Sumner Newscow report — The Wellington boys and girls basketball games returned to the competitive hardwood for the first time since Dec. 20, two weeks ago. The boys won 56-34, while the girls won 46-28. The games were played Friday even though there was no school earlier in the day.

In the boys’ game, Wellington dominated Clearwater, taking off with an impressive 18-2 lead in the first quarter. The Crusaders maintained the momentum and led 30-9 at the half. The second half saw the momentum shift a bit with Clearwater outscoring Wellington 16-15 in the third, making it 45-24. Wellington outscored Clearwater 11-8 in the fourth.

Carter Burnett had a sensational game back from his one-game suspension. He scored 24 points, 19 of them in the first half. Clearwater was led by Gage Clevenger with 11, who poured in three 3-pointers in the third quarter.

The win gets Wellington to 3-4 and 1-2 in the Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League Div. IV. The Crusaders host El Dorado on Tuesday.

Boys: Wellington 56 Clearwater 33
Wellington – 18  12  15  11 — 56
Clearwater –   2    7  16  18 — 33
Wellington: Burnett 24, Weir 6, Zeka 5, G. Norris 5, Bannister 5, J. Norris 3, Elder 2, Hatfield 2, Clift 2, Basso 1, Newman 1. Total: 17 (4) 10-22 56. Clearwater: Clevenger 11, Fisher 9, M. Smith 8, Martin 3 , B. Clevenger 2. Total: 7 (5) 4-8 33.

———

The girls had a tougher-than-expected game with Clearwater but would eventually pull away for victory.

Wellington led 14-4 at the end of the first quarter but was outscored 17-13 in the second quarter and held just a 27-21 lead at the half. The Crusaders were all-consuming defensively in the second half, holding Clearwater to seven points while scoring 19 to win comfortably.

Wellington head girls basketball coach Eric Adams had this to say:

“We played sluggish. The offense wasn’t as crisp as it usually is. We can get that corrected on Monday at practice. Defensively, in the first half, we were a bit slow. We made some adjustments at halftime, and the girls played much quicker, which caused Clearwater some problems.”

Britt Zeka led Wellington with 13 points, while Val Norwood had 12. The Crusaders are now 7-0 for the season. Wellington held all scorers to single figures for the seventh game in a row. No opposing girl has reached 10 points this season.

Girls: Wellington 46 Clearwater 28
Wellington – 14  13  10   9  — 46
Clearwater –   4   17   4   3  — 28
Wellington: B. Zeka 13, Norwood 12, Barton 8, D. Zeka 8, Wright 2, Goodrum 2, Kir Gregory 1. Total: 12 (5) 7-19 46. Clearwater: M. Clevenger 8, M. Hampton 6, K. Hampton 5, Carlson 5, Berin 4. Total: 4 (3) 5-7 28.