On the final day of the High School Basketball season, both Sabetha teams looked to bounce back from frustrating semifinal loses on Friday night.  Both squads played much better on Saturday afternoon in the third place games at Hutchinson as the Sabetha girls fell just shyof Silver Lake 51-50, and the Bluejay boys finished their season with a win over Wellsville and earned some hardware with a 55-48 triumph.  

GIRLS - Silver Lake 51, Sabetha 50

The Lady Jays used a 10-0 run to take a 10-4 early lead and was up 3 points at the end of one quarter. Yet, after ties at 10 and 18 points in the second quarter, Sabetha fell behind and never regained the lead. They trailed 26-23 at halftime and did tie the game at 32 and 35 late in the third quarter before going into the fourth frame down 40-37.  Silver Lake hit just enough free throws down the stretch and a basket by Emily Meyer pulled Sabetha within 51-50, but they werent able to steal or foul and get the ball back in the final seconds.  A day after going 0-12 behind the arc, Sabetha made just 2-10 three-pointers Saturday and had 15 turnovers.   

Meyer finished with 14 points and 13 rebounds in the game and led the Bluejays with 36 tournament points. Alexis McAfee added 12 points and Rhianna Becker ended her senior campaign with an 11 point contest. Heidi Heiniger is the only other Sabetha senior, and the rest of the Jays will return from this fourth place 21-5 team that is the two-time defending Big 7 League Champs and been to state twice in the last three years and now placed in the top four in 9 of their 12 state tourney appearances.    

Silver Lake is dominated by junior play and will also be a 3A State contender in 2015-16 as the junior trio of Madison Wegner (12 points), Rachel Heiman (13) and Alexis Gifford (17 points) led the way and the Eagles finished 23-3 with the 3rd place victory.   

BOYS = Sabetha 55, Wellsville 48

The Bluejay boys led 16-15 after one quarter on a trey by Kellen Russell that beat the buzzer as Sabetha led throughout the second stanza before taking a 28-22 advantage into the locker room.  Wellsville took a brief 33-32 lead but Sabetha answered immediately and was ahead 41-38 entering the fourth quarter. The Bluejays made 7 of 10 free throws in the fourth quarter to help secure the win as Brett Plattner also hit a huge three and made four charity tosses in the final minute to seal the trophy.  Plattner scored 7 of his 14 points in the fourth to lead the team while fellow seniors, Kellen Russell (11 points) and Kegan Schumann (10 points) also had double figures.

 Calder Keehn added 10 points for Sabetha who finished with six made trifecta's and ended the year with a 24-2 record.  Only Keehn and Brock Frey will return to the starting lineup for the Sabetha boys who lose 8 seniors and have also won back-to-back Big 7 Titles also wrapping up their fifth top four finish in state basketball.  

Wellsville got 21 points from Dalton Verhulst who finished the state tournament with 68 points, and fellow Eagle seniors, Jared Klamm (12 points) and Cole Silsby (10 points) also scored in double digits before their campaign closed with a 20-6 record.