Hays High and Hugoton faced off in the championship semifinals of the Gerald Mitchell Hays City Shootout on Friday evening in both the girls and boys bracket.
Girls
#9 Hays 54 - Hugoton 12
Hays scored the first 11 points of the game on their way to a ______ win over Hugoton to punch their ticket into the championship game.
Hugoton scored three points to close the game down to eight which was their closest margin in the game. Hays quickly scored seven more for an 18-3 advantage at the end of the first quarter.
The Indians gave up just a single free throw in the second quarter and pushed their edge to 27 at halftime 31-4.
Highlights
The lead continued to swell in the third quarter. Hays scored the first 13 points of the third quarter to lead 44-4. The Indians led 48-10 going to the fourth quarter starting a continuous clock fourth quarter. Hays ended the game with a 54-12 win.
Coach Len Melvin
Hays improves to 2-0 on the young season and will face Life Prep in the semifinals. Hugoton falls to 1-1.
Eleven players scored for Hays. Molly Martin scored a game high 17.
Jenna Schmeidler 8; Annie Humphrey 0; Katie Linenberger 9; Molly Martin 17; Kenlee Winter 2; Morgan Armbruster 2; Jaysa Roa 2; Kinslee Newell 2; Riley Dreher 4; Lynsi Kanak 0; Molly Buckles 4; Zoe Winter 2; Liz Cunningham 0; Rylen Cunningham 2; Brenna Fletcher 0.
Boys
A frantic back and forth first half left Hays with a 21-20 lead. The Indians built several lead of eight but were unable to increase the advantage to double figures. Hugoton scored the last seven points of the first half to close the gap down to one point.
Hays never trailed in the first half after scoring the first four points of the game. Hays led 13-9 after one quarter and led by eight three different times in the third quarter. The final came with three minutes before halftime at 21-13.
Highlights
The two teams traded punches for the entire second half. Hugoton took their first lead early in the second half. The teams traded the lead over the next four minutes until the Eagles grabbed a 34-30 advantage with 2:00 left in the third.
Hays battled back to tie the game at 32 just before the third quarter ended.
Dawson Ruder scored three of his team high 13 on a conventional three point play to put the Indians in front 35-34 two minutes into the fourth quarter.
The teams traded the lead over the next two minutes with Hugoton take their last lead at 4:10 remaining 40-39. A pair of Trey Oakley free throws gave Hays a lead they never gave up. Thirty seconds later Tiger Johnson buried a left corner three for a 44-40 lead with 2:25 left.
Hays led by five when the Eagles nailed a three pointer with a minute remaining. While leading by three with ten seconds left Hays fouled three times to put Hugoton to the free throw line. The Eagles converted both shots bringing the score to 46-45. Johnny Cano made one of two free throw shots with 4.9 left and a Hugoton three at the buzzer was strong leaving Hays with the victory.
Coach Sean Dreiling
Ruder coupled his 13 points with 12 rebounds for his first double-double of the season and fourth of his career.
Hays is 2-0 and will face Blue Valley Northwest in the championship game at 7:00, following the girls game.
It is the first time since 2003 that the Hays boys and girls have both been in the Shootout championship at the same time.
Carter Lang 0; Johnny Cano 9; Trace Jacobs 2; Cooper Lindenmeyer 2; Trey Oakley 9; Tiger Johnson 8; Izaac Fox 4; Dawson Ruder 13.