On Friday, the Girls RPAC Basketball Tournament began. Of course, this season, it looks a little bit different with 16 teams in the conference, so no first-round byes for the top seeds.
The West side was hosted by Maxwell, and the East by Bertrand. We'll begin by checking out the results from the West side first.
At the end of the blog post, be sure to check out the updated bracket and matchups.
RPAC WEST GIRLS BASKETBALL RESULTS
In the opening game of the afternoon, #1 seeded Maywood-Hayes Center took on #8 seed Sutherland. MHC was able to get the victory 64-8. The Wolves got after it right away with their press forcing turnovers and getting easy buckets. MHC started out with a 15-0 lead before Sutherland took a timeout to regroup.
The Wolves continued to play tight on defense and create more space en route to a 40-4 lead at halftime.
Sutherland competed hard but just couldn't keep up with MHC.
MHC was led by Caylie Softley with 16 points, 12 points from Karissa Stengel, and 11 from Reagan Stengel.
Gracyn Elfeldt had four points and Mahla Vasquez and Leah Harper had two.
The second game of the day in Maxwell was the #4 Wildcats of Maxwell versus #5 Hitchcock County. Maxwell won the matchup 55-26. In the first quarter, it was a bit of a feeling-out process as both teams struggled to get their footing. But, eventually, both teams got some offense going.
In the second quarter, Maxwell dominated the offensive glass and built a lead of 28-17 at halftime. The Wildcats controlled the glass and the pace in the second half to cruise to the win. Hitchcock County played hard, but injuries have plagued this team.
Maxwell was led by 13 points from Jenna Miller and Kristyn Cheek scored 19 points.
Hitchcock County was led by Madysen Carlson with 10 points and Asia Homma had seven.
For the night's third game, we had an intriguing matchup between #3 seed Paxton and #6 seed Wauneta-Palisade. On paper, this looked like it would be an intriguing game. And for the majority of it, it was a battle. Paxton won the game, 53-39. It was a physical game, and points were hard to come by in the first half.
Wauneta-Palisade and Paxton were both committing many turnovers, but the defense was solid from both teams. Paxton led at halftime 19-16. The Tigers came out of the half and reeled off a 10-0 run. The Broncos though, fought back well, but Paxton did enough to get the win.
Jordan Clouse led Paxton with 17 points. Ella Fote had 14 points and 13 rebounds. Jackcee Mitchell had 10 rebounds. Emmalee Nicholson added nine points.
For Wauneta Palisade, Izzy Stehno had 18 points, and Kamryn Fanning had 13.
In the final game of the night for the West, it was #2 seeded Dundy County Stratton versus #7 seeded Wallace. DCS was able to move on to the next round as they won 67-21.
DCS jumped out to a 7-0 lead in the first, but Wallace came back strong. It was 11-8 late in the first quarter, but DCS used an 11-0 run to make it 22-8 and never looked back. Wallace's effort was excellent in this one; they always play hard.
Dundy County Stratton had four players in double figures as Abi Spargo 13, Clara Spargo scored 12, Kimberly Escobar scored 11, and Emily Schack had 10. K. Escobar had three threes. Stephaine Escobar had eight points and two made threes.
Kaley Sauser had six for Wallace. Devin Giesselmann and Elliana Robertson had four.
RPAC EAST GIRLS BASKETBALL RESULTS
In Bertrand, the day's opening game was #1 seed Southwest versus #8 seeded Medicine Valley. The Roughriders won 46-18. Southwest utilized a press for the first half, making life hard on the Raiders.
Southwest went to the intermission up 32-5. In the second half, Medicine Valley found some success on offense, but Southwest kept up their strong play to get the win.
Remmi Stout had eight points for Medicine Valley.
Southwest was led by 18 points for Aspen Billeter, and Allison VanPelt had 14 points.
Arapahoe used their pressure defense to create some good space and go up 27-12 at halftime. Following that, they just kept pushing the pace and were able to snag a win and move to the next round.
Cambridge was led by Elisabeth Kubik with seven and Emmerie Tomlin and her six points.
Arapahoe was paced by 23 points from Suttyn Shafer and 11 from Clara Hilker.
On the East side for the third game of the night, #3 Southern Valley played #6 Bertrand. The Eagles were able to win 60-11. They used their signature pressure to cause problems for the Vikings.
Shelby Schoene had four points, and Adrian Sand scored three.
Southern Valley was led by Adi Hunt with 17 points and Tori Bose with 14.
The final game of the evening on the East pitted #2 seed Alma against #7 seed Hi-Line. Alma won big, 58-19. The Cardinals had been playing strong basketball as of late and continued to do so in the first round of the RPAC Tournament.
Hi-Line was led by Bentley Stubbs with eight points, Ellaray Koch had six, and Olivia Wall had five.
Alma was led by Tierston Moore with 21 points, Kamryn Scott scored 14, and Kamri Neal had nine.
Check out the updated bracket for matchups and game times on Monday. The games will be played in Maywood as MHC hosts the West and in Bartley at Southwest as the Roughriders host those games.
