GIRLS’ FINAL
HUTCH 46
SOUTH 32

Salina South’s trip to Hutchinson on Friday night did not go as planned. Both Cougar squads would be down key starters for an always competitive league matchup with Hutch.

The Lady Cougars had to manage running their offense without the steady hand of junior point guard Brooklyn Jordan. Jordan remained home to focus on her recovery from a concussion suffered in South’s last outing. Lauren Crow started in Brooklyn’s place.

It took a few possessions for South to adjust, and throwing the ball to Paityn Fritz proved to be the early remedy. Fritz scored South’s first nine points and finished with 16 for the game.

Brylee Moss also contributed three 3-pointers, but for the first three quarters of the game, only Fritz and Moss had scored.

Later, Tamia Cheeks and Elle Barth helped trim a once 12-point deficit down to six halfway through the fourth.

The deciding factor ended up being Hutchinson’s prolific 3-point shooting. The Salthawks made eight, including back-to-back after the Lady Cougars began to threaten in the fourth, which essentially put the game away.

The Lady Cougars win streak was snapped at three, with a second meeting against Hutchison only twelve days away.

BOYS’ FINAL:
HUTCH 69
SOUTH 43

For the Cougars, their missing starter was senior forward Jace Humphrey, the team’s leading scorer.

It was the second game out of their last three, that a starter would be out due to illness.

All night, the Cougars seemed a step slow and they were unable to match Hutch’s physicality. Noticeably not themselves, the Cougars didn’t have a single player reach double figures and were unable to overcome a 36-17 halftime deficit.

Head coach Jason Hooper confirmed postgame that almost his entire roster and coaching staff has been battling through constant illness. He gave credit to his players and coaching staff for their willingness to still compete throughout an extremely difficult league schedule.

The hope remains that with three full days off until their next game, the Cougars can be back at full strength for the rest of the reason and be better because of the adversity they’ve faced together.

The Cougars next game will be at Maize on Tuesday.