The Salina South Cougars swept the Newton Railers on senior night at the South gym. The girls won 38-26, while the boys won 58-45.
In the girls game, Newton held strong early, trailing by just two at the end of the first quarter. South built up a seven point lead in the second quarter before Newton trimmed it to just a point at the half.
The turning point of the game was in the third quarter, with South holding Newton to just two points and taking a 10 point lead to the final quarter. The Cougars kept up the pressure in the 4th quarter to earn the 12 point victory. Junior Sydney Peterson was the Cougar’s top scorer, pouring in 15 points. The two seniors on the team, Lizzy Franco and Mariah Janda both got in on the scoring. Janda finished with six points while Franco had five. The Cougars are now 7-10 on the season.
In the boys game South lead by just one at at the end of the first quarter. They built the lead up to nine at the half, leading 31 -22. In the second half the Cougars were on the verge of pulling away a couple of teams, but Newton battle back. The Cougars lead by as many as 17 in the fourth quarter before Newton cut it back to single digits. An acrobatic one-handed slam dunk by Te’Jon McDaniel followed by a two-handed jam by Colin Schreiber kept the Cougars up by double digits and they won 58-45. Josh Jordan scored 14 to lead the scoring for South. All of the seniors on the roster scored, including Jordan, Schreiber, Devon Junghans, Darell Evans, AJ Johnson, Jackson Hayes, and Kade Barber. South is now 14 -2 on the season.