With the district tournament finals scheduled for 7 p.m. Friday, only one area girls’ basketball team is still alive win the post-season competition.
Martin grabbed a 49-26 victory over Howardsville Christian Wednesday night in the district semifinals Wednesday night to qualify for the final round.
The Wayland girls’ basketball season came to an end with a 44-33 loss Wednesday on the semifinals of the Division 2 district tournament at Hopkins High School.
The Lady Clippers were never in trouble, leading at all period stops.
“We are very proud of the effort we brought tonight for three quarters,” coach Ben Schipper said. “Kayden Jager started the game very strong but picked up two early fouls. We played a really solid second quarter to extend the lead to 14 at the half as we didn’t give up a basket in the quarter. We came out sluggish in the third with multiple unforced turnovers and allowing Howardsville some open midrange looks which they shoot very well.
“We stressed during a timeout the need to lock in and keep things simple on the offensive end. We wanted to cycle through the offense and make the defense work more and it led to a 17-point fourth quarter. As usual, our offensive attack team was incredibly balanced.”
Kayden Jager scored nine points, Marybeth Ritchie had nine points, seven rebounds and four assists, Torryn Harris had nine points, five rebounds, and three steals, Avery Jager came up with seven points, 10 rebounds and twoi blocks and Anna Jager had seven points five rebounds, two blocks.
Martin will play host Lawrence at 7 p.m. Friday for the district title.
The Lady Wildcats made a serious ballgame of it in the first half and trailed by only one point at intermission. But they were limited to just three points in the entire third quarter and fell victim to a flurry of turnovers.
Marissa Ainsworth led the Wayland offensive attach with 12 points. Usually high-scoring inside player Harmony Laker was held to just six points with only one three. Addie Sikorski netted eight points and Laney Wolf had the only other Wildcat three in the contest.
Wayland finished the campaign with an overall record of 13-9 and was third in the O-K Gold Conference final standing behind West Catholic and South Christian.
