By Jennifer Stultz
Tri-County Tribune Editor
jstultz@cherryroad.com

State competition starts Wednesday for the Tigers

The Lady Tigers of St. John-Hudson are State bound after a 53-43 victory over Spearville at Kiowa County in the 1A-I sub-state finals. The Lady Tigers will play in Dodge City on Wednesday after a pep rally sendoff in their hometown at the school. Classes dismiss at noon so students may attend and support their Lady Tigers from USD 350. St. John-Hudson takes on Centralia at 2 p.m. Wednesday

To get to this point, the Lady Tigers benefitted from an aggressive scoring attack that kept them in the game early, despite some scattered mistakes.

“Spearville came out and made shots and plays, to lead 13-5 after one quarter. In the second quarter, we hit four 3’s(Mia Meyer 2, Karly Rockenbach and Jalyn Fisher) to take the lead at the half. As poorly as we played in the first half, we were thrilled to lead at halftime 23-21,” Head Coach Danny Smith said. “This definitely wasn’t our best game, but we finally calmed down and started making plays. Sometimes a comeback like this can give you confidence and help you later in the game.”

Smith said he was happy for his team to be able to return to the state tournament for the second year in a row.

“We’ve had a lot of illness and injury this season, so this was well earned,” Smith said. “Mia Meyer really stepped up and had a huge game to lead all scorers with 23. Senior Lydia Reed also had a big game with 14 points and 6 blocks that definitely affected them bringing the ball inside.”

Stats for the sub-state championship game included points by Mia Meyer 23 – hit three 3’s, and Lydia Reed 14 points. Rebounds – Jalyn 8, Lydia 7, Mia and Gentri 6 each; steals – Mia, Jalyn, Reagan 2 each; assists – Jalyn 5, Lydia 4.