GIRLS: 5A #1 ANDOVER 42, SALINA CENTRAL 37

The top team in class 5A came into the Brickhouse on Friday night, riding an 11-game winning streak, unblemished on the season. Their task? A hungry bunch of Salina Central Mustangs, fresh off a 1-point loss on Tuesday night.

Andover would battle through its closest game of the season for a 42-37 win, the Trojans’ only game this year decided by single digits.

A low-scoring, defensive battle through the first half, Andover clung to a 14-12 advantage heading to the locker room, as Central held the potent Trojans in check early, their lowest first half total this season.

In the second half, the scoring would pick up pace, as the Mustangs out-paced Andover 17-16 in the third behind seven points from Saniya Triplett in the third quarter alone.

A 30-30 tie heading into the fourth quarter would be broken by back-to-back Andover threes by Brooke Walker and Bella Bouddhara to push Andover’s lead back to six, and the Mustangs would be unable to recover, despite 10 second half points from Central’s Tyler Vidricksen, who carried the Mustang offense for much of the second half.

The loss marked Central’s third-straight defeat, dropping their overall record to 5-7, wrapping up a week that was both frustrating, and encouraging, for the Mustangs. The two most recent losses came by a combined six points, the latter pushing the state’s best team on the brink of an upset, reaffirm that the Mustangs are on the right track.

They’ll be back in action on Tuesday night, hosting Arkansas City in the Brickhouse at 6 PM. Andover will be back home as well, hosting Eisenhower.

NEX-TECH WIRELESS PLAYER OF THE GAME: TYLER VIDRICKSEN

H & R BLOCK OF THE GAME: AZBEY PECKHAM

SCORING

ANDOVER (12-0, 5-0) – 10 – 4 – 16 – 12 / 42

SALINA CENTRAL (5-7, 3-3) – 7 – 5 – 17 – 8 / 37

ANDOVER

Alana Shetlar – 15

Brooke Walker – 12

Bella Bouddhara – 5

Aneila Williams – 4

Brodie Christensen – 3

Amelya Vance – 2

Katie Evans – 1

SALINA CENTRAL

Ty;er Vidricksen, Saniya Triplett – 10

Azbey Peckham – 5

Callan Hall – 4

Charlize Waltman, Grace Ostmeyer – 3

Elle Denning – 2

BOYS: ANDOVER 65, SALINA CENTRAL 59

The Boy’s contest delivered as well, with Andover taking yet another tight ball game, winning 65-59.

The Trojans jumped out to an early eight-point advantage in the first quarter, but Central would settle in and rally back.

In the second period, the Mustangs would out score Andover 15- 5, taking a four-point lead into the break.

The second half swung in favor of Central early on, as they came out firing early in the period, pulling in front by as many as 10; however, the Andover Trojans never quit. The defending state champions rallied all the way back in the blink of an eye, and scored more points in the third quarter (23) than they scored in the entire first half (22).

The Trojan offense woke up thanks once again to the stellar play of Senior Blake Rucker who scored 23 points on the night. Quenci Bradford added 17 as well, including a clutch 8-8 at the free throw line in the fourth quarter, which helped to put the game on ice.

Salina Central was once again lead by Sophomore Kaden Snyder with a team high 15 points. Dez Gibson poured in 13, while Thomas McClendon added 12, and Kamryn Jones also reached double-figures with 10.

The Trojans were able to take advantage of offensive rebounds in the fourth quarter, scoring on multiple put backs to pull ahead. Their free throw shooting also pushed them across the finish line, as the Trojans shot 12-12 from the line in the final minutes.

The victory is Andover’s fifth-straight win on the season, and their 12th-straight win over Salina Central. The Mustangs drop to 5-7 on the season and 2-4 within the AVCTL-II.

The Mustangs will host Arkansas City Tuesday, while Andover hosts Eisenhower. The Mustangs and Trojans will meet again on February 20th at Andover High School.

NEX-TECH WIRELESS PLAYER OF THE GAME: KADEN SNYDER

H & R BLOCK OF THE GAME: THOMAS MCCLENDON

SCORING

ANDOVER (9-3, 4-1) – 17 – 5 – 23 – 20 / 65

SALINA CENTRAL (5-7, 2-4) – 11 – 15 – 19 – 14 / 59

ANDOVER

Blake Rucker – 23

Quenci Bradford – 17

Griffin Hand – 11

Josh Kim – 9

Will Baker – 4

Owen Allman – 3

SALINA CENTRAL

Kaden Snyder – 15

Dezmyn Gibson – 13

Thomas McClendon – 12

Kamryn Jones – 10

Mason Nemechek – 5

Brody Farthing – 4