Both number-one seeds came away with wins during Saturday’s championship game matchups at the annual Kaysinger Conference Basketball Tournament, hosted at State Fair Community College in Sedalia.
First, the Northwest of Hughesville girls weren’t able to post their victory until the final second of action, while the Lincoln boys had things pretty much decided well before the third quarter came to an end.
Without a doubt, the most exciting contest of the nine-day tournament was the girls’ title skirmish which saw Northwest win top honors for the second season in succession as they rallied late to stun Green Ridge, 44-43. The Mustangs overcame a second period where their best player, Gabby Meyer, had to sit out three minutes due to a minor ankle injury. Besides that, the team went ice cold during that frame as Green Ridge scored 11 straight points turning a 12-8 deficit into a 19-12 lead early in the third quarter. From there, the situation only worsened for the Mustangs as the Tigers widened the margin to 12, holding a 34-22 advantage in the opening moments of the last stanza.
At that juncture, Northwest’s Gabby Meyer and Mary Walker took over as Northwest matched the 22 points they scored during the first three periods with an intense, 22-point outburst which they produced in the final seven minutes. Baskets by Gabby Meyer and a couple of turnovers forced by Mary Walker helped Northwest whittle the deficit to 39-35 with less than three minutes to go. Handed a chance to maybe stem the tide and turn momentum their way for good, Green Ridge squandered an opportunity to widen the advantage to six when they missed a wide open layup which loomed big the rest of the night. That opened the door for Mary Walker to hit a three, cutting the deficit to one, 39-38 which preceded her knocking down another three on their next possession, allowing Northwest to grab their first lead since the second quarter, 41-39.
Green Ridge wasn’t quite done yet however as they scored the next four points to go back on top, 43-41 preceding the game’s last 35 seconds which belonged to Gabby Meyer and Northwest. First, Meyer grabbed a missed shot and scored on a rebound tying things up at 43. Then, after Green Ridge turned the ball over on a double-dribble with 17 seconds left, Meyer was fouled on a last-second jumper, giving her side a chance to win. At the charity stripe, Meyer missed the first try, but then hit the second, securing the 44-43 win for Northwest in what could be the first of potentially three meetings between these two powerhouses this month.
Winning for the 15th time in a row, the Mustangs are now 20-1 on the season as Gabby Meyer scored 19 points and Mary Walker added 16 for their side. Meanwhile, Green Ridge lost for the first time in 18 outings as they dropped to 17-2 overall. Elyse Cooley had 18 points while Emery Cannon tallied 10 for the Tigers who were trying to win the Kaysinger Conference Tournament for the first time ever.
The boys’ championship game had a lot less drama with top-seeded Lincoln falling behind 3-0 but then scoring the next 12 points to go on top 12-3 as they took the lead for good. To their credit, Green Ridge hung in there, cutting the deficit to 12-8 after one period and then 25-24 during the opening moments of the final half. But there the dam burst as Lincoln scored the next 15 points to widen the margin to 40-24 while never looking back. The Cardinals were on top, 46-28 going into the final stanza before coasting home with a 53-37 victory.
Winners of seven straight and now 19-1 overall, Lincoln had four people in double figures. Riley Sanders scored 14 points while Dawson Parrott, Bradyn Benham and Ben Eckhoff tossed in 12, 10 and 10 points respectively. Seeing a seven-game winning streak come to an end, Green Ridge falls to 14-6 on the year with Max Tyler mustering 10 points on their behalf.
In action earlier Saturday, the tournament’s two third-place matchups saw Stover roll past Sacred Heart, 58-33 in the girls’ bracket before Windsor held off Sacred Heart, 48-41 over on the boys’ side.