Hugoton Boys, Bucklin Girls 3rd, Holcomb Girls 4th in state tournament play
The winter sports season wrapped up on Saturday across the seven classifications in the state of Kansas.
Three southwest Kansas teams took part in games on Saturday, all in the third and fourth place game.
Starting off in Class 4A, the Hugoton Eagles bounced back after a tough loss on Friday, as they took down the Atchison Phoenix 69-53 Saturday morning inside the Hutchinson Sports Arena. The Eagles led for nearly 29 minutes of the day, and took a 33-24 halftime lead, en route to the win. Leading the way for Hugoton was Cameron Rosas with 24 points and nine rebounds, while Miguel Hernandez had 11 and Hunter Garza added 10. The Eagles finished the year at 23-5 on the year. Baldwin won their first state title, as they defeated previously unbeaten Rock Creek 66-60 in the championship game.
In Class 3A, Holcomb would have the early morning game for third place against the Halstead Lady Dragons, who had entered the state tournament unbeaten and were the defending state champions. Halstead never trailed and defeated the Lady Longhorns 56-43. Holcomb trailed by as many as 13, but cut the deficit to within seven in the fourth quarter. They were led by Jaylee Wickwar with 10 points. Holcomb won their first-ever state tournament on Wednesday, and finished with a school record 25 wins, going 25-4 on the season. Silver Lake would win the Class 3A State title for the second time in three season, with a 60-44 win over Osage City.
The Bucklin Lady Red Aces would compete in Emporia’s White Auditorium in the Class 1A, Division II state tournament. They got the first game of the day against Hutchinson-Central Christian, and would pick up the victory 54-35. The Lady Red Aces never trailed, as they built a 35-15 halftime lead, and led by as many as 25 in the third quarter. Tristan Stout led the way for Bucklin with 13 points and Isabel Bowman added 11, as the Lady Red Aces finished 23-3 on the season. The championship game saw a battle of teams in the same league and school district, as Linn would pick up an overtime win 57-50 over the Hanover Lady Wildcats, winning their first state championship and dethroning the three-time state champion.
For state tournament scores, you can log on to Kpreps.com. The links to the boys and girls scores are below.