by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — There has been a Wellington High School girls basketball team for more than 30 years. Throughout time, it hasn’t been Wellington’s most successful sports program, but over the last eight years it has.

But despite a state tournament berth, winning record teams for eight straight years, state rankings, and what appears to be a couple of 20-win seasons, there is still something missing on the resume.

A league championship.

Wellington girls have never won a league championship. Even that 2o10 team that went 21-3, lost two league games in December that would cost it the crown. Tonight, the Crusaders battle Circle on Senior Night in hopes of capturing their first Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail League Championship.

They have a chance to do so on Senior Night in front of a home crowd. Tipoff is at 6 p.m.

The current Lady Dukes are 18-0. They are ranked No. 2 in the state according to the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association poll. They have been winning in every way whether it is by blowout like home wins over Andale and Wichita Collegiate or by the skin of their teeth like Winfield a couple of weeks ago.

But Circle is going to be a nuisance. The Thunderbirds are sitting at 7-1 in league and are 13-5 overall. The Crusaders had to literally scratch and claw their way to a 51-47 victory in Towanda in January. Wellington was down 38-32 going into the fourth quarter before rallying on a 19-9 run.

Since that point, Circle has lost four games, three of those to Class 6A competition. It then lost to Winfield 57-52 before steering the ship back on course with three wins over AV-CTL DIV opponents.

The Thunderbirds sport the third and fourth leading scorers in the league. Kalie Martin averages 13.3 ppg and Londyn Bardin scores 12.0 ppg.

For Wellington, it will probably again be a typical night of zone defenses and opponents throwing up 3-pointers on the other end — which so far has not led to a victory against the Lady Dukes.

The Crusaders have been matching opponents in the three-point department as of late. Friday night, with Lauryn Snipes out of the lineup, Wellington would cash in 11 threes. The week before against Andale, they hit 13 to tie a school record.

Snipes is expected to be back tonight. She missed the Collegiate game with an eye injury.

In order for the Crusaders to win, perhaps, the best strategy, not to borrow a cliche, is to not beat themselves. Grace Mitchell leads the league with 22 points per game. Both Lauryn Snipes and Avery Rusk are in double digits with 12.0 and 11.2 ppg respectively.

Mitchell leads the team in rebounds with 7.1 a game, and Tayland French has 6.6. Rusk has 33 steals for the season.

If Wellington can stay out of foul trouble, win the defensive battles, and shoot for par, this could be the exclamation point to a great regular season and get a banner on the wall.

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