Night Two From the New West All-Star Classic

On Thursday evening, the New West All-Star Classic continued in Minden. This time on the basketball court, as for both the girls and boys, it was the Republican Plains Activities Conference versus the Fort Kearney Conference, and then the LouPlatte Conference versus the Southwest Conference.

Note: All of the games were eight-minute quarters with a running clock.

Here were the rosters.

First, the girls' game for the RPAC versus the FKC. The RPAC won the game 43-27. In the first quarter it was tough to get buckets but the RPAC led 8-2.

In the second quarter, Kesli Cox of Maywood-Hayes Center helped propel the offense and take a lead of 21-9 with about 2:30 to go in the half. In the final minutes before halftime, the FKC went on a nice run to make it 216-16 heading to halftime.

In the third quarter, the teams kept it close for the majority of the period. But late, the RPAC went on a 7-2 run and led 32-23 heading to the final stanza.

The RPAC was able to use an 11-4 final quarter to close out the game.

Both teams played really hard, and it was an entertaining game.

For the RPAC, Kesli Cox of MHC led the scoring with 11 points and two three-pointers, Jenna Miller of Maxwell had nine points, Anastasia Gallegos of Southwest had eight points, Adi Hunt of Southern Valley had seven, Remmi Stout of Medicine Valley had six, and Vanesa Aguayo had two.

For the FKC, Madison Bunger of Wilcox-Hildreth had five, Ashley Bauer of Elm Creek, Kerry Ryan of Ansley-Litchfield, and Cara Bunger of Wilcox-Hildreth each had four.

Kelsi Cox of MHC was named the MVP.

In the boys' game it was a thriller, and the FKC won 49-42. Both teams were incredibly active and played with a lot of energy. Again, in this one, the offense was hard to come by. The RPAC led 9-5 heading to the second period. Late in that opening quarter, Brody Senff of Medicine Valley had a pair of big blocks.

In the second quarter, the RPAC clung to their narrow lead, and it was 19-18 heading to halftime.

Out of the half, Tyson Essex of Loomis hit a couple of threes to cut the deficit again to 24-22. Then Dawson Ruda of Hi-Line had a nice tip-slam dunk to keep the momentum on the RPAC's side.

It was 36-28 heading to the fourth quarter with the RPAC ahead.

The FKC began to creep back into the game, first a three by Jace Boteo of SEM to cut it to 39-36. 90 seconds later, it was 41-38 in favor of the RPAC. Then Jake Halvorsen of Axtell took over, he hit a three to tie it at 41-41, then a layup with 40 seconds to go to make it 43-42, and then with 20 seconds to go, he hit a three pointer, and in the final seconds another layup to make it 49-42 to end the game.

He was named the MVP with 13 points, 10 of them in the final quarter.

Also for the FKC, Brandt Modlin of Axtell had eight points, Tyson Essex of Loomis had nine points, and Gage Zwiener of Pleasanton had five.

For the RPAC, Jason Fisher of Wallace had 11, Jaxson Anders of MHC had six, Brody Senff of Medicine Valley had four, Tanner Hebblethwaite of Paxton had four, and William Cacy of Arapahoe had four.

In the girls' game between the SWC and the LPC, SWC won 53-44, and Claire Cargill of Ord was the MVP with 22 points. For the boys' game, the LPC won over the SWC 73-58. Garret Johnson of Holdrege was the MVP with 25 points and had seven three-pointers.