BOYS

On Jan. 6, Immaculata sophomore Zach Schwinn poured in 19 points and a game-winner at the buzzer to take down Valley Falls 38-36.

Friday night in Valley Falls the Dragons made sure Schwinn didn’t do it twice in a row, holding him to just 12 points.

Senior Dawson Gatzemeyer poured in a game-high 21 points in return, as the Dragons came from 11 down in the fourth quarter to force overtime and pick up their fifth win of the season 47-40.

Immaculata, though, dominated the opening 16 minutes of basketball forcing Valley Falls into six first half turnovers to lead 22-13 at the break. While the Dragons held Schwinn scoreless in the first quarter, Immaculata senior Damjan Bugarski and sophomore Ben Vardiman combined for 13 points on three 3-pointers to pick up the slack.

While the Dragons struggled offensively for the first three quarters, they never allowed the Raiders to break the game open and trailed by just eight heading into the fourth.

This is where Gatzemeyer took over the ballgame. After the Raiders hit three free throws early on in the fourth and pushed their lead up to 11, Gatzemeyer sparked an 11-0 run scoring nine points in the final frame to eventually force overtime with the game knotted up at 37.

The extra period was then dominated by the young guys of the Dragons, as freshman Grayson Haag and Tyler Lockhart combined to go 7-of-11 from the line to ice the game away for Valley Falls, who held the Raiders to just three points in overtime.

The win pushed the Dragons (5-13, 4-10 NEKL) into a tie for the seventh spot in the 2A Valley Falls Sub-State coming up March 1-4, and Valley Falls will look to maintain that spot Tuesday night at Horton.

Immaculata fell to 5-12 overall and 4-10 in league play with the loss, and will finish up the regular season with Oskaloosa at home Tuesday and Pleasant Ridge on the road Friday.

Valley Falls: Dawson Gatzemeyer – 21, Chris Yates – 11, Tyler Lockhart – 8, Grayson Haag – 3, Nathan Pickerell – 2, Jason Meyers – 1.

Immaculata: Zach Schwinn – 12, Damjan Bugarski – 11, Dominic Adkins – 8, Ben Vardiman – 6, Jackson Todd-Nichol – 3.

GIRLS

Although it wasn’t pretty, the Valley Falls girls’ basketball team made the plays they needed to in the second half to complete a season sweep of Immaculata at home Friday night 43-33.

The Dragons, ranked sixth in 2A, got all they could handle in the first half leading by just two at halftime, 19-17, despite forcing the Raiders into eight turnovers.

Valley Falls finally got things going in the third quarter as five different players scored while holding Immaculata to just four points in the quarter to take a 32-21 after three, and in the fourth did just enough to keep the Raiders at arm’s length the rest of the way.

The win kept the Valley Falls (15-3, 13-1) in a tie for first place in the Northeast Kansas League with JCN, and the Dragons finish up the league season on the road at Horton Tuesday before hosting McLouth Friday.

Immaculata dropped to 2-15 overall and 1-13 in league play with the loss, and will finish up the regular season with Oskaloosa at home Tuesday and Pleasant Ridge on the road Friday.

Valley Falls: Reagan Kirkwood – 12, Drew DeLong – 10, Mallory Burns – 10, Allison Kearney – 7, Rachel Frakes – 4.

Immaculata: Jordan Sachse – 11, Abby Kowalewski – 6, Ally Campbell – 5, Gina Favero – 4, Mikayla Cross – 3, Grace Sanford – 2, Eleanor Melero – 2.