Day one or Tuesday of the Northern Plains League tournament was more what fans were looking for as the girl's side of the tournament which had been relatively quiet, heated up. Two 29-point scoring efforts and an overtime thriller highlighted the girl's championship side of the bracket.
No back seat - Junior Karlie Steinle proved that there is more than one Dragon that can slay a basket. Her 29 point performance helped power the Lady Dragons to a 58-39 win over Sylvan-Lucas. Lanter added 16 points for the 8-1 Wilson girls.
Logan has been on a roll in key games lately. It all started this past fall in the sub-state volleyball championship with a win over St. John's/Beloit. Logan made it to day two of the state volleyball championships finishing fourth. The Lady Trojans bounced the third seeded Pike Valley Lady Panthers 49-48 in overtime Tuesday. Caley Greving (14) and Hannah Pinkerton (12) combined to score 26 of Logan's 49 points for the winners. Junior Kora Bergstrom did everything she could to keep the Lady Panthers alive with 29 points. Pike Valley fell to 7-3 and Logan, who will play Wilson in the semifinals Friday improved to 6-3.
No mas again - Northern Valley and St. Xavier forfeited there games against Lakeside and Palco respectively. St. Xavier didn't have enough parents to provide transportation. Valley has only four players left on a varsity basketball team. To bad our communications couldn't have notified Lakeside and Palco earlier for a match up. Time and a bracket issue probably did not allow it.
All aboard - Jenna Farris directed the Lady Leopards final-four-train into the championship semifinal match up Friday against No. 1 seed Thunder Ridge. Lincoln beat St. John's/Tipton in a game held at Lincoln, 45-33. Farris, who has scored 31 points twice this season against both Palco and Phillipsburg, netted a cool 21 points Tuesday. It will take more than one head coach for Thunder Ridge to slow the Farris-mobile down. Lincoln has won six games in a row since starting the season 1-2.
Three's company - Thunder Ridge advanced to Friday's showdown against Lincoln with a 54-36 victory over Southern Cloud. The Lady Longhorns improved to 8-1. Assistant Coach Chris Kirchoff, was the head coach at Kensington, where her brother, Darren Grauerholz was her assistant but is now the head coach of Thunder Ridge. Good thing they have Troy Schirmer, as an assistant or the two heads could get confused. Schirmer, a native of Ravenna, NE, was the head boys coach at Wallace, NE. He led the Wildcats to four state tournament appearances.
The boy's side was more stable Tuesday where all four seeds advanced.
Game of the day - St. John's/Tipton nearly pulled the big upset of the day when the Bluejays, now 4-5, lost to Rock Hills 45-41 in overtime. Wyatt Flinn powered the 9-1 Grizzlies with 18 points. Connor (13) and Luke Eilert (11) both sophomores, led the Bluejay team in scoring.
Dragon dreaming - Wilson, ranked No.3 in Division 1 of 1A outlasted the Thunder Ridge Longhorns, 46-37. The Dragons, 8-1, will face Rock Hills in one semifinal contest Friday. Thunder Ridge fell to 5-4 on the season and will face St. John's/Tipton in a rematch of the Lakeside Tournament, in the consolation bracket. The Longhorns prevailed 46-42 back in December.
Herbal life - Junior Austin Herbal did all he could to keep Tescott headed to the semifinals Friday. Herbal led all scorers with 24 points. No. 1 seed Lakeside, prevailed however, 61-45. The game was played on the Trojans home floor. Three Knight players reached double digits in scoring. Alex Renken netted 17 and Keegan Heiland and Justin Underwood, a 6-2 sophomore, added 13 a piece. Lakeside is rated No. 2 in Division 1 of 1A in the latest Kansas Coaches Basketball Association rankings. The Knights will play Sylvan-Lucas in the other boy's championship semifinal.
Jude jamming - Long time Mustang coach Jude Stecklein can still dance. He has the Sylvan-Lucas boys headed to the championship semifinal Friday against Lakeside thanks to a 60-50 win over Lincoln. Three Mustang players where in double figures including Tyler Daugherty (18) Troy Bland (16) and Brandon Pool (10). Sylvan-Lucas improved to 9-2. Lincoln, which dropped to 4-5, also had three players in double figures including Wyatt Schroeder (19) Dayton Walter and Alex Jackson (10).
