The Nemaha County rivalry wrapped up the 2020 portion of the high school basketball season Tuesday night and Nemaha Central ended the year with a sweep of Sabetha winning the girls game 36-33 and the boys 62-42.

Girls: Nemaha Central 36, Sabetha 33

The girl’s game was one of the most anticipated games of the year between two top six ranked teams in the state and it did not disappoint.

Sabetha started quickly on their home floor and raced out to an 8-0 lead behind six points from senior Leah Renyer, but Nemaha Central battled back and trailed 11-9 after one as Riley Rottinghaus kept the Thunder in it scoring five points.

In the second the Thunder turned to their defense and turned that into an 18-13 lead at the half with senior Cassidy Corby scoring four points in the frame.

The third quarter is when the Sabetha offense finally got going scoring 12 points in the quarter and after being held without a 3-pointer through the first half, Melinna Schumann knocked down a big triple right before the end of the quarter giving the Lady Jays a 25-23 lead after three.

In the fourth the Thunder made sure their unbeaten record would not be in jeopardy as Hannah Macke and Riley Rottinghaus combined for eight points in the fourth quarter to take a 3-point lead late.

Sabetha had a chance to tie the game at the end and Lady Jay head coach Nate Bauman brought in junior Jadyn Dorn and drew up a play for her to tie the game, but her shot was off the mark giving Nemaha Central the victory.

Both offenses struggled throughout with Nemaha Central led by Corby who had 10, while Renyer led Sabetha with 14.

Boys: Nemaha Central 62, Sabetha 42

In the boy’s game Nemaha Central led from start to finish and got a pair of big games from Kurtis and Marcus Beck in a 62-42 victory.

The Thunder raced out to a 16-6 lead after the first quarter after forcing six turnovers while Landen Baker scored five points along with the Beck twins each scoring four.

Sabetha battled back though and did not go down quietly as senior Braden Menold scored 10 points in the second quarter to bring the Bluejays back and tie the game at 22 at the half.

The third quarter is where Nemaha truly took control as the offense got going scoring 24 points in the quarter behind nine points from Kurtis Beck and eight points from Marcus Beck to lead 46-33 going into the fourth.

That lead extended to as many as 21 in the fourth with Marcus scoring eight more points in the quarter to put the game away.

He finished with a game-high 22 points in the game while Kurtis added 18 and Landen Baker 11 as the win also marked No. 450 in the illustrious career of Thunder head coach Jon Thomas.

Sabetha was led by Braden Menold who scored 17 points while Kaleb Evans added 10.