DERBY, Kan. — The Hutch High Salthawks had their chances on Tuesday night in both games, but came up short in both. The Panther teams prevailed with the Lady Panthers rallying back after a great Salthawk start to beat Hutch 62-46. The boys game went two overtimes before Derby put the game away at the foul line to win 65-62 in a thriller.
GIRLS UPDATE:
The Salthawk girls jumped out to a 9-2 lead early and led at halftime 32-26, but a slow and rare third quarter start allowed Derby to get back into the game and take away a possible Salthawk upset for a Panther victory 62-46.
Hutchinson (11-8) now travel to Newton Friday to wrap up the regular season.
Along with the loss went the possibility of hosting a first round sub-state game as Hutchinson is now ranked in the 9th spot in the 5A West rankings. Kapaun Mt. Carmel is 12-7 and will play Wichita Heights on Friday.
Hutchinson was led by Grace Posch with 17, Kaia Smith 14, Azariah Dawes 6, Rachel Tomcat 5 and Kolbie Craft and Ava Krone each scored 2 pts.
Derby's super sophomore Macayla Askew led all scorers with 22, Destiny Smith added 14 while Madison Smith had 9 pts.
Derby (16-3) and seeded #2 in 6A West close out their season at Maize.
BOYS RECAP:
The Salthawks boys had their chances, but turnovers and missing free throws late in regulation cost Hutchinson dearly in the 65-60 double-overtime loss.
Hutch let at the end of the first quarter thanks to a half-court heave by Terrell King that banked in for a 13-10 lead, but trailed at the half by five 26-21. The third quarter found the Salthawks cutting the Derby lead to two 36-34 before Hutchinson rallied to tie up the game 49-49 at the end of regulation. Hutch was able to score five points on one possession late in the third quarter with and and one basket plus a Derby technical foul.
Both teams had opportunities to win the game in the first overtime, as Hutchinson got a late Jax Heneha steal but he could not get a shot off in time as the game headed into the second overtime tied at 55-55.
Derby's Jack Ulweling knocked down six straight free throws in the two overtime periods to seal the win for Derby.
Hutch was led in scoring with Terrell King's 17 points before fouling out in the first overtime. Jax Heneha score 12 before also fouling out in the second overtime. Julian Smith scored all of his 11 points in the second half including a huge trey that tied the game up late. Devon Spiller added 5 points as well.
Derby was led in scoring by Kaden Franklin with 20, Ulweling had 11 and Brayden Smith 9 for the bulk of Derby's scoring.
Derby (12-7) is tied with Maize (12-7) and play the Eagles in Maize on Friday to see who will have the opportunity to have a home court advantage throughout the 6A sub-states.
Hutchinson (13-6) will wrap up their regular season with a trip to Newton on Friday. Hutch is currently in the sixth spot in the 5A West behind Great Bend (14-5) and Hays (13-6). Great Bend and Hays play each other on Friday. Even though tied with Hays, Hutchinson is .89 points behind the Indians in the tie breaker formula of point differential used by KSHSAA.
KSHSAA will release the 5A seedings at 10am on Saturday, February 24.