The Skyline Middle School girls and the South Barber boys showed why they are the top seeds in the upcoming Heart of the Plains League tournament by picking up wins last night at Skyline in the regular season finales.
Skyline’s girls jumped out to an early lead and cruised past South Barber 30-8, while the Tornado boys had to sweat out a 33-30 win over Skyline in the nightcap.
Skyline girls 30, South Barber 8
The Lady T-birds raced to an 11-0 lead as they held South Barber to one-for-six shooting in the first quarter.
Janessa Davis got Skyline on the board a minute into the game, and her free throws with 3:58 left in the first quarter made it 4-0 Lady T-birds.
A minute later, Kaitlyn Stark hit a three-pointer, and when Davis scored off offensive rebounds with 2:21 and 1:02 left in the quarter, Skyline had an 11-0 lead and South Barber had more turnovers than field goal attempts.
SBMS got on the board when Courtney Roark scored with 21 seconds left in the first quarter, but Skyline already had all the points they would need.
The Lady T-birds kept rolling in the second quarter, despite some offensive struggles, and led 15-4 at halftime.
Stark scored on a putback with 4:29 left in the third, and with 3:15 to play, she found Davis open under the basket on an in-bounds play for a 19-4 lead.
After Roark scored for South Barber, Stark got a putback, then a steal and layup to put Skyline in front 23-6 with 2:10 left in the third.
The Lady T-birds had a 24-8 lead to start the first quarter, and it grew to 26-8 on Veronica Nelson’s putback with 5:42 to go.
Davis scored four straight points to end the game with a 30-8 win.
Skyline held South Barber to 17 percent shooting (4-for-23) in the game and also forced 18 turnovers while outrebounding SBMS 35-21.
Davis led the charge with 17 points, 11 rebounds and three steals.
Stark added 11 points, nine boards, three steals, three assists and a block.
Kadi Richardson finished with three steals and a block while Nelson and Alyssa Swonger each grabbed three rebounds to go with two points.
The Lady T-birds are the top seed in the HOPL tournament, which begins Saturday at Skyline.
SMS will face eighth-seeded Attica at 11:40 a.m. Saturday while South Barber is seeded second and will face Norwich in the 5 p.m. game.
The tournament will continue Monday with semifinals and the first and third place games are scheduled for Thursday evening.
Skyline girls 30, South Barber 8
SBMS: Courtney Roark 2 0-2 4, Paige Koblitz 1 0-0 2, Morgan Myers 1 0-0 2, Kassidy Clark 0 0-2 0, Shania Farney 0 0-0 0, Taylor McCullough 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 4 0-4 8.
SMS: Janessa Davis 7 3-4 17, Kaitlyn Stark 4 (1) 0-1 11, Veronica Nelson 1 0-0 2, Alyssa Swonger 1 0-0 2, Brooke Fisher 0 0-0 0, Mycha Owens 0 0-2 0, Kadi Richardson 0 0-2 0, Tiffany Timm 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 12 (1) 3-9 30.
SB 2 2 4 0 — 8
S 11 4 9 6 — 30
South Barber boys 33, Skyline 30
South Barber’s boys raced to an 8-1 lead but Skyline rallied in the fourth quarter before falling a few points short in a 33-30 loss.
The Tornadoes got three-pointers from Logan Hitchcock and Peyton Yandel to start the game.
Brandon Abbott scored all of Skyline’s five first-quarter points as the T-birds trailed 10-5 after six minutes of action.
Skyline got within three points after Abbott got a putback and Brad Dearinger drove in for a layup with 3:36 left in the first half.
South Barber responded with six straight points, but the T-birds got back-to-back baskets from Chris Santana to end the half down 18-13.
Skyline got baskts from Santana and Colin Little in the third quarter, but South Barber had a 24-17 lead going into the fourth.
The T-birds opened the quarter with a three-pointer by Ross Westhoff, and after South Barber’s Dylan Allison hit two free throws, Cole Patterson buried a three to get Skyline within three at 26-23.
South Barber scored the next five points, but Patterson’s putback with 2:46 left made it 31-25 and the T-birds still had a chance.
With just under a minute to play, Santana hit Abbott for a bucket and the foul. Abbott drained the free throw to make it a three-point game with South Barber up 31-28.
Skyline gave a foul, and Bryce Roberts hit both ends of the one-and-one with 55 seconds left.
The T-birds couldn’t convert at the other end, and they gave another foul. This time, Allison missed the first shot, and Abbott gobbled up the rebound.
With 26 seconds left, Blake Lee scored on a putback to get the T-birds back within three.
South Barber missed another free throw at the other end, and Santana got the rebound with 23 seconds left.
But Skyline wasn’t able to even get a three-pointer attempted before South Barber regained possession with one second on the clock.
Abbott led the T-birds with 10 points and seven rebounds while Santana added six points, six rebounds and two assists.
Patterson chipped in five points, four rebounds and an assist while Lee also had four rebounds.
Skyline had a 31-26 rebounding advantage but it wasn’t enough to offset 18 turnovers to South Barber’s five.
The T-birds will face fifth-seeded Pretty Prairie in the first round of the HOPL tournament Saturday at Skyline. The game will tip off at 3:40 p.m., while South Barber is seeded first and will take on Stafford in the 6:20 p.m. game.
Semifinals will be held Monday, with the championship and third place games set to take place on Thursday at Skyline.
South Barber boys 33, Skyline 30
SBMS: Logan Hitchcock 3 (2) 0-0 12, Kale Girty 2 2-2 6, Bryce Roberts 1 4-4 6, Peyton Yandel 1 (1) 0-2 5, Dylan Allison 1 2-3 4, Peyton Reeves 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 8 (3) 8-11 33.
SMS: Brandon Abbott 4 2-3 10, Chris Santana 3 0-0 6, Cole Patterson 1 (1) 0-0 5, Ross Westhoff (1) 0-0 3, Brad Dearinger 1 0-1 2, Blake Lee 1 0-0 2, Colin Little 1 0-0 2. TOTALS 11 (2) 2-4 30.
SB 10 8 6 9 — 33
S 5 8 4 13 — 30
South Barber JV boys 29, Skyline 23
A big third quarter lifted South Barber’s JV boys past Skyline 29-23, and most of the damage was done at the free throw line.
South Barber connected on ten of 16 free throws — including five of nine in the third quarter — while Skyline hit just four of ten charities in the game.
South Barber led 15-14 at halftime, but outscored the T-birds 11-6 in the third quarter to take control of the game.
Skyline got six points from Daniel Hacker while Blake Lee added five. Chanler Simar and Ross Westhoff each had three.
Cody Fanning, Layton Kenworthy and Dustin Weber each chipped in with two points.
South Barber JV boys 29, Skyline 23
SBMS TOTALS 5 (3) 10-16 29.
SMS: Daniel Hacker 2 2-4 6, Blake Lee 1 (1) 0-0 5, Chanler Simar 1 1-2 3, Ross Westhoff 1 1-2 3, Cody Fanning 1 0-0 2, Layton Kenworthy 1 0-0 2, Dustin Weber 1 0-0 2, Brendan Dearinger 0 0-0 0, Gunner DeClue 0 0-0 0, Colten Finley 0 0-0 0, Landon Lee 0 0-0 0, Colin Little 0 0-0 0, Josh Moore 0 0-0 0, Coleman West 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 7 (1) 4-10 23.
SB 8 7 11 3 — 29
S 8 6 6 3 — 23
