After spending nearly the entire month of December on the road the Salina South Cougar boys and girls basketball teams were back home Tuesday night to host the Newton Railers in a double header. The boys held up their end of the bargain, winning 69 – 47 while the girls couldn’t quite overcome a halftime deficit and lost a game that went down to the wire 47 – 43.

In the girl’s game the Cougars jumped out to a quick early lead.  Newton quickly came back, though, and controlled much of the rest of the first half.  The Railers lead 14 -6 after one quarter,  and 26 – 15 at the half.

The Cougars stormed back in the third quarter. After hitting a quick three-point shot to begin the half, South fought its way back into the game. The game was tied 34 – 34 to begin the fourth quarter. Though neither team was able to pull away, Newton proved to be too much down the stretch and came away with a 47 – 43 win.

Kylie Arnold lead the way for the Cougars, scoring 14 points, while Sydney Petersen had a dozen,

South falls to 1 -7 on the season while Newton notched its first win to climb to 1 – 7.

The outcome of the boys game was never in doubt. The Cougars jumped out to a quick lead, never took their foot off the gas, and cruised to an easy win. South led 21 – 8 after the first quarter and 38 – 20 at halftime. The second half was much the same, with the Cougars pulling away for a 69 -47 win.

Tejon McDaniel led the way for South scoring 16 points, while Devin Myers and Zach Davidson each chipped in 13.

South improves to 3 – 5 on the season while Newton falls to 0 – 8.