92.1 KMZA Broadcast - Sabetha at Royal Valley (girls) - click here to listen 
92.1 KMZA Broadcast - Sabetha at Royal Valley (boys) - click here to listen 

A League showdown in the Big Seven League on Friday night in Hoyt as Royal Valley played host to Sabetha and the night ended with a split as Royal Valley girls cruised past Sabetha 56-24, while Sabetha boys came back and picked up the 39-31 win. 

Royal Valley girls got off to a strong start and didn't look back the rest of the night as the Panthers were up 6-2 early leading to a Sabetha timeout and out of the timeout the Panthers continued to expand their lead and led 11-5 after the first quarter. The Panther lead ballooned up in the second frame as Royal Valley outscored Sabetha 21-6 in the quarter to lead 32-11 at the half as Lexi Baker set the tone early with 12 of her 14 in the first half for Royal Valley. The lead grew more in the second half as Royal Valley closed the game out with a 16-6 fourth quarter to win 56-24 as Sabetha struggled from the floor at night netting only eight field goals in the contest. 

A quartet of double figure scorers led Royal Valley was Baker posted 14 points and earned Community National Bank "Player to Bank On" honors on KMZA. Marlissa Jordan and Mary Broxterman each chipped in 11 points, while Taylor Russell scored 10 points. The win is just the third on the season for the Panthers moving them to 3-6 overall and 3-5 in Big Seven play. 

Sabetha in the loss was led by Hillary Krebs who scored a season-high 14 points, but the Bluejays fell to 5-4 on the season and 4-4 in the Big Seven. 

A quick start by Royal Valley gave them a 6-0 lead to start the boy’s varsity game but Sabetha trailed only 13-10 at the end of the first. The Panthers pounced again in the second quarter pushing their lead out to as high as 11-points at 21-10 with 6:27 left in the first half and the Bluejays called a timeout. Sabetha finished the first half on a 9-2 run and trailed just 23-19 at intermission. In the first half Sabetha found some success in the paint and in the second half the Bluejays went back to the well inside with Eric Renyer and Kyle Grimm and with solid defense too posted an 8-0 third quarter to take the lead, 27-23 after three quarters. The lead grew over the final stretch and Sabetha cemented the game in their favor taking the 39-31 win. 

Royal Valley in the loss falls to 4-5 on the year and 4-4 in Big Seven action as Masen Spoonhunter with eight points led the way on the evening. 

The win moves Sabetha to 5-4 and 5-3 in the Big Seven and Renyer paced the team on the night with 18 points earning him Community National Bank "Player to Bank On" honors on KMZA. 

Both teams now gear up for mid-season tournament action next week as Sabetha will compete at the Burlington Invite starting Tuesday, while Royal Valley will host the Panthers Classic starting next Thursday and the lady Panthers will play before that on Monday against Hiawatha.