In a pair of closely contested Big 7 games to close out the 2023 portion of the high school basketball season, the Jeff West Tigers completed a sweep of visiting Holton on Tuesday night to even their girls and boys record at 3-3. 

GIRLS = Jeff West 39, Holton 36

The first several minutes of games have haunted the Holton girls lately digging themselves an early deficit and that was the case again in Meriden with the Tigers staking a 9-1 lead forcing a timeout with 3:20 to play in the first quarter. Jeff West led 22-16 at halftime and following a 5-1 run to start the second half took their biggest advantage at 27-17. 

Holton however answered with a 12-2 run of their own sparked by 8 points from Elizabeth Schuster to tie the game at 29 with 1:30 to play in the third period. Jeff West never allowed Holton to take the lead with a 33-29 margin going into the fourth quarter and ultimately securing the three-point win by not allowing Holton to have a possession in the final 36 seconds of the contest. 

The Lady Tigers had a big rebounding advantage in the first quarter while building the lead and then used transition buckets and aggressive guards attacking the basket to improve to 3-2 in Big 7 play. Kinley Stones scored 13 points while Ella Dickey had 8 and Kolbie Noel chipped in 6 points. 

Holton was led by Schuster with 12 of her 14 points in the second half. Lora Larison and Beka Lassey came off the bench in the fist half to provide a big spark and help keep Holton in the game as they combined for 13 points. Tinley Wilson added 5 points as Holton again played without two key starters in Brooke Willcott and Kaiya Taylor and also lost starter Lili Tanking in the game with an arm injury. The Wildcats are 1-5 following their fifth straight loss and 0-3 in league play. 

BOYS = Jeff West 49, Holton 44

It took Holton more than five minutes to score their first point of the night, although they only trailed 8-5 after one stanza. Gage Galle got super hot for Jeff West in the second quarter scoring 12 points on a trio of treys and another three-point-play to put the Tigers ahead 25-15 at halftime. 

Holton would answer with a big third period led by 9 points from Kyler Kathrens to take a 34-33 advantage into the final frame. The game was tied at 44 until a three-point play by Galle gave Jeff West a 47-44 lead with just :26 remaining. After an empty Holton possession Cooper Watkins hit two free throws with nine ticks left to complete the scoring.

Galle finished with 25 points and Kyle Herrman added 12. Tucker Holthaus chipped in 6 points and the Tigers went a perfect 12-12 from the charity stripe to help offset 20 turnovers. Jeff West improved to 3-3 and 3-2 in the Big 7 heading into the holiday break. 

Holton was paced by Kathrens with 19 points, but no other Wildcat had more than 8. Brayden Peek scored 8 and Bodie Dillon was held to half his season average with 7 total points. Holton only had 9 turnovers and made 11 of 15 free throws before falling to 2-4 overall and 2-2 in league play. 

Big 7 teams are off until Friday, January 5th when Holton host Sabetha and Jeff West will host Nemaha Central to start the 2024 portion of the season.