Sports

The Skyline Middle School girls basketball team led by first-year coach Sam Fisher, who is a former Thunderbird roundball standout, traveled to Kiowa last week to compete in the Heart of the Plains League Tournament. Their regular season record placed them firmly in the number two seed position where they faced off against Burrton in first round play on Saturday, 2/5. The Thunderbirds were victorious and moved on to challenge a pumpedup Attica team on Monday, the 7th. The Bulldogs were fresh off a win over the hometeam of South Barber. Skyline came out on top by playing their hallmark tough and smothering defense and pressing throughout. On the other side of the bracket, Norwich moved handily through to face the T-birds in the championship game. Norwich was previously undefeated in league play and handed Skyline their only loss of the regular season. The table was set for a revenge game and Thunderbirds went in with their usual confidence and fear-nothing attitude.

The Pratt High School boys basketball team finished a solid regular season on Tuesday, February 22, beating Smoky Valley to claim a top seed in 4-A Sub-State with a record of 16-4. This awarded them the opportunity to host two sub-state games in Pratt.

Macksville’s Ryan Kuckelman dominated the paint with 26 points and seven rebounds to spark the Mustangs past Little River 68-51 in Sunday’s basketball substate. Alexis Barron contributed 13 points, seven rebounds and four assists. Hector Gomez dished out nine assists. Little River was led by Braxton Lafferty with 25 points.The Mustangs (20- 2) qualify for the 1A Division 1 state basketball tournament at Dodge City. Their opponent is Osborne 20-2 at 4pm. Macksville head coach Jeff Kuckelman said this after the game “I was very happy with how hard we played. We got after it on defense and really challenged then on every possession. We were also very active on offense and moved the ball well. We did a great job of sharing it as we had 26 assists. Just a really good effort by our team.”

St John’s girls and boys Basketball teams saw their outstanding seasons come to an end over the weekend. St. John’s girls basketball came up one point shy in a heartbreaking 40-39 loss to Little River.

Hutchinson, Kan. – The Pratt Community College (PCC) Beavers traveled to Hutchinson, KS on Tuesday, March 1 for the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJCAA) Region VI quarterfinals. The Beavers took on the Hutchinson Community College (HCC) Blue Dragons for the second time in eight days. Having just beaten the Blue Dragons at home on Monday, February 21st with a score of 112-100.

JUPITER, Fla. (AP) — Major League Baseball’s financial fight cost regular-season games for the first time in 27 years when often acrimonious talks to end a management lockout collapsed Tuesday and Commissioner Rob Manfred scrapped March 31 openers.

Out of 79 teams represented in the 4A-1A State Wrestling Tournament last week in Salina, the Greenback girls won by a 44-point margin. “This accomplishment, the state championship trophy, is a testament to the hard work of our entire program, boys and girls,” said head coach Tate Thompson. “These girls are now part of winning our 3rd state trophy in the history of Pratt boys and girls wrestling; we are the first state championship team in Pratt High School wrestling history, we have the first 3x time state champion in KSHSAA girls’ history, and this team is the first to have four finalists in PHS history as well as KSHSAA girls’ history.”

The Greenback boys’ wrestling team finished in 15th out of 57 teams on Saturday. The goal is always to be in the top 10, which is a big accomplishment in the 4A tournament. We were on our way to break into the top ten when one of our hammers, Taye Wilson was injured in his consolation semifinal match, which he was winning. Horrible timing for a kid with a dream who was working his tail off to get his best placement.

The Kiowa County High School girls basketball team emerged victorious in their contest with Satanta last week with a 48-13 victory, but for the boys their season came to an end with a 58-51 loss to Meade.

The Pratt Community College (PCC) Beavers hosted sophomore night on Wednesday, February 23 in front of a packed crowd at the Beaver Dome. The Cowley College (CC) Tigers were in town for the final regular season matchup. Both teams were eager for one more win before the National Junior College Athletic Association (NJ- CAA) Region VI tournament starts this weekend. In the previous match-up, held on January 15th in Arkansas City the Beavers lost 77-71.