By DUSTIN ARMBRUSTER
Hays Post
COLBY - The Hays High girls and boys both played for the championship of the 40th Annual Colby Orange and Black Classic on Saturday. The girls' defeated Colby 52, 35 in a matchup of state ranked teams. The boys lost to Olathe North 63-39.
GIRLS: #8-5A 52, #5-3A 35
Hays never trailed in a 52-35 victory over Colby in the first championship game. The Indians scored the first two points of the game which was matched by Colby on the next possession. A 6-0 spurt gave Hays the lead for good.
Hays led 15-10 after one quarter. The advantage grew to double digits for the first time at 22-12 three minutes into the second quarter. Hays scored on an offensive rebound stick back with four seconds left in the first half to keep the lead at ten 30-20.
Highlights
Colby never got closer than seven points rest of the way. The Indians had the lead up to 14 points early in the third quarter and were still up 37-24 when the Eagles started living at the free throw line. Colby went on an 8-2 run to close within seven at 39-32. All the points by the Eagles were from the stripe.
Hays beat the third quarter buzzer for a basket and a 41-32 lead. Colby managed just three fourth quarter points while Hays added 11 more to their total for the 52-35 victory.
Coach Len Melvin
Hays(12-0) claims their first Orange & Black Classic title since 2019. Colby(11-2) loses for just the second time this season. Hays is 12-0 for the first time since the 1982-83 season.
Molly Martin, Katie Linenberger, and Jenna Schmeidler were named to the tournament team. Schmeidler, a freshman, was name tournament MVP.
Hays returns to action on Friday in Great Bend.
Jenna Schmeidler 17; Annie Humphrey 2; Katie Linenberger 8; Molly Martin 13; Kenlee Winter 0; Morgan Armbruster 3; Jaysa Roa 0; Riley Dreher 0; Lynsi Kanak 0; Molly Buckles 2; Zoe Winter 6.
BOYS: Olathe North 63, Hays 39
Olathe North was just too much for the Hays High Indians in a 63-39 victory.
Hays led by two points early at 2-0 and 4-2 over the first minute of the game. Olathe North erased that with a 13-0 run that lasted the remaining seven minutes of the first quarter.
A three pointer by North to open the second quarter pushed the run to 16-0 and the lead for the Eagles out to 18-4. Back to back field goals by the Indians cut the lead down to ten which would be the closest Hays would be for the remainder of the game.
The Eagles led by a score of 35-18 at halftime.
Highlights
The Eagles continued to have firm control of the game through the second half. A bucket by Hays to open the third quarter was followed up by a 10-0 run by North for 45-20 edge.
The North lead grew to thirty at one point in the third quarter and was near that at 57-29 going to the fourth.
North led by as many as 32 in the fourth quarter which put the clock into continuous clock mode. Hays did go on a 8-0 run to end the game with the final score of 63-39.
Coach Sean Dreiling
Olathe North(9-2) has won three consecutive Orange & Black tournament championships. They are 11-1 through their four appearances in Colby. Hays(7-5) has their four game winning streak snapped. Three of the Indians losses have come to state ranked 6A teams.
Hays is 4-6 in tournament championships in Colby. Dawson Ruder was named to the All-Tournament team. Izaac Fox earned the Off-The-Bench award. Hays has won the award five of the last seven years and twelfth time overall.
Hays returns to action on Friday in Great Bend. That trip will complete eight straight road games for the Indians that dates back to the final game of 2024.
Carter Lang 0; Johnny Cano 2; Trace Jacobs 2; Cooper Lindenmeyer 0; Brogan Albers 0; Trey Oakley 9; Tiger Johnson 5; Brody Harmoney 0; Izaac Fox 10; Noah Smalley 0; Brecken Otte 0; Dawson Ruder 9; Alex Loving 2; Cardarion Owens 0; Andre Pfeifer 0.