Scott City wins two in Sterling Invitational opening round
Sterling, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Tuesday afternoon saw the Scott City boys and girls make the trip to Sterling for the opening round of the Sterling Invitational Tournament. Both Beaver teams are looking to defend their tournament titles. It would be a win for both teams, as the girls took down Smoky Valley 52-32, while the boys rallied from a halftime deficit to take a 59-46 win over Lyons.
Scott City Girls 52, Smoky Valley 32
The Lady Beavers never trailed in the game. However, Smoky Valley made things interesting in the third quarter. Scott City (4-5) raced out to an 8-0 lead, but couldn’t pull away. They took a 10-5 lead after the first quarter, and led 15-9 at the five-minute mark of the second quarter, when they closed out the half with an 8-0 run to lead 23-9 at the break. Trailing by 16 early in the third quarter, Smoky Valley (2-7) scored the next 13 points, pulling to within 25-22 with 4:16 left in the third stanza. The Lady Beavers would counter the Lady Viking run, and use a 14-2 run to close the third quarter out to lead 39-25 heading in to the final quarter. Scott City gradually pulled away in the final stanza, as they led by as many as 20 on a pair of occasions, and settled for a 52-32 win.
Three Lady Beavers reached double figures. In fact, they scored 11 points apiece. Peyton Gentry, Lily Lightner and Kaylee Felker each had 11 points. For Felker, it was a career-high. The Lady Beavers were 9-16 from the free throw line and finished with 16 turnovers. Smoky Valley was led by freshman Natalee Brown with eight points. The Lady Vikings went 9-22 from the free throw line and committed 22 turnovers.
With the win, Scott City evened the series up at 2-2, winning both games in the opening round of the Sterling Invitational. Their other win came in 2022 in a 50-34 score. The Lady Beavers will finish no lower than fourth place in all six years of being in the tournament.
Coach Justin Faurot Postgame
Box Score
Smoky Valley 5 4 16 7–32
Scott City 10 13 16 13–52
Smoky Valley (2-6): Eyer 0 0-2 0; Haxton 1 0-0 3; DeBaere 2 0-0 5; Whitaker 2 0-0 5; Leis 0 0-0 0; Flax 0 0-2 0; Patrick 2 0-2 4; Ryan 2 3-4 7; Brown 1 6-10 8; Gengler 0 0-0 0; Schrag 0 0-2 0; Team: 10 9-22 32
Scott City (4-5): Gentry 5 0-0 11; Hineman 1 0-0 2; Fox 4 0-0 8; Campbell 0 1-2 1; Castillo 1 0-0 3; Irvin 2 0-2 5; Wolkensdorfer 0 0-0 0; Winderlin 0 0-0 0; Lightner 4 3-6 11; Felker 3 5-6 11; Hickey 0 0-0 0; Team 20 9-16 52
Three-Point Baskets: Smoky Valley 3 (Haxton 1, DeBaere 1, Whittaker 1), Scott City 3 (Gentry 1, Castillo 1, Irvin 1); Turnovers; Smoky Valley 22, Scott City 16; Fouls: Smoky Valley 14, Scott City 14; Fouled Out: None.
Scott City Boys 59, Lyons 46
The Beavers would trail for most of the first half, but found a way to rally and hold off the Lions in the second half. After jumping out to a 6-2 lead, two minutes in, Scott City would go cold for the next four minutes, giving up a 14-2 run in the process, but scored the last four points of the opening period to pull to within 16-12 after the end of the first quarter. The Beavers responded with the first eight poitns of the second quarter to take a 20-16 lead at the 5:43 mark of the first half. Lyons responded with an 11-4 run to close out the first half to take a 27-24 hafltime lead. Once Scott City (5-4) took the lead in the third stanza, the Lions were only able to tie the score once. The Beavers jumped out with a 10-3 run to lead 34-30. After Lyons (5-7) tied the game at 34, Scott City scored the next eight points and led 42-34 with 7:09 left. The closest the Lions got the rest of the way was at 46-42 with 4:33 left. The Beavers scored seven unanswered to pull away, and took home a 59-46 win.
Brody Stoecklein exploded in the fourth quarter, scoring 12 of his game-high 18 points in the final period. Drew Metzger tied a career-high with 12 points, and Junior Meza added 11. Scott City finished with nine turnoves and were 8-14 from the foul line. Lyons was led by Paco Espinoza with 15 points and Tegan Link with 14. They were 10-12 from the free throw line and finished with 18 turnovers.
With the win, Scott City improved to 5-0 against the Lions, with the last three games coming in the Sterling Invitational. The Beavers won 69-36 in their last meeting in 2023, also in the first round. It was the fourth straight season they have won their Sterling Invitational Tournament opener.
Coach Brian Gentry Postgame
Box Score
Scott City 12 12 14 21–59
Lyons 16 11 7 12–46
Scott City (5-4): Tarango 1 0-0 3; Stoecklein 7 4-6 18; Radke 2 0-0 4; Faurot 0 0-0 0; Metzger 5 1-2 12; Irvin 2 0-0 4; Meza 5 0-0 11; Wren 0 1-2 1; Felker 0 1-2 1; Cook 0 1-2 1; Gossman 2 0-0 4; Team: 24 8-14 59
Lyons (4-6): Ventura 3 0-0 8 Hamilton 0 0-0 0; Alvidrez 0 0-0 0; Link 6 1-1 14; Corona 0 0-00; Stanley 3 2-2 9; Espinoza 4 7-9 15; Team: 16 10-12 46
Three-Point Baskets: Scott City 3 (Tarango 1, Metzger 1, Meza 1), Lyons 4 (Ventura 2, Link 1, Stanley 1); Turnovers: Scott City 9, Lyons 18; Fouls: Scott City 13, Lyons 15; Fouled Out: Lyons (Link).
The Scott City girls will have a rematch of last year’s chamiphip game, as they will face Southeast of Saline on Thursday at 7:30 in the final semi-final game of the day. The Lady Trojans took care of Hutchinson Trinity 79-28. Hugoton blasted Kingman 53-22 and Sterling defeated Lyons 60-27 in the other quarterfinal match. Hugoton will face Sterling on Thursday at 6 pm.
For the boys, the Beavers will also have a Sterling Invitaional finals rematch with the Sterling Black Bears at 7:30 pm on Thursday. They are the top team in Class 2A, as they downed Kingman 81-35, and they are the defending Class 2A State Champions. Hugoton blew out Southeast of Saline 81-53 and Hutchinson Trinity stunned Smoky Valley 59-48 in the other first round game.
