Kylan Gregory vs. Pratt.

By Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — The Wellington girls will return to the scene of its only regular season loss in 2023-24. The Crusaders qualified for the Cheney Tournament Championship and will battle the Lady Cardinals for the preseason title at 6 p.m. Saturday. It should be one of the most competitive games of the season for the No. 1 ranked Crusaders.

Wellington disposed of the Pratt Greenbacks 70-23 in its home opener Thursday to qualify for the finals. Pratt defeated Wellington boys 63-46 in the nightcap.

“I would be lying if I said we weren’t looking forward to playing Cheney,” said Eric Adams, Wellington head girls basketball. “Last year, we went up there and got beat. In the long run, it helped us clean up a few things. But at the time… well, we never like losing.”

Class 3A No. 4 ranked Cheney defeated Chaparral 45-34 in the other bracket game. Cheney is 2-0.

“We will probably play a different offense on them, include more of the posts,” Adams said. “They have two really good guards. They aren’t as post-dominated as in years past.”

The 35-second clock made its debut in Wellington.

Thursday was historical. The 35-second shot clock made its debut in Wellington. And it was completely irrelevant, not affecting the game whatsoever.

But for the Wellington girls, a 15-second clock probably would go unnoticed.

Wellington’s third game looked similar to the first two contests. Pratt did a better job slowing down the Crusaders, but the game was never in doubt. Wellington raced to a 10-2 lead and was up 20-5 at the end of the first quarter. Its press was in full throttle and created 26 steals. It had 29 rebounds – most of them on the offensive end since Pratt rarely got off a shot.

At the half, it was 36-7. Crusaders would outscore the Greenbacks in both second-half quarters, getting a 24-11 output in the third and 10-5 in the fourth.

For the third straight game, there was a different leading scorer. Sophomore Dru Zeka had 20 points against Pratt. Britt Zeka scored 12 and Valerie Norwood had 10. Again, no opposing player has yet to score in double figures. Lexi Thibault came close, getting 9.

GIRLS: Wellington 70 Pratt 23
Pratt —               5    2   11    5  — 23
Wellington —  20  16  24  10 — 70
Pratt: Q Thibault 9, E. Schmidt 5, K. Jackson 4, H. Hughes 3, A. Sowers 2. Total: 5 (2) 7-12 23. Wellington: D. Zeka 20, B. Zeka 12, V. Norwood 10, L. Barton 8, V. Wright 8, E. Goodrum 5, Kir. Gregory 3. Total: 16 (7) 17-23 70.

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Jagger Norris goes up for the shot vs. Pratt.

The Wellington boys fell to 1-2 and will be playing for third place against Chaparral after losing to Pratt by 17 points. The Crusaders had a terrible third quarter when they were outscored 23-11. At the 4:20 mark in the third quarter, they were down 34-33. They missed on six consecutive possessions and saw Pratt pull away with a 15-4 output including a layup at the buzzer of that dreadful quarter.

Wellington never could get its groove back in the fourth.

Pratt made an interesting statement to start the game. It used the full 35-second clock on its first possession, shooting a 3-pointer at the buzzer. It banked in, and that was the precursor to the rest of the game. The Greenbacks led 16-13 at the end of the first quarter, but Wellington outscored them 13-10 in the second to tie the game at 26.

Arley Morrell led Pratt with 22, while Grant McAtee scored 16.  Wellington was in a 2-3 zone defense for the bulk of the game in an attempt to stifle the 6-6 Morrell, who had just four points in the first half. But he exploded in the second half, getting 18 points down the stretch.

Wellington got 22 points from Carter Burnett. But none of the other players are generating enough points – a troubling trend after three games.

BOYS: Pratt 63 Wellington 46
Pratt —              16  10  23  14  — 63
Wellington —  13   13  11   9   —  46
Pratt:G. McAtee 16, A. Morrell 22, H. Titus 10, C. Strong 7, C. Dore 3, K. Strong 2, L. Demuth 2, K. Barker 1. Total: 19 (7) 4-9 63. Wellington: Burnett 22, Weir 7, Basso 6, Bannister 6, G. Norris 3, Hatfield 2. Total: 19 (1) 5-16 46.