HUTCHINSON, Kan.-The Hutch High Salthawk basketball teams were able to celebrate homecoming in a happy way by sweeping Salina South on Friday night before Salthawk alumni and fans at a packed Salthawk Activity Center.
Girls Game Recap:
The Hutch High girls rallied back from being down four points going into the final quarter to explode for 17 fourth quarter points in route to a 45-39 win over the visiting Cougars from Salina.
The win avenged a six point loss in Salina 34-28, earlier in the season with both teams entertaining the fans with one of the best and most competitive games of the whole basketball season.
Hutch High took a one point lead at the end of the first quarter 15-14. The game was tied at 23 at half time and then it was rally time for the Hawks.
Junior Kaia Smith finally got untracked after being held scoreless in the first half. Smith scored 11 of her 14 points in the final quarter tieing the game with a right elbow trey 37-37, then hit the go-ahead trey from a little deeper on the the right arc toward the baseline to give the Salthawks the lead 40-37 with less than two minutes to play. Smith, Grace Posch and Lilly Rodriguez all added free throws in the last minute of play to seal the victory.
Posch carried the load in the first half by scoring 14 of her game high15 points with four treys to lead the Salthawks. Senior post Rachel Tomac had a monstor game with 11 points and 9 boards just barely missing a double-double. Tomac started in place of Kohlbie Craft who suffered a concussion versus Newton on Tuesday. Tomac made the most of it with consistant play against Salina South's talented sophomore in 6'3" Paitlyn Fritz. Azariah Dawes had 2 points and Rodriquez added 3 points to round out the Salthawk scoring.
For Salina South, three different players shared high point honors with eight points apiece. Fritz, Tamia Cheeks and Elle Barth scored those eight points. Bath had all her points in the first half, then was held scoreless in the 2nd half. Brooklyn Jordon added 6, Mercedes Tarver 5 and Aunisty McNeal 3 for the cougars scoring.
Hutch High (8-5) trave to Goddard Eisenhower next Tuesday before returning to the SAC for a make-up game on Thursday against Derby that was postponed from early in January.
Boys Game Recap:
It the boy's game, it wasn't until the third quarter that Hutch High was able to take control of the contest. The Salthawk had a 20-19 lead at the end of the first quarter. Then led 34-31 at intermissioin but took a 51-40 lead going into the final quarter and won by 11, 68-57.
The Salthawks had as much as a 16 point lead in the final quarter before Salina South trimed it back down to 11 at the final buzzer.
Terrell King tied Salina South's Quevon Purucker for game high honors with 16 points. Jax Heneha had a tremendous game with 12 points and Devon Spiller came off the bench to add 10. Taishaun Govain and Julian Smith added 9 apiece including a fantastic Smith save on the north baseline in transition for a perfect bounce pass to Govain for a key late game basket. Senior guard Tai Clark chipped in 7 along with Jay Lewis with 5.
Besides Purucker's 16, Salina South only had one other player in double figures which was Brady Howard with 11 including three three point baskets for the game.
Hutch High (11-3) travel to Goddard Eisenhower on Tuesday. Salina South falls to 2-12 on the season and will host Derby. Both teams have six remaining regular season games before sub-state pairings are announced.