The Tuesday night hoops from Bartley were fantastic this week. We had a pair of awesome games between Southwest and Dundy County Stratton. A lot of good action took place and the competitiveness was excellent.
We begin with the girls matchup between Southwest and Dundy County Stratton, it went all the way down to the wire with the Tigers edging the Roughriders 40-39. The game was tight throughout the entire game. Every time one of the squads looked like they were getting out ahead, the other would come right back and keep it tight.
In the first quarter, DCS came away with a narrow lead, up 13-11 going to the second. In the second quarter, the offense was harder to come by. The Roughriders scored eight points while holding the Roughriders 8-6, and it was tied up at 19-19 at the intermission.
In the second half, the Tigers came out strong, going on a 5-0 run in the first 30 seconds of the half. Another instance in which it looked like the Tigers were going to run away and hide. But, we went to the final quarter with DCS leading 37-28. So, as you can see, in the fourth quarter, Southwest found themselves down by nine. But, they chipped away at the lead by forcing turnovers and got close again.
In the final 20 seconds, the teams were knotted up at 39-39. DCS got a nice run-out after breaking the press and got the ball to Clara Spargo. Spargo went up and was fouled resulting in a pair of free throws.
Spargo hit the second one and the Tigers led with 11 seconds to go. Southwest had a great look from Kyra Nelms as time expired, but couldn't get the shot to fall.
For Southwest, they were led by Kyra Nelms with 14 points and two blocks, and Anastasia Gallegos scored nine. Alyssa Schneider had 14 points for DCS and Clara Spargo scored 11.
We caught up with Schneider after the game and got her thoughts on the victory.
Southwest falls to 12-7 this season. DCS is now 10-10.
In the boys game it was a matchup between a top-10 team in D1 and a Southwest team that has shown flashes. And on Tuesday night the Roughriders had a good gameplan and led for half the game, but the Tigers prevailed 47-39.
Southwest started quickly with a 4-0 lead in the first minute. They held onto the narrow lead, 12-10 going to the second quarter. In the second quarter, the Roughriders maintained the lead in the second quarter and at the half it was 25-21. One of the big factors in the first half was DCS's Jackson Kerchal was in foul trouble.
The Roughriders took the air out of the ball by running long possessions and getting good shots. DCS wasn't playing poor defense, but the possessions were very long, benefiting the Roughriders.
In the second half, DCS took a lead of 26-25. Then, Southwest's Houston Billeter hit a pair of threes with about 4:19 to go in the third quarter and the Roughriders led 31-26.
Then DCS got rolling, allowing just one more point from Southwest and then scored 12 more before the end of the quarter. DCS led 38-32 going to the final period. In the last quarter, DCS maintained the lead to secure the eight-point victory.
Even with the foul trouble, Jackson Kerchal had 14 points. Brodie Rogers had eight. Southwest was led by Nathan Rippe with 12 points and Billeter had eight.
DCS moves to 16-4 this season and Southwest is 5-13.