LINDSBORG, Kan. – The Smoky Valley basketball teams wrapped up the non-league portion of their schedule on Friday night at home against Russell. The Viking girls jumped out to a big lead early and the boys used a strong push late to pick up a home sweep of the Broncos.
Girls-Smoky Valley 41, Russell 26– Smoky Valley started fast, winning the tip and getting a quick layup from Braelynn Whittaker. That sparked an 11-0 run to start the game for the Vikings and they held a 16-4 lead after the first quarter. An 11-5 second quarter for Smoky Valley put them up 27-9 going into the locker room at halftime. They used another 11-6 third quarter to lead by 23 after three quarters, but the offense slowed down in the fourth as Russell outscored the Vikings 11-3 in the final frame. Kenzley Haxton paced Smoky Valley with 12 points in the win. The Vikings improved to 6-7 overall, but they have now won four straight and five of their last six games overall. Russell was led by Hayden Creamer with eight points, scoring six of those from the free throw line. Norah Mooney was averaging over 13 points per game for the Broncos, but Smoky Valley was able to hold her to just four for the night. Russell is now 2-13 after the loss.
Russell – Creamer 8, Patterson 6, Middleton 5, Mooney 4, Kuntzsch 3
SV – Haxton 12, Brown 8, Dudley 7, Ryan 6, Whittaker 4, DeBaere 3, Eyer 1
Boys- Smoky Valley 56, Russell 51 – Similar to the girls game, Smoky Valley got off to a great start as they held a 13-5 lead in the first quarter. However, Russell turned up some pressure and closed out the first quarter with eight straight points to tie the game at 13 and they added the first four points of the second quarter to finish a 12-0 run with a 17-13 lead. Russell held a 25-20 lead late in the first half, but a backwards, over-the-head tip in from Titus Griffith of Smoky Valley right before the buzzer cut the lead back to a single possession at 25-22. Sam Thielen got hot in the third quarter for Russell, scoring 11 points in a row for his squad, but Smoky Valley weathered the storm, trailing just 38-36 after three. In the fourth quarter, as has been the case multiple times this season, Kristian Ryan and Ty Heitschmidt took over for the Vikings. Heitschmidt had a run of six straight points for the Vikings and Ryan finished off a 6-0 run late in the fourth to put Smoky Valley up 52-48. A three-pointer from Jake Mooney fell through to cut the lead to 52-51 for Russell, but the Vikings got another basket from Ryan with just under a minute left to go up 54-51. Ryan was fouled on the shot but missed the free throw. Smoky Valley was able to hold Russell off the board and Atticus Pavlovich sealed the game with two free throws with 11 seconds left for the five-point win.
Ryan led the Vikings with 21 points, registering his fourth straight game with 20 or more points and his ninth such game on the season. Heitschmidt and Braylon Olson each finished with nine for Smoky Valley as they improved to 9-4 overall and 5-0 on their home floor this season. It was the fourth straight win for the Vikings and their sixth in the past seven games. Thielen scored a game-high 25 for Russell but was held to just two points in the final quarter. Ian Strobel added ten points, going 6-6 from the free throw line after coming into the game shooting just over 28% from the stripe. The Broncos fell back to an even .500 at 8-8.
Russell – Thielen 25, Strobel 10, Schoenberger 7, Mooney 5, Zorn 2, William 2
SV – Ryan 21, Heitschmidt 9, Olson 9, Pavlovich 6, Burgardt 5, Griffith 4, Anderson 1, Gengler 1
