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For the second straight time, Atchison battled with a nonleague foe. After a home matchup against Jeff West on Tuesday, Atchison traveled to a familiar site to Tonganoxie. A week earlier, both Atchison squads played in the Tonganoxie Invitational Tournament.
In the girls game, Tonganoxie waltzed to a 66-36 victory. The boys game was a rematch of a game that took place last Saturday, but the result was different with Tonganoxie winning 63-61.
Atchison started out hot, but Tonganoxie had the narrow 16-12 advantage after the first quarter. Tonganoxie stretched the lead out to 11 at halftime, up 29-18. The Chieftains pulled away midway in the third quarter, but the Lady Red rallied back to trail 44-32 heading into the fourth. The final period was dominated by Tonganoxie as the Chieftains scored 22 points to win 66-36.
Tonganoxie had four players in double figures. Senior Katelyn Waldeier led with 16 points, junior Tressa Walker scored 12, senior Emily Soetaert recorded 11 and sophomore Cheyenne Ford chipped in 10 off the bench. Junior Laurene Cushinberry paced the Lady Red with nine points to be the Bank of Atchison Player of the Game. Senior Arika Smith also scored nine.
Tonganoxie improved to 5-6 on the season while Atchison fell to 4-8.
Last Saturday, the boys squad of Atchison beat Tonganoxie 62-44. That didn’t matter in the game on Friday. Atchison held a one-point lead after the first quarter, up 12-11. Tonganoxie would then take the lead in the second period and go into halftime with a 35-23 lead. The Redmen’s effort completely changed to start the second half as Atchison stormed back to only trail 43-39 after three quarters of play.
The fourth quarter was filled with thrilling action. Atchison never led after the first quarter, but tied up the game multiple times. Senior Bennie Smith II jumped in the passing lane to steal a Tonganoxie pass and converted the other way to tie the game at 49-49. Tonganoxie had chances to seal the game with free throws, but with 10 seconds left, senior Eric Tate missed two free throws to give Atchison a chance, down 61-59.
Atchison senior Tanner Huntington launched a left-wing three, but misfired and that led to a whistle. Tonganoxie senior Tyler Ford fouled Atchison junior Jerel Rawls with 2.5 seconds left. Rawls stepped to the line and nailed both tries at the charity stripe to knot the game up at 61-61. Tonganoxie senior James Grizzle fired a full-court pass. Two Atchison players tipped the ball, but didn’t get the steal as Tonganoxie senior Ben Johnson picked up the loose ball and triggered a shot at the buzzer. The ball bounced high above the rim and went down through the hoop to give Tonganoxie the 63-61 victory.
The Chieftains had three players in double figures. Grizzle scored 21 points, sophomore Jack Dale recorded 11 and Tyler Ford chipped in 10. Atchison sophomore Wykeen Gill Jr. paced the Redmen with 20 points to be the Bank of Atchison Player of the Game. Sophomore Jerome Luster Jr. scored 16 and Rawls finished with 10.
Tonganoxie snapped a three-game losing skid and went to 4-7 on the season while Atchison dropped to 8-4. The Redmen’s next matchup is against KC Harmon on Tuesday.
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