by Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — It was a rough Tuesday evening for the Wellington varsity basketball teams, but it always seems to be that way when the Dukes travel to Wichita Collegiate.

Wellington girls lost a heart breaker 41-39, while the boys fell to the Spartans 69-45.

Wellington girls:

Wichita Collegiate had the lead for exactly seven seconds in the game. Unfortunately, it was the final seven seconds.

Down 39-38, Collegiate inbounded the ball to Addison Root, who drove in for a layup and garnered a foul. She hit a layup and put the Spartans up by one. Her free throw thereafter gave Collegiate a two-point lead.  

“We were in a man-to-man, which I thought was the right defense,” said Eric Adams, Wellington head girls basketball coach. “Unfortunately, they made the right pass to Root and got the score. I didn’t want to be in a zone because they were hitting threes late.”

Wellington’s Lauryn Snipes then took ball and was driving for the hoop hoping for a last-second tying score. But she was fouled before taking a shot with 1.2 seconds. She went to the foul line on a one-and-one, and missed. Collegiate rebounded and clinched the win.

Free throws were a problem all night. Wellington was a paltry 7 of 19 for the evening.

“We are shooting free throws at 46 percent,” Adams said. “I’d like us to be at least in the 65-70 percent range.”
Wellington led throughout the game, but was never in front by a comfortable margin. Wellington opened with a 13-10 lead and held a 20-17 advantage at the half. They would outscore the Spartans 13-10 in the third quarter and led 33-27 going into the fourth quarter.

But Collegiate would hit three treys and would outscore the Dukes 14-6 in the fourth quarter. Kate Wilson hit a trey with under a minute to pull the Spartans within one.

For the game, Avery Rusk led the team with 17 points and Snipes followed with 14. Tayland French had 5 and Peyton Adams had 3. Collegiate was led by Root with 14 and Jewell Bolden had 12.

Wellington is now 2-4 for the season and 1-2 in the Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League Div. IV. The Lady Dukes host Circle Friday.

Wellington boys:

The Wellington boys were hoping on making a statement against the undefeated Collegiate team, but the Spartans were having none of that.

Collegiate would outscore Wellington 14-8 in the first quarter and led 36-20 at the half en route to a 24-point victory.

The loss dropped Wellington to 4-2 and 1-2 for the season. Both teams the Crusaders have lost to are undefeated.

The No. 1 ranked Collegiate would beat Wellington using a bench that was deep. Nine players scored, and three players were in double figures with 12 points.

Wellington held tough until the second quarter when Collegiate’s defensive pressure and high voltage shooting led to a 22-point output. That was topped in the third when Collegiate scored 24.

For the game Trevor Nance had 17 points. Ian King had 8.

The Crusaders host Circle Friday at 7:30 p.m.

•••••
Junior Varsity and C team scores:
Girls: Wellington JV 34 Collegiate 38
T. French – 6, S. French -6, P. Witham – 6, M. Adams-5, M. Moore-5, G. Fink-3, M. Lewellen-3.

Boys:
Collegiate 64 Wellington JV 35
Collegiate 48 Wellington C 28.

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