Basketball roundup: Wellington teams sweep, Trinity hands Belle Plaine first loss of season
Wellington Head Boys Basketball Coach Rick Roitman provides instructions in the first half in game with Mulvane.
by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow – It was ever bit the Christmas break hang over for Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League and Central Plains League teams in high school basketball action. School, at least in Wellington, won’t start until Thursday. But they were playing basketball Tuesday night. Here are the Sumner County scores from last night:
Boys
Wellington 56 Mulvane 49
Trinity 54 Belle Plaine 45
Wellington JV 44 Mulvane 34
Wellington C 54 Mulvane 21.
Girls
Wellington 50 Mulvane 31.
Wichita Trinity 64 Belle Plaine 36
Wellington JV 41 Mulvane 27
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Wellington boys varsity — The Crusader boys picked up their first league win with a seven-point victory over Mulvane. Wellington is now 2-4 for the season and 1-2 in the AV-CTL DIV. 
Both A.J. Snipes and Ian King scored 19 points to lead Wellington in a game that had a little bit of everything – including two slam dunks and a missed one. It was the kind of game that had some peculiar plays by both teams. At one point a Mulvane player threw an uncontested inbounds pass to De’Andre Washington in the backcourt as if he was playing for Wellington. A very strange game.
The Crusaders weren’t sharp, trailing for most of the first half. A Snipes steal and layup with a little more than two minutes left in the second quarter helped Wellington secure its first lead. At halftime, Wellington led 21-19.
The Crusaders expanded the lead to double digits outscoring the Cats 19-10. In the fourth, Mulvane found some rhythm and scored 20 points, but still could not overcome its deficit. Drew Ellis had 25 points for the Wildcats, which fell to 1-6 and 0-3 in the AV-CTL DIV.
| Mulvane | 9 | 10 | 10 | 20 | — | 49 |
| Wellington | 6 | 15 | 19 | 16 | — | 56 |
Mulvane — D. Ellis 25, Abasolo 11, I. Comer 6, J. Plummer 5, Dameron 2
Wellington — A. Snipes 19, I. King 19, D. Washington 10, J. Walton 4, J. Ybarra 2, S. Popplewell 2
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Wellington girls varsity — The Wellington girls broke a two-game losing streak with a 19-point victory over winless Mulvane. The Crusaders are now 3-3.
“We only had one game in December which I felt we outplayed our opponent and that was against Hutchinson Trinity,” said Eric Adams, Wellington head girls basketball coach. “Tonight, I felt we outplayed our opponent. Hopefully, we are getting back to what Lady Crusader basketball is all about.”
Wellington led 15-4 at the end of the first quarter and cruised to a 26-13 lead at the half. Mulvane could never cut into the lead thereafter.
Avery Rusk led all scorers with 18 points while Shayland French poured in 13.
Adams said Wellington was testing a new starting lineup and rotation which he hopes will do better. Crusaders will travel to Clearwater in another winnable game. Clearwater is currently 0-5.
| Mulvane | 4 | 9 | 8 | 10 | — | 31 |
| Wellington | 15 | 11 | 7 | 17 | — | 50 |
Mulvane — C. White 8, P. Christian 6, M. Tharp 6, E. Landes 5, Parks 4, A. Dillon 2
Wellington — A. Rusk 18, S. French 13, R. Rusk 7, T. Meyer 5, J. Buck 4, M. Adams 3.
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Belle Plaine boys — The Dragons lost their first game of the season against undefeated Wichita Trinity. There’s a lot of basketball to be played but Trinity and Cheney are looking like the teams with the inside track in the Central Plains League. Belle Plaine still has to travel to Cheney.
Belle Plaine fell behind 10-8 in the first quarter and was trailing 27-25 at the half. The Dragons were holding tough in the third quarter, trailing Trinity by one 35-34.
Then the Knights would outscore the Dragons 19-11 in the fourth to secure a 9-point victory in the Dragon Den.
Bo Gooch led Belle Plaine with 21 points and Cole Osgood followed with 17. Belle Plaine is 6-1 for the season.
| Trinity | 8 | 19 | 8 | 19 | — | 54 |
| Belle Plaine | 10 | 15 | 9 | 11 | — | 45 |
Trinity Academy — C. Williams 12, K. Jones 10, Ekeshill 10, J. Baker 9, C. Vanlandingham 7, C. Linder 4, C. Anderson 2
Belle Plaine — B. Gooch 21, C. Osgood 17, M. Hall 6, C. Stover 1.
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Belle Plaine girls — The Dragons’ two-game winning streak came to an end against Trinity. D. Hammond led with 10 points.
| Trinity | 8 | 20 | 11 | 25 | — | 64 |
| Belle Plaine | 4 | 12 | 7 | 13 | — | 36 |
Trinity Academy — L. Mathews 16, A. Bearup 14, L. Scheufler 12, Broadie 10, R. Lesser 4, Bigelow 3, Brown 2, E. Cozine 2, Smits 1
Belle Plaine — D. Hammond 10, Cooper 8, Martinez 7, M. Lawless 5, Reynolds 4, T. Bohannon 2
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Wellington JV boys — The Crusaders improve to 3-3 with a 10-point victory. Scorers for Wellington: Jacob Ewing 9, Zander Vargas 9, Tyler Brown 7, Cade Fairbanks 5, Austin Soles 3, Zane Cornejo 3, Tanner Meyer 3, Blake Rausch 2, Brayden Higginbotham 2, Chance Hamel 1.
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Wellington C team boys — Crusaders get first win of season. Scorers: Blake Saffell 15, Tanner Meyer 13, Trenton Bannister 10, Kade Adams 6, Cade Fairbanks 4, John Long 2, Chilson Ybarra 2, Berkeley Wright 2.
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Wellington JV girls – Crusaders improve to 4-2, 3-0 in the AV-CTL DIV. Scorers: Draven Warnock 15, McKenna Jones 9, Lexi Clift 7, Myriland French 3, Delaney Parkey 3, Natalie Henning 2, Mykiland French 2.
