Scott City boys, Ulysses girls pick up GWAC wins

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–On Winter Homecoming night at Scott Community High School, the Scott City Beavers and Ulysses Tigers met up for the second and final time this year. Just like their December 20 meetings, the same teams picked up victories. The Lady Tigers defeated Scott City 60-41, while the Beaver boys held off Ulysses in a 65-52 victory. Cole Allen and Kelly Wycoff were crowned homecoming king and queen during the boys halftime.

Ulysses never trailed in the ball game in the first game of the night. Just like most of the season, Scott City was unable to get off to a good start, seeing the Lady Tigers start out 9-2, but rallied to within 9-6 after the first quarter. In the second period, the closest Scott City would get was at 13-11 with 5:46 left before halftime. That’s when Ulysses started taking over the game. They closed out the half on an 11-4 run to take a 24-15 halftime lead. The Lady Tigers would expand onto their lead to 40-25 after three quarters. Scott City pulled to within 43-31 with 5:45 remaining, but six straight by Ulysses (6-9, 3-3) would finish off the Lady Beavers, leading by as many as 19 points in the waning minutes of the game. The Lady Tigers finished with two players in double figures, led by Angelica Corral’s 18 points, while Chisholm Branscum added 13. Scott City (2-11, 0-5) got nine from Kelly Wycoff and eight from Bailey Nickel. 

In the final game of the night, five lead changes and one tie took place. A Scott City 5-0 put them in the lead for good, as they led 11-7 after the first eight minutes of play. The Beavers grew their lead to 32-17 at halftime, and did not have a run bigger than five. Scott City eventually pushed their lead to as many as 22 points with 44 seconds left in the third quarter at 52-30, by capping off six straight points, but the door wasn’t completely closed for the Tigers. Ulysses got a three pointer at the end of the third and scored the first six points in the fourth period to get to within 52-39. The Beavers had a tough time putting the game away early on, thanks in part to missing 10 straight free throws to begin the fourth quarter. It would be the Tigers taking adavantage of the missed foul shots, as they pulled to within 57-51 with 1:40 left. Scott City (12-1, 5-0) would grab the reigns back and take control, scoring eight of the games final nine points of the game to avoid a complete comeback by the Tigers. Scott City finished with three players in double figures, led by Trey O’Neil with 27 points, Brett Meyer with 15 and Sloan Baker added 13. Ulysses (6-9, 2-4) got 14 points each from Tregg Rodriguez and Nathan Medina.

Up next for Ulysses is a non-league doubleheader with Dodge City on Tuesday, while Scott City begins a four-game stretch in six days Monday by hosting Hugoton in a doubleheader postponed February 4.