Liberty Middle School’s seventh graders kept Skyline from sweeping a trio of girls basketball games last night at LMS.
The Lady Greenbacks overcame an early 9-3 deficit to win going away, 27-13.
The Lady T-birds won the eighth grade game 34-27, and also won the combined seventh and eighth grade junior varsity game.
In the seventh grade game, Skyline raced to a 7-1 lead on back to back baskets by Kaitlyn Stark, and the Lady T-birds were up 9-3 after one quarter.
But after that, it was just about all Liberty as the Lady Greenbacks used their size to score eight second-chance points in the second quarter alone as they went up 18-10 at halftime.
The second half was a defensive battle, as the teams combined to score just 12 points in the third and fourth quarters.
Stark led Skyline with six points, while LMS got six points each from Jensen Maydew and Lauren Rambat.
“We started out playing very well the first quarter,” Skyline coach Chuck Young said. “Their size inside, depth, and aggressiveness turned out to be too much for us.”
The win was Liberty’s second straight, and moved the Lady Greenbacks to 2-1 on the season. Skyline fell to 1-1 overall.
Liberty seventh grade 27, Skyline 13
SMS: Kaitlyn Stark 3 0-0 6, Mycha Owens 1 0-0 2, Allison Sanders 1 0-0 2, Brooke Fisher 0 1-2 1, Veronica Nelson 0 1-2 1, Kadi Richardson 0 1-2 1, Shelby Bender 0 0-0 0, Taylor DeWeese 0 0-0 0, Patty Ibarra 0 0-0 0, Katelyn Kumberg 0 0-0 0, Ashtyn Novotny 0 0-0 0, Makala Orler 0 0-0 0, Taylor Tobin 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 5 3-6 13.
LMS: Jensen Maydew 3 0-0 6, Lauren Rambat 2 2-2 6, Jaci Kolm 2 0-0 4, Aubrey Will 2 0-2 4, Brittnee Hill 1 0-1 2, Amy Olson 1 0-0 2, Krystal Adelhardt 0 1-2 1, Bailey Gillig 0 1-2 1, Dani Williams 0 1-2 1, Cassidy Cronister 0 0-0 0, Morgan Strong 0 0-0 0, Kaila Wyatt 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 11 5-11 27.
SMS    9      1    2    1 — 13
LMS    3    15    5    4 — 27

Skyline eighth grade 34, Liberty 27
The Lady T-birds jumped all over Liberty early, scoring 15 straight points in the first quarter, but they had to sweat out a 34-27 win after LMS rallied in the second half.
After Martha Ramos got LMS on the board with a steal and layup, Harley Weaver scored six straight points for Skyline to start the Lady T-birds’ big run that put them up 15-2 after the first quarter.
That first quarter was the difference in the game, as Liberty could not quite get over the hump, despite eight second-half points from Payton Hoeme.
“Our defense was great early in the game and allowed us to build a small lead,” Young said. “Even though foul trouble proved to be a problem, we were able to overcome it with good help off of the bench.”
Liberty got within two points with just over two minutes to go, but Skyline used their full-court pressure to stop the Lady Greenbacks’ run and preserve the win.“Skyline’s press hurt us and we had a hard time getting the ball down the floor,” LMS coach Lori Anschutz said of the final two minutes.
“Pratt made some very good adjustments at half and played much better in the second half,” Young  said.”Their size and pressure defense started giving us some problems. Overall, we played well and it was a good win.”
Liberty was paced by Hoeme, who finished with 14 points, eight rebounds, five steals and four blocks.
Ramos had six steals and Andi Gripe chipped in with three steals. Kinzie Spurgin also had three steals, and Whitney Tilley had two.
“I was extremely proud of the girls for the fight they showed during this game,” Anschutz said. “It was great to see them not give up and I really believed we were going to pull ahead there in the end. I think if it was a little bit later in the season and the guards had some more experience breaking the press, we would have won.”
Weaver paced Skyline with 11 points. AshleyKoirth added six and Madison Moore finished with five.
Skyline eighth grade 34, Liberty 27
SMS: Harley Weaver 11, Ashley Koirth 6, Madison Moore 5, Morgan Flowers 4, Kaitlyn Stark 2, and Janessa Davis 2.
LMS: Payton Hoeme 14, Andi Gripe 4, Martha Ramos 4, Connor Reh 2, Whitney Tilley 2, Stormmy Flemming 1.
SMS    15    8    6    5 — 34
LMS      2    8    9    8 — 27

Skyline also won a combined seventh and eighth grade junior varsity game, but the score was not available as of presstime.
The Lady T-birds used their full-court press to create easy baskets early in the game, building an insurmountable lead.
“Skyline beat us by quite a little, but our girls played hard,” Anschutz said. “This was only the JV team’s second game and already you can see the improvement in the girls on the floor.”
“Our pressure defense and ability to get the ball down the court in a hurry hurt Pratt early and they were unable to recover,” Young commented. “I thought we played well against their pressure most of the time and we learned a lot and that should help us in the future.”
Liberty’s girls will travel to Clearwater on Tuesday for a set of games beginning at 4 p.m. Their next home games will be Tuesday, Dec. 9, also against Clearwater.
The Lady T-birds are idle until Dec. 4 when they travel to Fairfield. Those games will begin at 4 p.m. Skyline’s next home games are scheduled for Thursday, Dec. 11 against Pretty Prairie.