By Staff

            Salina – The McPherson Middle School seventh and eighth grade girls basketball teams kicked off their 2022 seasons on Monday in Salina with games against Salina Lakewood.

            Both teams split a pair of games as the seventh-grade Junior Lady Pups ‘A’ team won 41-10 while their ‘B’ team stumbled in losing 37-19.

            For the eighth-grade Junior Lady Pups, they also got a victory from the ‘A’ team, winning 47-25 with the ‘B’ team taking a 37-25 loss.

            Here is a summary of the games:

MMS 7th Grade Girls Basketball:

            ‘A’ Team – The seventh-grade Junior Lady Pups ‘A’ team opened their 2022 season with a dominating, 41-10 win over Salina Lakewood as Audra Sandbo earned a double-double by leading the team in points with 13 and rebounds with 10.

            Amarie Lowery just missed double digits with nine points, Jersey Alexander scored seven, Kennedy Bonham hit for six points and gathered seven rebounds, while Allison Randa and Karlie Cooper chipped in with four and two points, respectively.

            “Good first game overall for this group,” noted 7th grade head coach Matt Sandbo. “Plenty to work on before we host Derby on Thursday.”

            ‘B’ Team – Karlie Cooper put 17 points in the scorebook for the seventh grade ‘B’ team, but it was not enough as the Junior Lady Pups lost 37-19. Allison Randa was the only other player to score for McPherson as she scored two.

            Coach Sandbo concluded his opening day reflections by saying, “The ‘B’ team girls played hard and will continue to improve.”

MMS 8th Grade Girls Basketball:

            ‘A’ Team – For the eighth-grade Junior Lady Pups, their ‘A’ team scored a 22-point, 47-25, season opening win over Salina Lakewood as Jaela Thompson putting on a scoring show with 29 points. Carmin Pavlovich chipped in with seven, Rylie Whitfield had six and Piper Alvord hit for three.

            “The girls came out with great intensity and focus,” explained eighth-grade head coach Heidi Ricke in her post game reflections. “They dominated on the defensive side after having had a great two weeks of practice. I feel like you could see their hard work payoff.”

            ‘B’ Team – The eighth grade ‘B’ team put out a full game effort but fell short in losing 37-25 to Salina Lakewood.

            Molly Owen led the ‘B’ team in scoring with 10 points while Ari Prose just missed double digits with nine. Three Junior Lady Pups put a pair of points in the stat sheet with two points each, including Sara Diaz, MacKaylie Woltji, and Rylee Holt.

(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)