HALSTEAD, Kan. – The Smoky Valley basketball teams hit the road on Tuesday night for their final regular season game away from home on the girls and boys side. In a close battle through the first seven minutes, the Halstead girls pulled away to win big. In the boys contest, Halstead led by 16 after three and held off a furious comeback attempt from Smoky Valley to take a three-point victory.
Girls-Halstead 55, Smoky Valley 19– The Dragons and Vikings were tied a seven late in the first quarter, but Halstead took control of the game from there. They scored the final four points of the first quarter and outscored Smoky Valley 19-0 in the second quarter. In all, they scored 25 straight points to lead 32-7 early in the second half. The Vikings were able to have some success in the third quarter, but Halstead used a 14-4 fourth quarter to finish with the big win. Three players were in double figures for the Dragons as Piper Schroeder led the way with 11. Bailey Bernal and Addisen Wills each added ten points in the victory as Halstead, ranked #2 in 3A in the final Kansas Basketball Coaches Association rankings, moved to 19-0 overall and 7-0 in the Central Kansas League. Kamryn Ryan led Smoky Valley with seven points as they moved to 6-12 and 1-5 in the CKL.
SV – Ryan 7, Brown 6, Haxton 3, Leis 2, Dudley 1
Halstead – P. Schroeder 11, Bernal 10, Wills 10, Nedich 9, J. Schroeder 6, Mabry 3, Conard 2, A. Williams 2, T. Williams 2
Boys-Halstead 59, Smoky Valley 56 – In a tight game early, the Vikings and Dragons were tied at 11 after one quarter when Brock Gengler opened the second quarter scoring with a three-pointer to put Smoky Valley up 14-11. From there, Halstead went on an 8-0 run and extended their lead to 29-21 by halftime. Damian Whillock, who made four three-pointers in the first half capped an 18-10 third quarter with his fifth three-point bucket to put the Dragons up by 16 at 47-31 after three. However, Smoky Valley did not go quietly into the night. The Vikings turned the pressure up and forced nine Halstead turnovers in the fourth quarter. Using that pressure, they cut the Halstead lead to one at 57-56 on a layup by Kristian Ryan with 52 seconds remaining in the game. Halstead responded with an open layup from Jackson Wendling with 20 seconds left to put the Dragons back up by three. Kristian Ryan had an opportunity to tie the game with a three-pointer in the final ten seconds, but the attempt rolled off and Halstead got the rebound and ran off the remainder of the clock for the three-point victory.
Whillock led all scorers with 19 points for Halstead, shooting 5-8 from beyond the arc. Reece Carmichael finished with 11 points for the Dragons as they moved to 8-12 and 4-3 in the CKL. Atticus Pavlovich led Smoky Valley with 12 points, including two three-pointers in the fourth quarter. Marik Anderson scored a career high ten points on the night. For just the third time this season, Ryan was held in single digits in scoring, finishing with nine. Smoky Valley is now 11-7 and 3-3 in the CKL.
SV – Pavlovich 12, Anderson 10, Ryan 9, Gengler 7, Griffith 7, Olson 6, Burgardt 5
Halstead – Whillock 19, Carmichael 11, Martinez 9, Diaz 8, Brantley 6, Wendling 4, Hobbs 2
