By Staff
MOUNDRIDGE – On Tuesday, the Moundridge boys and girls basketball teams opened up their preseason tournament with a split of games against Lyons as the boys won 71-35 and the girls lost 57-40.
On Thursday, both Wildcat teams will battle with Hillsboro in their second-round games. The highlight will be the boys game as the Wildcats are currently ranked number one in Class 2A while Hillsboro is ranked ninth and the defending Class 2A state champion.
Summary of the two Moundridge games with Lyons:
WILDCAT BOYS PUT AWAY LYONS BY 36
In the boys game, Moundridge jumped out to a 14-point, 25-11 lead by the end of the first quarter and held a big 31-poiint, 48-17 advantage over Lyons heading into the halftime break.
After Lyons chipped four points off the lead in the third quarter, the Wildcats outscored the visitors 11-2 in the fourth to earn the final 36-point, 71-35 victory.
“Love the contributions by multiple guys on both ends of the floor,” noted Wildcat head coach Vance Unrau. “We pass the ball well and move without the ball with purpose.”
Three Wildcats hit for double digits in scoring lead by Barrett Moddelmog with 25 while Logan Churchill dropped in 21 and Landon Kaufman scored 12.
Kaufman recorded a double-double with his team leading 10 assists while he also grabbed six rebounds and hit a pair of three-pointers.
Moddelmog led the Wildcats in the paint with eight rebounds and three-pointers with three while Churchill also had a solid all-around game by gathering in five rebounds, dishing out three assists, making two steals and blocking seven shots.
It was another team effort as Moundridge dished out a total of 22 assists, grabbed 31 rebounds of which 12 came on the offensive end and 19 on the defensive side while making 10 steals and blocking nine shots.
Coach Unrau concluded his post-game reflections by saying, “We didn’t shoot it as well as we did on Friday, but we took good shots. I would like to see us hit the glass a little bit harder. Our game on Thursday with Hillsboro will bring another challenge as they have a franchise player who is very skilled. We will have to defend very well.”
MOUNDRIDGE WILDCATS vs. Lyons at Moundridge Preseason Tournament
SCORING: WILDCATS 25-23-12-11=71; Lyons 11-6-16-2=35.
TEAM STATS:
WILDCATS: 2-FGs – 29/57; 3-PTs – 8/27; FTs – 5/9; AST -22; REBs – 31 (12/19); FLs – 10; TO – 8; STLs – 10; BLKs – 9.
Lyons: 2-FGs – 14/40; 3-PTs – 3/20; FTs – 4/6; AST – 8; REBs – 25 (7/18); FLs – 10; TO – 5; STLs – 2; BLKs – 1.
WILDCAT INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS:
Scoring: Barrett Moddelmog – 25; Logan Churchill – 21; Landon Kaufman – 12; Henry Hecox – 5; Kepple Adolf – 5; Alec Huddle – 3.
3-Pointers Made: Moddelmog – 3; Churchill, Kaufman – 2; Adolf – 1.
Assists: Kaufman – 10; Hecox – 5; Churchill – 3; Moddelmog, Huddle, Zach Dixon, Landon Ward – 1.
Rebounds: Moddelmog – 8; Kaufman – 6; Churchill – 5; Huddle, Dixon – 4; Hecox, Layton Schmidt – 2.
Steals: Kaufman – 3; Churchill, Huddle – 2; Hecox, Adolf, Dixon – 1.
Blocked Shots: Churchill – 7; Hecox, Schmidt – 1.
LADY WILDCATS HURT BY SLUGGISH START
For the Moundridge girls, a slow start hurt them as they fell behind 15-3 by the end of the first quarter and trailed 26-12 at the halftime break. Another sluggish third quarter saw the Lady Wildcats drop behind by 23 before chipping away a few points in the fourth only to finish with a 17-point, 57-40 loss to Lyons.
“We did not start the game well tonight,” pointed out Lady Wildcat head coach Kaleigh Huxman. “We could not get stops on defense and the looks we were getting on offense were not falling.”
Lyons had the combo of seniors Caitlyn Belote and Nevaeh Boyd leading their offense where the two combined to score 40 of the teams 57 points.
For the Lady Wildcats, they showed their youth as the top three scorers in the game were all freshman, led by Addy Patrick who hit for 16 while Cammi Unruh scored nine and Macy Kaminkow had seven.
Coach Huxman finished her thoughts on the game by adding, “I am proud of the girls for continuing to fight. We played a very evenly matched second half but could not get out of the hole we dug. Like I told the girls, the great thing about tournament week is you don’t have to wait very long to redeem yourself. We know this is not what we are capable of and look forward to bouncing back on Thursday.”
MOUNDRIDGE LADY WILDCATS vs. Lyons at Moundridge Preseason Tournament
SCORING: LADY WILDCATS 3-9-6-22=40; Lyons 15-11-15-16=57.
LADY WILDCAT SCORING: Addy Patrick – 16, 1 3-pointer; Cammi Unruh – 9; Macy Kaminkow – 7; Emily Durst – 4; Kindall Elmore – 2; Kaelyn Wedel – 2.
(The Staff covering McPherson County Activities can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)