Sumner Newscow report — The Wellington Crusader basketball teams played an unusual non-league contest right before the holidays with Winfield. Both varsity teams swept the Vikings. Wellington girls defeated Winfield 51-40. The boys would follow suit with an 82-76 win.

Wellington girls are 3-1 while the boys are 4-3.

For the girls, it was their first game back from quarantine. They have been unable to play their last three ball games and haven’t played competitively since the Cheney game on Dec. 8. While the third-place game in the Cheney Tournament is permanently canceled, the Crusaders are scheduled to play Rose Hill on Jan. 11 and Andale on Jan. 22. Both are home games. 

As far as Tuesday night, the Wellington girls would defeat Winfield by outscoring the Vikings 9-7 in the first and lead 23-16 at the half. The Crusaders would up the lead into double figures with a 16-11 third-quarter output.

Wellington preserved the win going 7-of-9 at the free-throw line for the win.

Wellington head coach Eric Adams states:

“The game went as expected. With the long layoff we struggled a bit offensively. Plus, Winfield plays a very good matchup zone and it caused some confusion.

We did better in the second half of attacking the middle of their zone which created driving lanes to the rim and the kick out for 3’s.

Wellington’s junior duo Airalyn Frame and Ali Zeka had tremendous games. Frame scored 19 points while Zeka had 17.

It has been a strange month for the Lady Dukes, who played their first three games in a five-night span. Then there was that unexpected layoff due to a positive case on the team.

Had it not been a strangely scheduled game with Winfield last night, Wellington would not have had a game for a full month. The girls won’t play until Jan. 8 due to the extended holiday break imposed by the KSHSAA in hopes of fighting the coronavirus. They will be playing at Mulvane, a team they beat handily in the season opener.

Once the Crusader girls do restart, they will really restart. Wellington has nine games in January if everything goes as planned. And from Jan. 8 to Jan. 15 the Lady Dukes will have four games. Whew.

Wellington 51 Winfield 40
Wellington —  9   14   16   12 — 51
Winfield —     7    9      11   13 — 40
Wellington: Frame 19, Zeka 17, Rusk 4, R. French 3, K. French 3, Reichenberger 2, Gerten 2, Hughes 1. Total: 9 (7) 12-22 51. Winfield: Moree 15, Curtis 8, Cudrose 6, Schumacher 6, Camp 3, Green 2.

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In the boys’ game, Wellington led 23-12 at the end of the first quarter and was in front 45-30 at the half in this free-for-all ball game. The Crusaders opened up a 66-53 third-quarter lead en route to a six-point win.

Winfield’s big claim to fame in this game was shooting 3-pointers. The Vikings had 14 of them on Tuesday. Jacob George and Aidan Harper combined for 11 3-pointers.

Wellington, though, maintained control throughout the game. Tanner Meyer had 29 points for Wellington.

Wellington head coach Joe Newman states:

Heading into the break with a 4-3 record is a solid start to the season. Add that to the fact we’ve been competitive in every game and it’s certainly a step in the right direction.

In a game where neither team was locked in defensively, we managed to get enough stops to come out with a win. Offensively I thought we put on our best performance so far this season. We had multiple guys score and contribute. Tanner continues to show he’s one of the top players in the league and the state by putting up 29

Wellington 82 Winfield 76
Wellington — 23   22   21   16 — 82
Winfield —     12   18    23   23 — 76
Wellington: Bannister 10, J. Wright 9, Montel Tate 14, Cope Henry 11, Meyer 29, B. Wright 11. Winfield: George 17, Harper 28, Yingling 8, Franklin 3, Acosta 4, Moore 8, Beckwith 6, Towles 2.

Click to enlarge.

Newman states about the rest of the season:

It’s nice going into the break with a win. With two weeks off we can sit back and enjoy it. We will come back January 4th and have a quick turnaround. We will play at Mulvane, who is undefeated and ranked 2nd in 4A. We will follow that up with Collegiate.

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