Big quarters propel Hugoton girls, Scott City boys to wins

Hugoton, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–In a battle of Great West Activities Conference teams Friday night, Scott City and Hugoton played in their first games in three weeks. At the end of the night, it would be a split in the doubleheader, as the Hugoton girls raced away in the second quarter to win 64-37, while the Scott City boys took the nightcap with a 72-45 win.

Hugoton never trailed in the girls game. The Lady Eagles shooting well, leading 22-13 after the first quarter. Scott City late in the first quarter was able to pull to within 18-13, but a Hugoton run of 13 straight points proved to be too much to overcome. The Eagle lead grew to 40-18 at half, and got to as big as 28 late in the third quarter. Both teams slowed down in the final period, as Hugoton (6-0, 2-0 GWAC) ended up outscoring the Lady Beavers 9-8 in the final quarter, en route to their 64-37 win. The No. 2 team in Class 4A, Division II had four players in double figures, led by 5-5 freshman Katy Heger with 19 points, Melissa Fabela with 14, Riley Sosa with 12, and Esefani Armendariz pitched in 11. Scott City (1-4, 0-2) was paced by Bailey Nickel with 17 points. 

In the second game of the night, Scott City had a tough time trying to put away Hugoton in the first half. The Beavers would build up a nine point lead in the first quarter at 12-3, only to see the Eagles slowly chip away. Scott City led 15-7 after the first quarter, as both teams had problems scoring in the first three minutes of the game. An 8-2 Hugoton run tied the game at 22 with 2:55 before halftime. That’s when the Beavers took control. They would end the first half on a 12-3 run, capped off by a Chris Pounds three pointer right at the half to give them a 34-25 lead. The second half was owned by Scott City. They would use a 19-0 and a 10-0 run in the third quarter alone, and outscored the Eagles 32-6 to lead 66-31 after three periods. A running clock was used in the final eight minutes due to the 30-point margin, as Hugoton (4-2, 1-1 GWAC) would have a 14-6 margin in the fourth quarter. Scott City (4-1, 2-0) put up a season-high 72 points in the win, and were led by Trey O’Neils 27 points, 17 in the second half, and also 17 points from Brett Meyer. The Eagles were led by Parker Titus’ 11 points, eight of those came in the fourth quarter.

Scott City will return home to face Holcomb on Tuesday, while Hugoton hosts Sublette Monday night.