at Kansas Wesleyan University, Saturday afternoon.  Abilene dropped their second straight game but arguably played their toughest two opponents of the season Friday in Saturday in 6A Wichita South and 5A Great Bend.

Saturday afternoon, Great Bend used a 13-0 run in the first quarter to take control of the game.  The Panthers led 20-10 at the end of the opening quarter.  Great Bend then scored the first 4 points of the second quarter to build at 25-10 lead with 7:20 to play in the half.  6’6” Sophmore, Ian Premer was great early for his team.  He scored 16 of his team-high 19 points in the first half.

The Panthers led 36-25 at halftime.  In a game of runs, Abilene put together a 9-0 run to cut the deficit to 25-19 with 5:16 to play in the third quarter. Great Bend answered with a 9-0 run of their own to stretch back the lead to 15, at 34-19 with 2:17 to play in the third.

Abilene cut the lead to 44-39 as the two teams entered the final quarter.  The Cowboys got the deficit down to 3 multiple times in the second half.  Abilene got to withing 52-49 on a Stocton Timbrook bucket with 1:15 left in the game but the Cowboys would get no closer the rest of the way.  The Panthers were able to put the game away at the line.  They weren’t great at the stripe but connected on enough at the stripe to win the game.  Great Bend finished 10-16 at the line in the 4^th and 15-25 at the line overall in the game.

Abilene was led by Senior, Brax Fisher.  He was held to a season-low 5 points in the loss to Wichita South.  Saturday, Fisher finished with a game-high 20 points.  He scored 8 points in the 3^rd quarter to help the Cowboys get back in the game.  He was selected to the All-S.I.T. Team and was the Nex-Tech Wireless Player of the Game.  Timbrook also finished in double-figures with 11 points.

Great Bend improved to 8-4 with the victory.  Abilene will return home to play Clay Center on Tuesday in a makeup game.

𝟯𝗿𝗱 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲 𝗕𝗼𝘆𝘀
𝗖𝗼𝘄𝗯𝗼𝘆𝘀     10  25  39  52  (8-2)
𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗱  20  36  44  58  (8-4)
𝗔𝗯𝗶𝗹𝗲𝗻𝗲: P.O.G. Brax Fisher 20, Stocton Timbrook 11, Tyler Holloway 9, Zach Miller 5, Taygen Funston 3, Ian Crump 2, Keaton Hargrave 2

𝗚𝗿𝗲𝗮𝘁 𝗕𝗲𝗻𝗱: Ian Premer 19, Jacob Hall 10, Parker Dicks 9, Maddox Spray 5, Carter Coombs 5

𝗕𝗢𝗬𝗦
𝗖𝗵𝗮𝗺𝗽𝗶𝗼𝗻𝘀𝗵𝗶𝗽
(3) Andover 60 (4) Wichita South 48
𝟯𝗿𝗱 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲
(2) Great Bend 58 (3) Abilene 52
𝟱𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲
(6) Salina Central 44 (5) Liberal 40
𝟳𝘁𝗵 𝗣𝗹𝗮𝗰𝗲
(8) Salina South 62 (7) Buhler 52