The Nemaha Central girls and the Sabetha boys were winners Tuesday night in their final game before Christmas break. The Thunder girls escaped with a 37-29 win and the Bluejay boys got a sizable 49-33 win on the road.

The Sabetha girls got out to a 9-6 lead after the first quarter with a pair of three-pointers from Alexia Hayden.

However, they were held to just two points in the second quarter and the Thunder got into a groove on both sides of the ball, taking a 15-11 lead into the break. Emma Hermesch knocked down a pair of threes in the half to give her eight points.

Nemaha Central got their offense going with 14 third-quarter points. Cali Honeyman got five points in the quarter and Reagan Gerety scored four points. Mya Grimes also scored four points for the Bluejays to keep them in it. Sabetha trailed 29-21 going into the fourth quarter.

The Thunder never let the Bluejays get back into the game as Gerety scored four more points and Honeyman added three to give Nemaha Central the win.

Honeyman led the Thunder in scoring with 12 points, making her the Player of the Game brought to you by Farmers State Bank. Gerety and Hermesch also finished with eight points.

Hayden and Grimes led Sabetha in scoring with eight points each.

In the boys game, Sabetha controlled the contest wire-to-wire. They set the tone in the first quarter by limiting Nemaha Central to just four points. On offense, Christian McAfee was on fire in the paint with six points.

He kept it up in the second quarter, with eight more points to get his total to 14 going into halftime. McAfee was also the only Bluejay to make a field goal in the period. As for the Thunder, their offense continued to struggle, and they would go into halftime trailing 20-10.

In the third quarter, both offenses found their rhythm. Sabetha had six different scorers, and Nemaha Central had five different players find the bottom of the net. Sabetha’s lead grew by a point with a 35-24 lead going into the fourth quarter.

In the final frame, Marcus Bauman scored six points for the Bluejays and kept the Thunder at arm’s length.

McAfee balled out Tuesday night and led all scorers with 20 points. He is the Player of the Game brought to you by Farmers State Bank. Bauman finished with 10 points as well.

For Nemaha Central, Evan Olberding, Abe Hilbert and Trent Thomas all got eight points apiece.