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For the final time, the Raiders stepped on the floor with “Nemaha Valley” written across their purple and silver jerseys. Two historic programs that have combined for 30 state appearances and six state championships ended on Saturday with a pair of wins. The Lady Raiders kicked off the day by beating number six Council Grove 43-34 and the boys followed with a 57-51 victory over number four Riverton.
In girls play, neither team excelled offensively. NV converted on one field goal while Council Grove scored on three buckets to lead 6-3 after the first quarter. Nemaha Valley figured things out and scored 12 points in the next quarter while holding the Lady Braves to just two points to lead 15-8 at halftime. The Lady Raiders converted at the end of the third quarter to record its largest cushion, up 31-18. Council Grove stormed back to bring it within a bucket, but Nemaha Valley held on to win the third place trophy.
Junior Jaci Swart led the Lady Raiders with her 12 points to be the Player to Bank On sponsored by Community National Bank of Seneca and Sabetha. Sophomore Rachel Baumgartner finished with 10 points. She averaged double figures in the tournament. Council Grove junior Megan Poole was the lone double-figure scorer with 15 points.
Nemaha Valley slowly started the season going 4-3, but the Lady Raiders won 17 of the last 19 to finish with a 21-5 record.
The following game was a thrilling matchup for the boys third place trophy. Both Nemaha Valley and Riverton traded baskets throughout the game as the contest was tied 12 times. NV trailed by two points with 1.3 seconds left in the opening frame, but junior Devin Henry drained a three as time expired to give the Raiders a 19-17 lead. The first half would end in a similar way, but the shot didn’t come from behind the arc. Junior Abe Elder sprinted from the free throw line and recorded an offensive putback as the buzzer sounded to give NV the 32-30 lead at halftime.
Riverton kept it close in the third quarter and knotted the score at 45-45 heading into the final period. Huge buckets in the fourth quarter by seniors Evan Hermesch, Alex Rottinghaus and Isaac McWilliams made the difference as NV won 57-51.
Senior Caleb Meyer paced the Raiders with 23 points to be the Player to Bank On. He also grabbed 12 rebounds to end his career with back-to-back double-doubles. Fellow classmate Justice McKernan was close behind with 15 points. McKernan is third in career assists and needed 11 to tie for second. He fell just short by dishing out eight assists. The cousins North cousins of Riverton led the Rams in scoring. Junior Landon scored 15 while Grant chipped in 14.
The Raiders end the season with an astonishing 23-3 record and took a third place trophy back to Seneca for the second straight season. Nemaha Valley combines with Baileyville B&B next year to form the Nemaha Central Thunder. Excitement should be around the program in its first year since the girls of Baileyville won a state title while the boys took home third.
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