Basketball recap: Ark City, Campus, Carroll and Goddard fall on wild night in Wichita
One undefeated left
Maize South and Goddard entered Tuesday as the only two remaining unbeaten girls basketball teams in Class 5A.
After a 48-39 win, the Mavericks are alone. Senior guard Zayda Perez scored a game-high 18 points with 10 coming in the first quarter. The Goddard entered averaging 30 points allowed through four.
Goddard was massively oversized. The Lions brought five players standing 5-foot-10 for taller. Maize South junior Katie Wagner said she was asked to guard the paint. She finished with eight points and helped hold Goddard to 15 points through 16 minutes.
“Coach told me we’re going to need you to play like you’re 6 feet tall,” Wagner said. “We just had to be aggressive and deny balls. Boxing out was huge. They can out-jump us. They can out-push us, but we needed more effort.”
45 ain’t enough
Andover has its headline win.
The Trojans stunned one-loss Arkansas City with a 74-67 home victory Tuesday. Bulldog senior guard Cevin Clark scored 45, but Andover had four players scoring in double-digits.
Andover coach Martin Shetlar said he though sophomore Isaiah Kaikori was the primary defender on Clark, he did a good job at wearing at wearing him down while scoring a season-high 15 points.
Thanks to a 22-point, 10-rebound night from senior Andrew Gagnon, big late shots out of sophomore Jack Johnson and a 25-15 fourth quarter, the Trojans pulled it off.
“We’ve been playing good just not good enough to win,” Shetlar said. “To get a win like this is really good for us, and hopefully we can keep that momentum rolling.”
Defending the jungle
In arguably the best boys game of the night in Kansas, Andover Central’s lead was never in real doubt.
The Jaguars beat Campus 75-65. After the first quarter, they led 22-10.
With the win, Andover Central improved to 12-1 and moved to second in the Class 5A West standings behind undefeated Maize, and Campus has dropped back-to-back games for the first time since last season.
Sweeping the champs
Southeast is making noise.
The Golden Buffaloes beat the defending 5A state champion Bishop Carroll for the second time this season with a 78-67 victory Tuesday. It was the most points the Eagles have allowed this season.
Southeast now has three wins over East, two on Carroll and one on Andover Central. Carroll has dropped back-to-back games since winning the Dodge City Tournament of Champions.
Wild comeback in Newton
It was a bad night for the two teams in last year’s 5A title game.
Newton trailed by 11 midway through the second quarter but stormed back to force overtime and earn an eventual 65-56 win over Salina Central.
The Railers earned a sweep of the Mustangs as the girls topped Central 54-46 in one of the biggest nights of basketball for Newton basketball this season.