Picture courtesy of Tanner Colvin
FINAL:
SALINA CENTRAL 58
SALINA SOUTH 40
The Lady Mustangs and Lady Cougars matched up for the second time this season, this time in the 3rd place game of the Salina Invitational Tournament. The first matchup between the two crosstown rivals back on December 12th, ended in a convincing victory by Salina South 51-32, but this time around it was all Salina Central.
The Lady Mustangs got off to a quick start, forcing a few early turnovers and capitalizing on the offensive end. The Lady Cougars, however, settled in nicely after the first few minutes, as they ended up taking an 11-9 lead over the Lady Mustangs at the end of the 1st quarter.
Salina Central once again got off to a hot start in the 2nd quarter, going on an 8-0 run, and ultimately built a 9-point lead over South, their biggest of the game up to that point. Once again, Salina South climbed their way back into the ballgame and brought things even closer, as Elle Barth knocked down a 3-pointer seconds before the buzzer sounded to send it to halftime. At the end of the first half, Salina Central held a 31-27 lead over the Lady Cougars. Paityn Fritz led the way offensively in the first half for the Lady Cougars with 14 points, followed by Brylee Moss with 6 points. For Salina Central, they were led by Lexie Guerrero with 12 first half points, followed by Grace Ostmeyer who finished with 7 points.
In the 3rd quarter, South and Central continued to trade blows, and once again it was Central jumping out to a quick start, but Salina South battled their way back in. At the end of three quarters, it was Salina Central 41 and Salina South 37.
The final 8 minutes of action were dominated by the Lady Mustangs, as Salina Central outscored Salina South 27-13 and came away with a convincing victory in the Battle for Salina. Salina Central was led by Lexi Guerrero who had a career night, dropping 32 points for the Lady Mustangs. Salina South was led by their leading scorer Paityn Fritz who put together another solid effort, dropping 27 points in the loss.
The Lady Mustangs improved to 8-7 and placed third in the 2026 SIT, while Salina South dropped to 10-5 overall, losing back-to-back games for the first time this season.
Salina South will be back in action this Friday (1-30) to play Eisenhower while Central will have some extra time off with their next game scheduled for February 3rd when they visit Maize.
