SES Lady Trojans 45 Abilene 32
Abilene – The Abilene Cowgirls were doomed by turnovers and SES’s three-point shooting in their 13 point loss Tuesday night. Abilene turned over the basketball 21 times in the game. The game was tied at 7 at the end of the 1st quarter. In the 2nd quarter, SES knocked down 4 three-pointers and led 24-18 at halftime. Overall, the Lady Trojans connected on 7-24 three-pointers in the win. SES would go on to increase their lead to 37-26 at the end of three quarters and led by as many as 15 in the 4th.
Abilene was led by Senior, Alice Bathurst, who tied her career-high with 8 points. She was co-player of the game with Junior, Lexi Barnes. Barnes, had missed the last two games with an illness. She finished with 6 points and brought a lot of energy to the floor.
SES was led by Senior, Karsyn Schlesener, who finished with 15 points. They also got double-figures from Junior, Avery Caselman, who totaled 12 points in the win. The Cowgirls fell to 1-3 with the loss while SES improved to 3-1.
SES Trojans 53 Abilene Cowboys 51
The SES Trojans finished Tuesday’s nights game on an 8-0 run to stun Abilene in their victory. The Cowboys turned over the basketball four straight times to end the game. The Cowboys led 51-47 with 1:21 left in the game after a Cooper Wildey bucket. Eli Sawyers cut the deficit to 51-47 with 50 seconds left. Luke Gebhardt would then connect on a three-pointer to cut the Abilene lead to 51-50. The Trojans would grab the lead on a Sawyers layup after a steal with 19.6 seconds remaining. Finally, Gebhardt added a free-throw with just over 6 seconds left in the game. Abilene missed a three-pointer at the end of the game that would have won the game.
The Cowboys struggled in the 2nd quarter and did not score until the 3:05 mark of the quarter on a Stocton Timbrook bucket. SES scored the first 8 points of the quarter and led by as many as 9 points on their way to a 27-22 halftime lead.
Abilene came to life in the 3rd quarter. The Cowboys finished the quarter on an 18-2 run and outscored the Trojans 23-8 in the quarter to take a 45-35 lead as the two teams entered the 4th. Sophomore, Thomas McClendon, finished with 9 of his 13 points in the quarter and brought spark off the bench for the Cowboys. McClendon along with Kaleb Becker were the Nex-Tech Wireless Players of the Game. Becker, who finished with a game-high 18 points.
The Trojans were led by Nakari Morrical-Palmer, who finished with 16 points, also in double-figures were Eli Sawyers and Luke Gebhardt who both finished with 15 points.
The Cowboys entered the game ranked #3 in Class 4A. They suffered their first loss of the season and are now 3-1. SES, ranked #10 in Class 3A improved to 3-1. Their lone loss is to #1 Hesston. Abilene will travel to Concordia on Friday, while SES will host Hillsboro.
