Wamego Lady Red Raiders 69 Abilene Cowgirls 32

Wamego – Wamego entered the game Tuesday night against Abilene and they didn’t disappoint.  The Lady Red Raiders jumped out to a 19-9 lead at the end of the first quarter and used a 22-0 run in the second quarter to blow the game open.  Wamego took a 41-16 lead into halftime and a 61-24 advantage into the 4th quarter which led to a running clock.

The #2 ranked Lady Red Raiders improved to 8-0, 4-0 with the victory over the Cowgirls.  Wamego had 4 players in double-figures led by Senior, Paige Donnelly, who finished with a game-high 27 points.  They also got 12 points each from Ryan Alderson and Trista Hoobler.  Ashten Pierson also reached double-figures with 10 points.

Abilene was led by Sophomore, Claira Dannefer, who finished with a career-high 19 points in the loss.  She was the Nex-Tech Wireless Player of the Game.  The Cowgirls fell to 1-7, 0-4 with the loss.

Abilene Cowboys 58 Wamego 52 (3 Overtimes)

Wamego – Abilene got redemption from last season with a marathon victory over their rival Tuesday night.  Wamego beat the Cowboys twice last season by a combined 5 points and used late game comebacks in both of those wins.

The Cowboys looked like they were on their way to heart-break again, they trailed 39-36 with 15 seconds left in the game and Wamego’s Colin Donahue was at the free-throw line.  He missed both free-throws and Abilene’s Cooper Wildey buried a three-pointer with 4 seconds left to send the game to overtime.

In the first over time, the Cowboy’s Thomas McClendon scored with 33 seconds remaining to send the game to a second overtime.  In the second overtime each team managed just 4 points and the final points came from a Kaleb Becker steal and layup with 1:50 remaining, to send the game to a third and final overtime.

In the third overtime, Abilene’s Grant Waite connected on a three-pointer at the 3:04 mark and the Cowboys wouldn’t trail again.  Waite scored 5 of his 7 points the third overtime and Brax Fisher was 3-4 at the line in the third overtime to help put the game away.

Abilene improved to 6-2, 3-1 with the victory.  The Cowboys were led by Becker, who finished with a game-high 19 points.  Abilene also got a career-high 15 from Cooper Wildey and the Senior teammates were the Nex-Tech Wireless Players of the Game.  Wamego fell to 5-3, 3-1 with the loss and the Red Raiders were led by Jacob Fritz, who finished with 17 points.  Abilene will host Clay Center on Friday.  The Tigers are in a three-way tie for first place in the NCKL with Abilene and Wamego.