Nothing doing - No one has played harder or been closer to winning games than Natoma. Entering the tournament without winning a game, the Tigers fell to 0-9 Tuesday with a 48-46 loss to Chase. Natoma battled Rock Hills before falling Monday 62-56 and last Friday had Thunder Ridge "on the ropes" before falling 40-39. Natoma will battle Logan next in the semifinals of the 13th place bracket. Eight points have separated the Tigers from a possible championship semifinal match to the 13th place semifinal.
3 of 4 - Three of the four championship semifinals will be held at Lincoln High School. The only championship semifinal that will not be held at Lincoln is the Lakeside versus Sylvan-Lucas boy's match up. Sylvan-Lucas girls will double with their boys at home when the Lady Mustangs battle Pike Valley in the consolation semifinals.
Logan versus Wilson girls (3 p.m); then Wilson boys versus Rock Hills (4:30 p.m.); then Thunder Ridge girls versus Lincoln at 6 p.m., will highlight a semifinal Friday just like at the state tournament. Lakeside, the No. 1 boy's seed will have played at four different sites if they advance to the final Saturday.
The Monday of NPL League games was pretty uneventful as only one upset occurred and most of the higher seeded teams won their games rather easily. Here is a look at some of the news and notes while eyeing some pretty good match ups on Tuesday.
No contest - Both No. 1 seeds won easily in the play-in games. Thunder Ridge's girls beat St. Xavier 52-13 with senior Kelsey Atchison leading the Lady Longhorns with 16 points. Lakeside's boys disbanded St. Xavier 53-22. Brandon Smith, a 6-2 senior scored 14 points for the 10-0 Knights.
As advertised - Lincoln's Wyatt Schroeder, a 6-6 senior scored 32 points in leading the Leopards to 56-38 over Northern Valley. Lincoln is coached by former Northern Valley standout Garry Lowry. Lowry's dad Bill Lowry was a long time coach and principle at his alma mater. Lowry's assistant, Luke Bauman, is a Kensington graduate.
No mas - Northern Valley's girls forfeited this weeks games. The roster of only seven girls to start the season was down to four at the start of the tournament Monday. Long time Norton and Northern Valley coach Chuck Zimmerman was asked not to coach the basketball team a few weeks before the season.
Game of the day - St. John's/Tipton and Lincoln will battle on the girl's side Tuesday. The winner gets the right to meet the Thunder Ridge versus Southern Cloud winner in the girl's semifinal Friday. The Lady Jays from Beloit/Tipton opened on a 23-0 run and never looked back in beating Rock Hills 47-14. Lincoln led by NPL scoring leader Jenna Farris, beat Chase 55-28. Farris rolled in 18 points.
Slow pace - Thunder Ridge's boys beat Palco, 48-39 for the right to face No. 2 seed Wilson Tuesday. Seniors Austin Herman (15 points) and Joel Struckoff (14 points) led the 5-3 Longhorns to the quarterfinal round. Struckoff, who was selected to participate in this years Shrine Bowl, has yet to pick a college to continue his outstanding football career. He has offers from most all junior colleges in Kansas and his dad (Jim a 1985 graduate of Kensington) says he is interested in Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays at the Division 2 level. Charlie Weis, may have some interest at Kansas?
Dragon dreams - Jake Stoppel led three Dragon players in double figures as Wilson beat Logan 76-29. Cole Zelenka (19 points) and Mrcus Denham (17 points) proved that a three headed Dragon has a worse bite than a one-headed one.
Double digits - Rock Hills and Natoma combined to have seven players in double figures in the closest boys' game. Wyatt Flinn 20 points, Blake Walter and Zach Duffy led the Grizzlies into the quarterfinals Tuesday against St. John's/Tipton. Natoma had four players in double digits in the loss that puts them against Chase in the consolation side Tuesday. Seth Johnson (14), Corey Dunlap (13), Phillip Murphy (11) and Jackson Meiers (10) led the Tigers in the loss.
As Advertised too - Tescott's Austin Herbal cashed in 22 chips in leading the Trojans to a 56-50 win over Pike Valley Monday. The Trojans have a huge test Tuesday with Lakeside the Division 2 No.2 ranked team in 1A coming to Tescott to play on the Trojans home court.
No preference - Both No.1 seeds Lakeside on the boy's side and Thunder Ridge on the girls side were given the Lincoln Elementary facility for the opening round games. Tuesday, the Lady Longhorns and Longhorns will both be playing at Sylvan after being split Monday.
Pay once - Rumors surfaced around the tournament that fans were going to have to pay at each site to get in for the games. Once fans paid at one site to watch their team they were allowed to go to the next site with a special mark on their hand to watch their next team.
