GIRLS = Hiawatha 61, Royal Valley 52

The Hiawatha girls blew a 14 point lead, but then overcame an 8 point second half deficit to beat Royal Valley for the season sweep.  In the Roundhouse, the Lady Redhawks went on a 12-0 run and led 17-6 after one quarter.  They twice stretched the margin to 14 points in the second frame and was ahead 30-20 at halftime.  Royal Valley came storming back in the third quarter with 23 points as they took their first lead of the game 34-33 (14-3 run) and actually led 43-35 with two minutes left in the period.  Yet, Hiawatha answered the run and stopped turning the ball over to finish the frame on a 10-0 spurt and would never trail again while hitting 11 free throws in the fourth stanza.  

Cariann Kunkel was 11 of 13 at the foul line and had 16 points while Emily Gartner added 22 and Molly Kettler scored a season high 13 to earn "Player to Bank On" honors from the Citizens State Bank and Trust Company.  Kettler had a couple key offensive rebounds and putbacks in the game and hit a big trey in the second quarter while handling the pressure well when she wasn't on the bench with foul trouble.  The Redhawks won their seventh straight game to improve to 7-3 in the Big 7 and 11-3 overall with games against Nemaha and Sabetha next week.  

Royal Valley ended up with three girls fouling out and shot only 5 of 7 at the charity stripe compared to Hiawatha's 17 of 33.  Tamo Thomas and Lexi Baker each scored 15 points while Kate Hanson added 11 and the trio combined for all 23 points in the huge third quarter.  Yet, the Lady Panthers fell to 7-8 on the season and 4-7 in the League.     

BOYS = Royal Valley 52, Hiawatha 42

This game was never really close.  In fact, after a 13-0 start and leading 17-1 in the closing second of the first quarter, the Panthers never allowed Hiawatha any closer than a nine point margin.  Royal Valley led by 15 points at the end of the second and third quarters and made a season high seven three-point-baskets on way to their eighth consecutive victory.  Kwaki Spoonhunter and Derrick Barger each had 12 points and Barger scored in every quarter while adding a few rebounds, assists and steals to earn Citizens State Bank and Trust Company "Player to Bank On" accolades.  Masen Spoonhunter chipped in 11 points while Noah Rottinghaus added 9 as the #5 ranked (3A) Panthers improved to 14-1 overall and kept pace with Sabetha a top the Big 7 League at 10-1.

Hiawatha got a huge night off the bench from Gavin Lierz who scored 17 points and hit four shots behind the arc in the second half.  However, no one else scored more than 7 points and Hiawatha missed a lot of easy baskets and good looks in the first half as they dropped their third straight game to stand at 4-10 overall and 3-7 in the League.