The Salina South girls basketball team bounced back from a disappointing midweek loss with a 49-18 win over Newton on Friday night at South High School.

The Cougars never trailed as they immediately jumped out to an 8-3 lead behind a pair of threes from Sydney Peterson. Salina South took a 13-3 lead in to the second.

Newton would put up better offensive numbers in the second quarter, however, could not keep up with the scoring of South–and Peterson. She would begin to slash through the Railer defense with ease on her way to an 18 point half.

At the break, Salina South had the lead, 30-9.

Salina South’s defense continued to make things difficult on Newton as the Railers were held to just four points in the third quarter and five in the fourth.

Newton (0-9, 0-5 AVCTL-I) struggled in all aspects of the game on Friday night. Alexis Epp led Newton with 10 points in the loss.

Salina South (5-4, 3-3 AVCTL-I) outside of playing outstanding defense, owned the glass on Friday night. Peterson scored a career best 24 points on Friday to the lead the Cougars in victory.

South now turns its attention to the first round of the Salina Invitational Tournament next week against Abilene.

SALINA SOUTH BOYS 75, Newton 62

The No. 10 ranked team in class 5A continued its winning ways on Friday night by completing the season-sweep over Newton.

Salina South raced out to a 14-5 lead right away behind the scoring and rebounding of Cade Hannert as he put in eight points in the first quarter.

After trailing 14-10 after one, Newton would score first in the second quarter to continue its 7-0 run. The two point deficit, however, was as close as the Railers would get all night. Both Hannert and A.J. Johnson would have success breaking down the Newton full-court, trapping press. With that, South got easy buckets all night.

Salina South led 31-21 at halftime, after a Devon Junghans three pointer at the buzzer to give the Cougars momentum. South continued that momentum in the third quarter as they outscored Newton 19-10 in the period.

South led 50-31 at the start of the fourth and pushed its lead to 20 points, however, Newton got hot down the stretch from three. The Railers converted 13 three-ponters on the night–most of which came in the fourth quarter in which Newton put up 31 points.

It wasn’t enough to threaten South, though, as the Cougars held on for the double-digit win.

Newton (3-6, 1-4 AVCTL-I) struggled to to slow Salina South with its full court press. Kolyn Sauceda led the way with 15 points and Alex Krogmeier added in 13 points–all in the second half.

Salina South (7-2, 5-1 AVCTL-I) has now won six-straight since starting 1-2 on the year. Hannert had a career night with 24 points. Johnson added in a season best 18 points, while Junghans finished with 14 points.

Both Salina South teams will play next on Thursday night in the Salina Invitational Tournament. The No. 4-seed girls tip at 6 p.m. with No. 5-seed Abilene. The No. 2-seed boys follow immediately after against No. 7-seed Concordia. Both games will be played at Salina South High School and broadcast on Y-93.7.