TUESDAY, FEBRUARY 21 at Central Plains
Giving a voice to the smaller area schools of McPherson County and the Athletes they have….Our goal is to give them all some media love!!
The stories and stats behind the Little River Redskins and Lady Redskins getting a pair of road wins on Tuesday over Central Plains, including the girls game matching the top two teams in Class 1A Division i.
NEXT UP – hosting Class 1A Division I Sub-State
LADY REDSKINS
WIN BY 11,
ECK SCORES 35
By Staff
CLAFLIN – In a game matching the top two team of Class 1A Division I, the top ranked Little River girls went on the road Tuesday and brought home an 11-point, 67-56 win over second ranked Central Plains.
“We got a huge victory tonight over Central Plains,” noted Little River head coach Brent Clark. “They are a very good and well coached team. I thought our kids played very well.”
With the win, the Lady Redskins are now 19-1 for the season and will have a first round bye later this week in the Class 1A Division I sub-state they will be hosting. The Little River girls will not play until Thursday, March 2 when they tangle with the winner of the game between fourth seed Langdon/Fairfield and fifth seeded St. John/Hudson.
In a sign for next season, the Little River junior varsity girls closed out their 2022-23 season with a 12-2 record after beating Central Plains 42-31.
Central Plains dropped to 16-4 for the season and will also play in the Little River sub-state, hosting their first round game with Macksville on Thursday, February 23. If they win they would then play the winner of the game Thursday between Pretty Prairie and Pratt/Skyline.
Little River fell behind early, trailing by five at 25-20 to the Lady Oilers at the end of the first quarter before the defense tightened up to give the Lady Redskins an opportunity to out score Central Plains 17-10 in the second stanza and head to the halftime break with a two-point lead at 37-35.
Outscoring the Lady Oilers 30-21 in the final two quarters, the Lady Redskins gained the final 11-point victory.
Coach Clark talked about some issues and players when he said, “We got into foul trouble early, but our bench players came in and did a great job. Kate (Ellwood) came in and hit a pair of big three-pointers while freshmen Evie Look, Arika Feldman, and Havana Olander also contributed during the times when needed.”
Alaina Eck had the monster game for the Lady Redskins as she led the team in scoring with 35 points while also grabbing five steals, blocking a pair of shots and hauling in four rebounds.
Joining Eck in double digits was sophomore Elsie Boughfman who chipped in with 10 points and pulled down six rebounds as she continues to round into game time shape after returning from an injury just a few weeks previous.
Havana Olander led the work in the paint with seven rebounds while her sister Aubrey Olander, a junior, grabbed five. As a team Little River pulled down 32 rebounds.
Concluding his post-game reflections, Clark added, “Alaina (Eck) had another awesome game. When we needed her to score, she got the job done. I am so proud of this team and how well they pick each other up.”
LITTLE RIVER LADY REDSKINS at Central Plains
SCORING: LITTLE RIVER > 20-17-15-15 = 67; Central Plains > 25-10-11-10 = 56.
LITTLE RIVER TEAM STATS > 2-FGs – 19/38; 3-PTs – 5/13; FTs – 14/21; AST – 11; REBs – 32; TO – 15; STLs – 9; BLKs – 6; FLs – 20.
LITTLE RIVER LADY REDSKINS INDIVIDUAL STAT LEADERS: Scoring > Alaina Eck – 35; Elsie Boughfman – 10; Kate Ellwood – 6; Havana Olander – 6; Aubrey Olander – 4; Ashley Stephenson – 3; Adelynne Strecker – 2; Arika Feldman – 1. 3-Pointers Made > Eck, Ellwood – 2; Stephenson – 1. Assists > Boughfman, H. Olander, A. Olander, Stephenson – 2; Eck, Strecker, Feldman – 1. Rebounds > H. Olander – 7; Boughfman – 6; A. Olander – 5; Eck, Strecker, Feldman – 4; Stephenson, Evie Look – 1. Steals > Ecke – 5; Strecker – 3; Stephenson – 1. Blocked Shots > Eck, A. Olander – 2; Strecker, Feldman – 1.
(The Staff covering events for the MAC AREA SPORTS NEW can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)
LITTLE RIVER BOYS
ROLL PAST OILERS
BY 29
By Staff
CLAFLIN – The Little River boys traveled to Claflin on Tuesday to close out their regular season schedule and rolled past Central Plains by a 29-point, 59-30 win.
With the win, Little River closes out the 2022-23 regular season with a record of 15-5. The Redskins will now host a Class 1A Division I Sub-State as the second seed.
Little River begins sub-state play on Friday when they host seventh seed St. John/Hudson. If they win, they will then play the winner of the game between third seed Pratt/Skyline and sixth seed Langdon/Fairfield. Macksville is the number one seed while Central Plains is the fourth seed and Pretty Prairie is the fifth seed.
“I thought our kids did a great job at getting better last night,” noted Redskin head coach Erik Base. “We had emphasized a few things at practice that we needed to clean up going into post season play, and I thought we did a great job of executing and getting better at those things.”
Little River ran out to a 13-point, 17-4 lead by the end of the first quarter and then pushed the lead to 28 points at 43-15 heading to the halftime break. After extending the advantage to 37 points, 56-19, the Redskins cruised in for the final 29-point victory.
As a team, Little River dished out 16 assists on 23 made shots from the field plus they pulled down 35 total rebounds.
The Redskins connected on 11 three-pointers in the game including three by Braxton Lafferty who led the team in scoring with 19 points while also recording a double-double by grabbing 10 rebounds as well as leading the team in steals with four and blocked shots with a pair.
Kayston Cox hit four three-pointers on his way to scoring 14 points and pulling down six rebounds while Rylan Konen also reached double figures in scoring with 11 and Logan Renken just missed with three three-pointers and nine points. Both Konen and Renken also hauled in seven rebounds while Konen topped the team in assists with five.
In the Redskins junior varsity game, they lost 35-41 to end their season at 7-8.
Coach Base concluded his post-game, post-season reflections by adding, “It has been a fun season and this group has been enjoyable every day. It isn’t always that way and I have cherished spending time and getting better at the game daily. We are excited for our opportunity to earn a spot at the state tournament. We get to start this Friday with a home quarterfinal against St. John/Hudson. They are a well-coached team and are guard heavy. We are going to need to be good in the full court both offensively and defensively. We look forward to the challenge and want to continue getting better daily.”
LITTLE RIVER REDSKINS at Central Plains
SCORING: LITTLE RIVER > 17-26-13-3 = 59; Central Plains > 4-11-4-11 = 30.
LITTLE RIVER TEAM STATS > 2-FGs – 12/28; 3-PTs – 11/26; FTs – 2/5; AST – 16; REBs – 35; TO – 10; STLs – 9; BLKs – 3; FLs – n/a.
LITTLE RIVER INDIVIDUAL STATS: Scoring > Braxton Lafferty – 19; Kayston Cox – 14; Rylan Konen – 11; Logan Renken – 9; Dalton Mantz – 6. 3-Pointer Made > Cox – 4; Lafferty, Renken – 3; R. Konen – 1. Assists > R. Konen – 5; Cox – 4; Lafferty – 3; Mantz – 2; Treyton Olander, Jaxon Konen – 1. Rebounds > Lafferty – 10; R. Konen, Renken – 7; Cox – 6; Mantz – 4; Olander – 1. Steals > Lafferty – 4; Cox – 2; Renken, Mantz, CJ Herzog – 1. Blocked Shots > Lafferty – 2; Olander – 1.
(The Staff covering events for the MAC AREA SPORTS NEW can be reached by email at crossdovewriter@gmail.com)