By John Mesh
The Hutchinson High School varsity and junior varsity girls’ basketball teams hit the road Monday night to play Maize South.
The games were postponed because of inclement weather on Jan. 7.
The Hutchinson varsity girls lost to Maize South 46-38. The Salthawks dropped to 5-3 and Maize South improved to 9-1.
The Salthawk girls played without leading scorer and rebounder Kaia Smith, a 6-foot-1 senior. Smith had her wisdom teeth extracted on Monday. Smith averages 16 points a game.
Maize South scored the first 15 points of the first quarter, but the Salthawks scored the final 6 points of the opening frame and the first 3 points of the second quarter on a 3-pointer by Tenley Keeton to cut Maize South’s lead to 15-9.
The Mavericks scored the next 7 points for a 22-9 lead. The Mavericks led at halftime 23-12 and 33-20 after three quarters.
Hutchinson rallied to cut the Mavericks’ lead to 7 points at 43-36 before falling 46-38. The Salthawks outscored the Mavericks 18-13 in the fourth quarter.
Grace Posch led the Salthawks with 14 points. Tenley Keeton scored 8 points, Ava Krone 7, Lily Rodriguez 4, Clara Ontjes 3, and Kate Jackson 2.
Krone pulled down 8 rebounds for Hutchinson, but the Salthawks were outrebounded 32-23. Keeton had 5 steals, Posch 4 and Jackson 2. Krone had 2 assists and Keeton 1.
Skylar Seals led the Mavericks with 14 points. Kaylee Brunton scored 7 points, Jaela Thompson 6, Lizzy Lassley 6, Addison Davee 5, Ali Singateh 4, Charley Hill 3 and Rylan Chandler 1.
Singateh pulled down 10 rebounds, Davee 6 and Brunton 6. Brunton had 4 steals. Thompson had 7 assists and 3 steals.
“We battled a great Maize South team on the road without Kaia tonight and couldn’t quite pull it out,” said Hutchinson girls basketball coach Kalen Hilst. “Grace Posch led the way with 14 points and I’m extremely proud of our effort even in a loss.”
The Hutchinson girls will compete in the Mid-America Classic basketball tournament Thursday through Saturday at the McPherson Roundhouse.
The Salthawk girls will play Dodge City in a first-round game at 4:35 p.m. Thursday.
“Looking to bounce back at a very competitive McPherson tournament starting on Thursday at 4:35 against Dodge City,” Hilst said. “Friday and Saturday game times will be determined based on wins/losses since it’s a bracket tournament.”
In other first-round games on Thursday, Olathe South plays Shawnee Mission East at 3 p.m., Manhattan plays Wichita Southeast at 6:10 p.m. and Andover Central plays McPherson at 7:45 p.m.
In the championship semifinals Friday, the Hutchinson-Dodge City winner plays the Olathe South-SM East winner at 6:10 p.m. and the Andover Central-McPherson winner plays the Manhattan-Wichita Southeast winner at 7:45 p.m.
The consolation semifinals will be played at 3 p.m. and 4:45 p.m.
The finals take place Saturday, starting with the seventh-place game at noon, the fifth-place game at 1:35 p.m., the third-pace game ar 3:10 p.m. and the championship game at 4:45 p.m.
The Hutchinson High School boys (4-5), who placed eighth in the McPherson Invitational Tournament last weekend, will host Derby (11-0, ranked No. 1 in Kansas Class 6A) Tuesday at the Salthawk Activity Center. The junior varsity game is at 6 p.m., followed by the varsity game at 7:30 p.m.
Fairfield’s Connor Fowler breaks two school scoring records in victory over Chase
Fairfield High School’s Connor Fowler broke two school records with 46 points and 19 field goals in a 78-26 victory over Chase Monday night at Langdon.
Fairfield improved to 3-9 and Chase is 0-14.
Inman girls power past Wichita Classical; Suttyn Harris passes milestones
The Inman Teuton girls basketball team defeated Wichita Classical 59-35 and improved to 11-2. Wichita Classical dropped to 8-6.
Inman junior Suttyn Harris, who has committed to play NCAA Division I volleyball at the University of Utah in two years, now has scored more than 1,000 points and pulled down 500 rebounds in her career at Inman.
The Inman varsity boys lost 59-27, the junior varsity boys won 52-39, the JV girls won 62-11 there was no C team girls game and the C team boys won 26-21 (half a game).
Little River teams sweep Herington
The Little River High School boys basketball team defeated Herington 75-48 Monday night at the Little River gymnasium.
The Little River boys improved to 9-5.
The Little River varsity girls and junior varsity boys also won their games Monday night. No scores were available at press time.
Because of illness at Herington High School, the junior varsity girls game was canceled.
Also because of illness, the ring ceremony for Little River’s state volleyball champions will take take place Friday night’s girls basketball games against Sunrise Christian.