For the second year in a row, the Riverside Cyclone girls made it out of the opening round of the state tournament by defeating Hoxie 43-38 on Wednesday afternoon.

It was a game of runs where Riverside found success early feeding the rock to Senior forward Taylor Weishaar. Weishaar found success on the block, dropping seven points in the opening frame while fellow Senior Halle Studer hit two trifectas, including a half court heave to end the frame with the Cyclones leading 13-6.

In the second stanza, both teams struggled to handle the basketball and score efficiently, with Hoxie outscoring Riverside nine to eight in the quarter, but the Cyclones still led by six at the break 21-15. As mentioned, both teams struggled with taking care of the basketball. Riverside ended the first half with thirteen turnovers and Hoxie had eleven. Weishaar led all scorers with eleven at the break.

The third quarter was a quarter of runs for both teams, with Riverside clinging to a three-point lead in the frame, Senior Abby O’Grady sunk three straight triples to extend the lead up to twelve which would prove to be the largest in the game. Hoxie would battle back to trim the lead down to just six heading into the final frame. The Indians would continue that momentum an extend their run to 13-0 and take their first lead of the game, in large part to Weishaar picking up her fourth foul forcing her out of the game for a couple of minutes. However, after Hoxie grabbed the lead, second year head coach Craig Burnes would bring Weishaar back in to solidify the lead for good.

Riverside claimed the lead with an Ella Wisler bucket, and they would not look back. After coming back into the game, Weishaar asserted her presence and locked down the paint once again. Never picking up her fifth foul. Free-throws down the stretch were key for the Cyclones as Sophomore Niahla Duncan hit three of four to extend the lead. Weishaar ended the night with fifteen points and thirteen rebounds, all coming on the defensive end. O’Grady had nine while Studer had eight. Turnovers need to be cleaned up if the Cyclones want to make a trip to the title game for the second straight year as they ended the game with twenty-nine turnovers on the night.

Riverside will now move on to Friday where they now take on Valley Heights who up-ended top seed Wichita County earlier in the day at 2:00PM.