By Staff

            DERBY – On Thursday the McPherson seventh- and eighth-grade girls basketball teams traveled to Derby where the ‘A’ teams each won games while the ‘B’ teams lost.

            For the seventh-grade Junior Lady Pups the ‘A’ team won 38-7 while the ‘B’ team took a loss, 21-23.

            In the eighth-grade matchups, the McPherson ‘A’ team scored a 44-35 victory, and the ‘B’ team suffered a 21-26 defeat.

7TH GRADE JUNIOR LADY PUPS:

            ‘A’ TEAM – For the seventh-grade Junior Lady Pups, the ‘A’ team hammered Derby for a 31-point, 38-7 victory led by a Karlie Cooper who poured in 17 points while grabbing six rebounds.

            McPherson dominated the boards as they pulled down 25 rebounds with Kennedy Bonham and Jersey Alexander grabbing seven each and Amerie Lowery nabbing five. Audra Sandbo directed the Junior Lady Pup offense by dishing out eight assists to go with four steals and six points. Lowery chipped in with seven points, Bonham had four, Allison Randa scored a pair of points and Alexander had a pair of points plus four steals.

            “This game was physical,” noted head coach Matt Sandbo. “We did a good job contesting shots and making it hard for them to score. A lot of things to clean up and work on, too.”

            ‘B’ TEAM – In the ‘B’ game for the seventh-graders, Derby nipped the Junior Lady Pups by two points in handing them a 23-21 loss.

            Allison Randa was the go-to scorer for McPherson with 16 points while Amerie Lowery scored three and Jaylinn had two.

            Referencing the ‘B’ team game, coach Sandbo added, “Physical game as well. Kids fought to the end and played hard. Much improved though from game one to game two.”

8TH GRADE JUNIOR LADY PUPS:

            ‘A’ TEAM – In a hard-fought battle, the McPherson eighth grade ‘A’ team managed to pull out a nine-point, 44-35 win thanks to balanced scoring.

            Both Brynn Littlejohn and Jaela Thompson reached double digits in the scorebook with 13 and 11 points respectively while Littlejohn had a double-double by also grabbing 10 rebounds. Both Carmin Pavlovich and Rylie Whitfield each chipped in with eight points while Piper Alvord had four. Helping out in the paint, Pavlovich nabbed seven rebounds, Thompson had six and both Whitefield and Alvord pulled down three.

            The Junior Lady Pups defense managed to record 11 steals in the game led by Pavlovich and Alvord with three each and Thompson with two.

            “We played a great game tonight,” explained eighth-grade head coach Heidi Ricke. “We showed some mark improvement on our defense and ballhandling with 11 steals and only giving up 10 turnovers. I am so proud of the way we played tonight with balance scoring with Brynn Littlejohn leading the team with a double-double.”

            ‘B’ TEAM – The eighth grade ‘B’ team lost a close game by five points, 21-26.

            Molly Owen led the team in scoring with 13 points while Ari Prose had six and Riley Clemmons managed a pair.

            Coach Ricke concluded her post-game reflections by saying, “Although we came up short, I was very impressed with how the ‘B’ team came together and executed our offense and played hard. These girls played with a lot of heart, and I could not have been prouder of them.”

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