The El Dorado Wildcats snapped their two game losing skid with a big win on Alumni Court over the Maize South Mavericks 57-39.
Travis House led the Wildcats dropping 23 points including two three-pointers and went a stellar 13-14 from the line. Also in double figure scoring for the Cats was Aaron Riffel with 12 points including two consecutive clutch three pointers in the first half of play and went 2-2 from the stripe.
Alex Brown pitched in with 8 points and was solid from the line 6-9. Trevor Crain and Michael Riedl each had 5 points for El Dorado.
The 8th grade B team girls were beaten by Ark City last week 20-13.
"The B team girls have continued to improve each game. We still struggle to score each game, but the girls work hard and that is all I can ask of them," said coach Tim Beikman.
Leading the Cats’ offense was Brandi Newman and Mallissa Redmer, each scoring 4 points. Jenae Waite and Olivia Peiffer added two points each. Taylor Sarkett added a point.
The Wildcats were unable to exact revenge Tuesday night against the Spartans as they were beaten 65-39 in Wichita.
The Spartans received double figure scoring from Trace Clark, 19 points; Riley Kemmer, 13 points; Markus Phox, 12 points; and Harrison Morris, 10 points, en route to the victory.
“Our game with Collegiate was very disappointing. I thought we defended their initial shot pretty well, but got kicked on the boards. Offensively, we weren't able to maintain our focus, which I think could be somewhat attributed to our difficulties on the boards,” said El Dorado coach Gary Melcher.
Eleven El Dorado student athletes competed at the second annual Augusta Powerlifting Meet on Jan. 28 at Augusta High School.
A total of 287 lifters competed from approximately 25 different schools throughout Kansas in the bench press, back squat and hang clean lifts.
Several El Dorado athletes achieved personal bests in all lifts.
Junior Quentin Cluster took 3rd place overall in the heavy weight men’s division, recording a squat lift of 425 lbs., a hang clean lift of 245 lbs. and bench press of 275 lbs.
The Wildcats travelled to Emporia for a meet this past Saturday.
El Dorado's Blake Brawner was the top finisher for the Wildcats with a 5th place finish in 1 meter Diving, grabbing 14 team points for the Wildcats.
Richard Korth grabbed 6th place, also in diving, good enough for 13 points.
The 200 yard medley relay team of Blake Brawner, Donovan Whitfield, Breck Towner and Hunter Hoch claimed 10th place, which gained a meet high 18 points for the Wildcats.
Striving toward excellence and pushing yourself to be the best you could be are two of the many commendable attributes that longtime El Dorado High School teacher and coach Ron Koppenhaver instilled into his students and athletes.
The first time I met Ron Koppenhaver was when I was at the Augusta Gazette and was covering an event for both that paper and The Times.
Andrea Valadez had another impressive game and scored 18 points, but it would prove to be not enough for the Lady Cats as they were dropped by Valley Center 62-35 in the 5th place game of the Lady Cat Classic.
“Valley Center’s guards were quick, and their posts were big and that is a difficult match up for us. We had a plan in place to try and slow that down and we did not execute that very well,” said El Dorado head coach Kevin Wishart.
The Hornets attacked the Wildcats’ press and pushed to the basket throughout the contest.
The Circle Thunderbirds were unable to overcome an early deficit and were beaten by the Wichita East Aces 69-39 in the third place game of the Lady Cat Classic.
The Aces utilized physical play from tip off and built a 19-2 lead on the T-Birds after one quarter.
Circle was able to manage only 4 points in the second quarter as East rattle off another 14 points, taking a commanding 33-6 lead on the T-Birds into the half.
The Thunderbirds fought back in the third quarter, scoring 17 points but the Aces kept pace with 20 points of their own.
Circle matched the Aces point for point in the fourth with 16 as East cruised to the 30 point victory.
Berean Academy continued its hot play into the final and claimed the 45th Annual Eli J. Walter Girls Invitational Basketball Tournament title with a 47-33 victory over Central.
The Warriors took the reins with an early lead, 17-8, after the first quarter.
The Berean offense was slowed by Central to just 6 points in the second quarter; Central poured in 8 points to keep the game close at half with the score at 23-16.
The Butler men battled the Jayhawk West Conference's best team to overtime on Saturday at the Power Plant, but could not earn the win against the ninth-ranked Saints, falling 78-74.
The Grizzlies raced out to a big lead early, going ahead 27-14 after a basket by Andrew Victoria with 7:35 to go in the first half. Seward would close the first half on a 14-3 run to get within two points at intermission, 30-28.
In the second half, the Grizzlies looked to be in trouble when leading scorer Justin Simmons fouled out with Butler trailing 64-51 with 5:16 to play. The Grizzlies would surge without Simmons, however, coming all the way back to eventually tie the game when Cameron Cornelius came up with a steal and passed to Eric Watson for a basket with 31.8 seconds to play.
The El Dorado Middle School boys A Team lost a close game against Ark City Thursday at home.
The Cats lost by two points, with the final score being 32-34.
Leading the team in points was Jacob Kimble with 11 points, followed by Derek Hildreth, who added nine points. Coley McCarthy had six points of his own, while Matt Triboletti earned four for the Cats. Kyle Thomas rounded out the scoring with two points.
Berean Academy is continuing to take down their opponents in the 45th Annual Eli J. Walter Girls Invitational Basketball Tournament, which began Monday.
In the first round they beat Bluestem 40-22.
With that win, they faced Trinity on Thursday evening, who had beaten Burrton to continue on in the winners side of the tournament.
Berean again overtook their opponent, winning 49-22.
The Circle Thunderbirds boys beat Maize South during their bowling tournament Thursday, with a final team total of 2233, while Maize South had 2209.
Leading the team for the Thunderbirds was Andy Winningham who had a total of 651 pins, going 244, 225 and 182 in his three matches.
Also scoring in the 600-point range was James Gulick, with a total of 605, and individual game scores of 157, 224 and 224.
The rest of the Thunderbirds finished in the 400 range.
The Circle Thunderbirds couldn't overtake the Collegiate Spartans in the second round of the 19th Annual Lady Cat Classic Friday evening.
Andrea Valadez put up a 3-point shot during the third quarter of the Wildcats' game against Augusta Friday night. The shot hit the front of the rim, but bounced up, off the backboard, and found its way through the net.
The El Dorado High School girls fell to Collegiate in the first round of the 19th Annual Lady Cat Classic Thursday night.
The 7th grade girls EMS Cats were dropped on their home court on Monday night.
The 7th grade EMS A-Team lost 34-23.
The Warriors maintained their hot play following last weekend’s Burrton tournament championship.
The Flinthills boys fell on the road at Chase County 48-45, moving the Mustangs to 9-3 on the season.
