By William / www.mcpherson-county-ks.com
LITTLE RIVER – In a battle of two area teams with just a few miles between them, the Inman boys and girls went into Little River on Friday and came home with a split of the two games as the Teutons boys won 42-20 while the Lady Redskins defended their home court with a 53-35 victory.
With the split, the #3 ranked in Class 1A Division I Little River girls are now 18-1 for the season while the Redskin boys drop to 13-6. For the Teutons, the boys go to 14-4 for the season while the Lady Teutons fell to 6-13.
LADY REDSKINS PULL AWAY FROM LADY TEUTONS
For the girls game, the Little River girls showed why they are highly ranked as they bounced back from an early deficit to score a convincing 18-point, 53-35 win over the Lady Teutons as eight Lady Redskins putting points in the scorebook in the process.
“We had a slow start to the game,” pointed out Lady Redskin head coach Brent Clark. “We fell behind early and ended the first quarter down by five at 15-10 before picking up the defensive pressure after that and allowing just 20 total points the rest of the game. Our defense makes our offense better. It was another great team effort on Senior night as many players contributed to the win.”
The Little River defense recorded 18 steals, led by Ashley Stephenson with six and Alaina Eck with five, to go along with six blocked shots in the game. Lily Boughfman recorded four of the blocked shots while Aubry Olander had the other two.
On offense for Little River, only Lily Boughfman with 12 and Stephenson with 11 reached double digits although both Eck and Olander came close with eight. Besides her quick hands on defense, Stephenson topped the Lady Redskins in directing the offense by dishing out five assists. Lily Boughfman and Stephenson also topped the team in rebounds with four each.
LITTLE RIVER LADY REDSKINS TEAM STATS: FG 24/46 (52%); 3-PTR 2/8 (25%); AST 15; REBS 21; TO 16; STLS 18; BLK 6; PF 11.
LITTLE RIVER LADY REDSKINS INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS: SCORING (53 total points): Lily Boughfman – 12; Ashley Stephenson – 11; Alaina Eck – 8; Aubrey Olander – 8; MeKenzie Renken – 5; Elsie Boughfman – 4; Amaya Sneath – 3; Kaelynn Welsh – 2. 3-POINTERS MADE (2): Stephenson, Renken – 1. ASSISTS: Stephenson – 5; L. Boughfman – 3; Eck, Olander, Welsh – 2. REBOUNDS: L. Boughfman, Stephenson – 4; Olander, E. Boughfman, Sneath – 3. STEALS: Stephenson – 6; Eck – 5; L. Boughfman – 3; Olander – 2. BLOCKED SHOTS: L. Boughfman – 4; Olander – 2.
INMAN LADY TEUTONS TEAMS STATS: None available.
INMAN LADY TEUTONS INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS: None available.
TEUTON BOYS WIN OVER SLUGGISH REDSKINS
In the boys game, Little River shot just 26% from the field and that cost them as Inman pulled away in the second half for a commanding 22-point, 42-20 win.
The two teams played to a tie at the end of the first quarter before the Teutons pulled away for a four-point, 15-11 lead at the halftime break.
Coming out of the intermission, the Redskins could only muster a pair of points in the third quarter as the Teutons put some distance in their lead by going up by 15 at 28-13 before cruising in for the final 22-point victory.
“We played really well tonight on the defensive end for all 32 minutes,” explained Teuton head coach Brett Froese. “We also played well offensively for about 16 minutes. Just way too many quick shots early after just one or two passes. In the second half we calmed down and really moved the ball and got what we wanted.”
Nine Teutons put points in the scorebook with Tanner Heckel leading the team with 11 while Eli Brunk also found double figures with 10.
For Little River, they had a horrendous night shooting, connecting on just 8-of-31 shots from the field and just 1-for-6 from the free throw line.
Not a single Redskin came close to double digits in scoring as the team was led by Braxton Lafferty with five while Dalton Mantz, Logan Renken, and Rylan Konen each scored three.
INMAN TEUTON TEAM STATS: No Team Stats Available.
INMAN TEUTON INDIVIDUAL SCORING LEADERS (42 total points): Tanner Heckel – 11; Eli Brunk – 10; Zach Martisko – 7; Jace Doerksen – 5; Brody Froese – 3; Harrison Brunk – 2; Dawson Mannebach – 2; Schrag – 1; Kendyn Blank – 1. 3-POINTERS MADE (3): Heckel, Doerksen, B. Froese – 1.
LITTLE RIVER REDSKIN TEAM STATS: FG 8/31 (26%); 3-PTR 3/14 (21%); FT 1/6 (17%); AST 7; REBS 18; TO 7; STLS 0; BLK 5; PF 9.
LITTLE RIVER REDSKIN INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS: SCORING (20 total points): Braxton Lafferty – 5; Dalton Mantz – 3; Logan Renken – 3; Rylan Konen – 3; Andrew Smith – 2; Allen Burrola – 2; Kyle Bruce – 2. 3-POINTERS MADE (3): Lafferty, Mantz, Renken – 1. ASSISTS: Mantz, Bruce, Konen – 2. REBOUNDS: Konen – 5; Burrola, Lafferty – 3; Bruce, Mantz, Renken – 2. BLOCKED SHOTS: Lafferty, Smith – 2; Konen – 1.