Kynah Steele and Ethan Frese were named Worth County Courtwarming Royalty Friday before the Tigers’ games with Nodaway Valley. Other royalty candidates were Brooklyn Richardson, Tyler New, and Mitzie Gillespie.
Junior attendants were Anissa Russell and Karson Briner. Sophomore attendants were Riley Ridge and Andrew Griffin. Freshman attendants were Arenna Galanakis and Hayden Sanders. Crownbearers were Maddyx Claypool, Gemma Hall, Quinn Rush, Bowen Findley, Nolan Gilland, and Carter Mullock.
The girls were still searching for their first win after Friday. Against the state ranked Nodaway Valley Thunder, they played two good quarters against them, but were in over their heads in the first quarter and were also outplayed in the third.
The Tigers went through one of their stretches when everything snowballed on them, which can’t be done against teams of Nodaway Valley’s caliber. They turned the ball over 12 times in the first quarter. By the time the dust had settled, they were down 25-0 after one quarter of play.
But like the Mount Ayr game, a completely different Tiger team took the floor for the second quarter. Keira Hardy, playing some of her best ball of the year, led the Tigers with five points in the period, and five different Tigers scored in the period as they cut the lead down to 35-15 by the half. Riley Ridge, who had never played basketball until this year, was a bright spot on defense, getting a career high in rebounds with 7 and locking down all-state candidate Ava Graham, holding her to 12 points for the night.
The third quarter started off well, with the Tigers twice cutting it to 18 points. But after they missed a chance to get it down to 16, the game snowballed on them and the Thunder started getting to the rim at will, building their lead back up to 52-21 late in the third.
But at the end of the third, Riley Ridge took on Graham and finished at the buzzer, beating her to the rim to spark the Tigers in the fourth. They outplayed the Thunder in the fourth, getting four from Kristen Tracy and three from Kynah Steele as they got the deficit down to 55-31 by the end of the game.
The focus for the Tigers will be on playing four quarters of ball and cutting down on their turnovers. For the second straight game, they turned the ball over 23 times in the game. On the bright side, for the second time in a row, the Tigers rebounded well, only surrendering eight offensive boards against one of the top rebounding teams in the area after giving up 15-20 a game most of the year.
For the Tigers, Kristen Tracy had 9, Keira Hardy 7, Kambree Briner 6, Kynah Steele 5, and Riley Ridge 4.
Kynah Steele had 2 blocks.
Kynah Steele had 10 boards. Riley Ridge had 7, Rylee Ruckman 5, Kambree Briner 3, Kristen Tracy and Rayleigh Smith 2, and Keira Hardy 1.
Kambree Briner had 3 assists. Kristen Tracy had 2, and Rylee Ruckman, Rayleigh Smith, Keira Hardy, and Riley Ridge had 1.
Rayleigh Smith and Riley Ridge had 5 tips. Kynah Steele had 4, Keira Hardy 2, and Kynah Steele, Rylee Ruckman, and Kambree Briner had 1.
Rylee Ruckman, Keira Hardy, and Kambree Briner had 3 steals. Riley Ridge, Kristen Tracy, and Kynah Steele had 2, and Rayleigh Smith had 1.
The boys were up next against a tough Nodaway Valley squad. Even without Kaeden Conn (ankle), the Thunder were still tough as they had Michael Cook handling the ball and holding down Tyler New and Preston Jenkins, a strong undersized post player like his dad was for Jefferson. Like the Rock Port game, the Nodaway Valley game turned into a defensive struggle in which both teams had to work to get good looks. But this time, the Tigers cut down on their mistakes from the Rock Port game, surrendering the ball only 7 times, compared to 11 times against Rock Port. They only surrendered 8 offensive boards against the Thunder, compared to 15 against Rock Port. The result was a 43-31 win for their Courtwarming game.
The game started off slowly, with the lid on the rim for both sides. After the Tigers jumped out to a quick 5-0 lead, Tyler Gray countered with a steal for the Thunder, and the score was stuck at 5-2 for a long time.
When Gray, one of Nodaway Valley’s most physical players, sat down with two fouls, the lid got unstuck for the Tigers long enough for them to get the lead into double digits. Hayden Sanders hit a 3-pointer to close out the first quarter and make it 8-2, then Caleb New hit a 3-pointer, and Bo Collins and Tyler New got untracked. Lane Larabee countered from the high post, but Tyler New scored off a drive and Bo Collins scored from inside to make it 19-4 at the 1:25 mark.
But then Nodaway Valley started chipping away, getting it back to 19-8 at the half and then scoring the first six points of the second half to make it 19-14. Caleb New picked up his third foul, and the Tigers looked to be in trouble, but then Tyler New scored off a drive and Hayden Sanders hit a 3-pointers to get the Tigers out of danger.
The Thunder hung around for the rest of the third quarter, getting the deficit down to 27-18, but then Cole Ruby got untracked to start the fourth quarter, Karson Briner cleaned up after a miss in transition, and Cole and Tyler both had three point plays to make it 38-22 at the 5:10 mark.
Nodaway Valley responded with a frantic rally to get it down to 38-29 as the Tigers started turning the ball over, but then Tyler New broke the run with a 3-pointer from the top of the key and Bo Collins scored from inside as the Tigers were able to run out the clock.
Tyler New had 18 points. Hayden Sanders, Bo Collins, and Cole Ruby had 6 each, Karson Briner had 4, and Caleb New 3.
Bo Collins had 2 blocks and Karson Briner 1.
Bo Collins had 9 rebounds. Tyler New and Karson Briner had 5 each, Cole Ruby and Hayden Sanders 3, and Caleb New and Cannon Fletcher 1.
Bo Collins, Cole Ruby, and Tyler New had 3 assists. Karson Briner had 2 and Hayden Sanders and Caleb New 1.
Caleb New, Tyler New, Bo Collins, and Karson Briner all had 3 tips. Hayden Sanders had 2 and Cole Ruby 1.
Hayden Sanders had 3 steals. Karson Briner had 2, and Tyler New and Cole Ruby had 1.
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