The 2019 portion of the high school basketball season ended Friday night in Perry with one of the top matchups throughout Northeast Kansas and it was the Nemaha Central girls and Perry Lecompton boys who each racked up Big 7 League victories.

Girls: Nemaha Central 55, Perry Lecompton 36

It wasn’t pretty but in the winning moments when it counted the most the Nemaha Central Thunder made plays and grinded out an impressive 55-36 win over Perry Lecompton on the road.

The Thunder started well getting out to a 14-11 lead after one behind five points from senior Kirsten Lortscher and four from junior Riley Rottinghaus.

Perry battled back though and took a 21-20 lead going into halftime as senior Jenna Keller scored six points in the second quarter while Nemaha Central was forced into four turnovers and forced to be without leader Alleigh Kramer who was plagued with three fouls.

The No. 3-ranked Thunder finally found their stride in the third quarter forcing six Perry turnovers while Rottinghaus scored eight points giving Nemaha a 36-29 lead going into the fourth.

The Thunder continued to extend their lead throughout the fourth forcing seven more Perry turnovers while senior Cassidy Corby scored five points.

Nemaha Central was led in the win by Rottinghaus who was great all night long scoring 16 points while Kirsten Lortscher added 13 as the Thunder also forced 22 Kaw turnovers.

Nemaha Central heads into the holiday break with a perfect 5-0 record while Perry Lecompton drops to 3-2.

Nemaha Central: Riley Rottinghaus – 16, Kirsten Lortscher – 13, Emma Elder – 9, Alleigh Kramer – 7, Hannah Macke – 5, Cassidy Corby – 5.

Perry Lecompton: Jenna Keller – 14, Kaitlyn Hurd – 10, Campbell Keller – 7, Brooke Metcalfe – 3, Blaise Ball – 2.

Boys: Perry Lecompton 48, Nemaha Central 46

The boy’s game was expected to be one of the best matchups of the year to this point and it didn’t disappoint with Perry Lecompton’s Blake Farmer knocking down a jumper with 2.2 seconds to go giving the Kaws a hard-fought 48-46 victory.

Nemaha Central led for a majority of the contest jumping out to a 16-9 lead after one and 28-25 lead at the half behind 14 first half points on four 3-pointers from senior Bryce Uphaus.

The Thunder pushed their lead to four after three quarters at 39-35 before the Kaws started their comeback.

In the fourth the Kaws got big shot after big shot as junior Parker Stone knocked down two big 3-pointers while fellow junior Brayden Robb added another tying the game up at 46 with two minutes to go.

That score held on until the final seconds when Perry’s Blake Farmer caught a pass on the left block, spun over his right shoulder and knocked down a jumper giving the Kaws the lead before Dawson Williams stole the Nemaha inbounds pass to preserve the win.

The Kaws drilled five 3-pointers in the win and shot 5-of-10 from the free throw line while Nemaha Central finished with seven treys but 11 turnovers.

Perry Lecompton now heads to the break with a record of 3-2 overall and 3-1 in the Big 7 while Nemaha Central is 3-2 overall and 1-2 in Big 7 play.

Perry Lecompton: Billy Welch – 15, Parker Stone – 12, Blake Farmer – 10, Bradley Robb – 7, Kaden Doleman – 2, Dawson Williams – 2.

Nemaha Central: Bryce Uphaus – 19, Kurtis Beck – 12, Marcus Beck – 11, Eric Hammes – 2, Austin Ahlquist – 2.