The Big 7 League schedule got underway Friday night for the Nemaha Central and Royal Valley basketball teams and it was the Thunder girls who rolled to a 74-16 while the Panther boys completed a sweep in Seneca with a hard-fought 44-41 victory.

Girls: Nemaha Central 74, Royal Valley 16

From the opening tip the Nemaha Central girls proved they are not only one of the top teams in the Big 7 but also in the entire state of Kansas in Class 3A as they led from start to finish in a 74-16 win.

The Thunder raced out to a 35-5 lead after the first quarter and led 51-8 at halftime after forcing 19 Royal Valley turnovers through the first two quarters.

Nemaha Central pushed their lead to 70-13 at the end of three quarters and forced a running clock in the fourth as five girls finished in double figures.

The Thunder were led in scoring by Emma Elder who finished with 14 points while Kirsten Lortscher added 12, Alleigh Kramer 11 and 10 points each for Cassidy Corby and Riley Rottinghaus.

With the win Nemaha Central is off to a 3-0 start to the season and could possibly find themselves as the No. 1 team in the state next week as they have away games at Hiawatha and Perry Lecompton.

Royal Valley suffers their first loss of the year (1-1) and next up for the Panthers is a pair of home games next week with Holton on Tuesday and Hiawatha on Thursday.

Boys: Royal Valley 44, Nemaha Central 41

It was expected to be one of the top games in Northeast Kansas on Friday night and it didn’t disappoint as Royal Valley led by as many as 11 points but had to hold off a furious Nemaha Central comeback attempt to win 44-41.

Royal Valley started fast and forced five Nemaha Central Turnovers in the first half to jump out to a 26-17 lead at halftime on the back of 15 points from sophomore Nahcs Wahwassuck.

The Panthers extended that lead all the way up to 11 points early in the third and led 36-26 at the end of the three before the Thunder began their comeback.

Nemaha Central made it interesting behind eight points from Marcus Beck in the fourth quarter and missed free throws by Royal Valley, but the Thunder’s attempt at a game-tying shot was negated by a Panther steel in the final second which iced the game.

WahWassuck was great throughout and led all scorers with 19 points while Komesh Spoonhunter added eight as the Panthers are 2-0 to start the season.

Nemaha Central was led by Beck’s 11 points while Bryce Uphaus added 10 as the Thunder drop to 2-1.