Nickerson, KS

On Friday night in Nickerson, the Holton Wildcats traveled their second three plus hour drive of the week in hopes of making the State Tournament for the first time since 2014. Facing off against the #1 seed Panthers, in what would be one of the tallest tasks of the season. The Wildcats would fall short of the State Tournament by one game on Friday losing 53-34.

In the first quarter, the Panthers would jump out early 5-0 before Holton would end the frame on a 10-6 run led by Junior Saydee Tanking with 5 points as the Cats trailed 10-11 heading into the 2nd quarter. In the second stanza, the Wildcats would grab their first lead on a layup by Sophomore Macey Patch to grab the lead at 12-11. Holton's defense would hold strong keeping the Panthers scoreless in the frame until the 2:30 mark of the second quarter. That's when Nickerson closed the first half on a 12-1 run to enter the halftime break leading 23-13. With that run, Nickerson grabbed control of the game and never looked back outscoring the Cats 30-21 in the second half to stamp their ticket to the Class 4A State Tournament in Salina.

Holton {12-10} had no answer for the size of Nickerson in 6'2” Freshman Ava Jones as she got anything she wanted inside leading the Panthers with 23 points on the night. Despite the disparity in size, Holton relied on outside shooting to stay within reach but could never cut the second half deficit into single digits. The Wildcats struggled against the continuous defensive pressure by the Panthers as they turned the ball over nineteen times in the game. Holton improved by 2 wins this season from a year ago but will look to regroup for next year with the loss of 7 Seniors including guards Faith Haussler, Bailey Flewelling, Olivia Yingst, Taygen Altenburg, Danika Hickman and forwards Kinleigh Rhodd and Paige Crouch. However, the future looks bright as they will bring back experience in leading scorer Saydee Tanking along with Macey Patch and Taylor Moore.

SCORING – S. Tanking 17, M. Patch 6, O. Yingst 5, D. Hickman 3, T. Moore 3

Nickerson {20-2} withstood the run by Holton early in the ballgame and proved why they are the 4th ranked team in Class 4A. They took advantage of their size by working the ball inside to their 6'2 Freshman post Ava Jones who scored 14 of her game high 23 points in the first half. A balanced scoring attack was key for the Panthers as they had 4 other players contribute at least 6 points each on the night. Nickerson will now wait to see where they will fall in the seedings at next weeks Class 4A State Tournament in Salina, where they will look to improve on last years 4th place finish.

SCORING – A. Jones 23, M. Ontjes 8, K. Ontjes 7, M. Stout 7, A. Apfel 6, J. McLean 2

Citizen's State Bank & Trust Company of Hiawatha “Player To Bank On” - Saydee Tanking with 17 points including five three point baskets.