Hugoton sweeps Scott City

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–With a Christmas break on the horizon, Scott City played host to the Hugoton Eagles in a Great West Activities Conference opener for both teams. Three of the four teams were ranked in their respective divisions, including two defending state champions. At the end of the night, the visiting Hugoton Eagles picked up a sweep, as the Lady Eagles cruised to a 63-27 win, while the Eagle boys rallied for a 47-43 win over the Beavers.

In the girls game, Hugoton (5-0, 1-0 GWAC) wasted little time putting the game away. The Lady Eagles forced several turnovers, and scored 22 of the games first 23 points. Scott City trailed 22-3 after the first quarter, and started out the second quarter on a 7-2 run to cut the deficit to 24-10 with 5:39 left before halftime. When it looked like the Lady Beavers were going to get back into the game, Hugoton would go on a big run. The Lady Eagles went on a 23-2 run in the final 5:24 of the first half, to lead 47-12 at the break. When the dust settled, their run would be 29-2 over a nine-minute stretch of the second and third quarters. Hugoton led 58-20 after three quarters, as a running clock was used in the final period due to the 30-point margin. Scott City (1-3, 0-1) outscored the Lady Eagles 7-5 in the final frame, as Hugoton won their 12th straight over the Lady Beavers, going back to 2012. Amy Scott led the charge for Hugoton with 19 points, while Katy Heger added 13. The Lady Eagles shot 41% from the field and forced 27 turnovers. Nicole Latta and Kiana Yager led Scott City with six points each, as they Lady Beavers shot just 23%.

The boys game would be a well contested game, with two ties and five lead changes. In the first eight minutes, both teams would use big runs. Hugoton had the first run, scoring seven straight, only to see Scott City send the first period on an 11-2 run to end the opening eight minutes and take a 14-9 lead. The Beavers led by as many as six in the second period on two occasions, and were held scoreless in the final 3:13 of the half, as the Eagles were only able to score four points, and make it 22-20 at halftime. Scott City (2-2, 0-1) had two major scoring droughts in the game, that went 6:08 and 6:42. In those scoring droughts, Hugoton (5-0, 1-0) scored 23 of their 47 points. The Eagles had their first big run come in the latter part of the second quarter, and the first two and a half minutes of the thrid quarter, as they stretched their lead to 27-22 with 5:33 in the third quarter. Following a timeout, the Beavers responded in a big way, going on a 13-2 run that gave them their biggest lead at 38-29 with 1:22 in the third frame. Hugoton would score the final points of the third quarter, and would score the first 10 points of the fourth quarter to take a 41-38 lead with 3:06 remaining on a Parker Titus three pointer. Scott City was unable to get the game any closer than two the rest of the way, as they only scored one point in an 8:35 span of the third and fourth quarter. The Eagles would put the game on ice with .09 left on a Colby Korf free throw, and win over the Beavers for the first time since the GWAC was formed. Leading the way for Hugoton was Zack Leininger with 13 points, 11 of those coming in the second half, while Manuel Mendez added 12 points, all on three pointers. The Eagles shot 52% for the game. Scott City got 11 points from Dylan Hutchins and 10 from Bo Hess, as the Beavers were just 34% from the field. The Beavers loss was the first league loss at home since February 12, 2010, which consisted of 26 league games. 

Assistant Coach Alex Hutchins Postgame

Hugoton will have a 21-day layoff between games, as they will host Goodland on January 8, 2016, while Scott City has 18 days in between games, as they will host Southwestern Heights on January 5, 2016.