Wellington girls split first 2 games in McPherson tournament, play Wichita Southeast today
Mykiland French vs. McPherson.
Sumner Newscow report — The Wellington girls will be playing Wichita Southeast for third place in the Mid-America Classic Tournament in McPherson at 3 p.m. today.
The Crusaders fell to McPherson 58-39 Friday evening after defeating Valley Center 71-67 in overtime on Thursday.
This is one of the most competitive midseason tournaments in the state and Wellington has always pulled off at least one big upset in its three years participating.
Thursday night was no exception, as it won a wild, wild game against Class 5A Valley Center to open play at the McPherson Roundhouse.
The Crusaders would outscore Valley Center 9-5 in overtime after trailing the Hornets throughout the ball game. At one point, Valley Center was in front by 11 points at the 2:12 mark of the first quarter.
It was a great game in which Wellington never led until the final score and Valley Center broke a school record by scored 15 3-pointers on 24 attempts. Wellington had its biggest scoring output of the season against Valley Center with 71 points. Ali Zeka led the Crusaders with 21 points and Lexi Clift, who has been battling injury all season, with 12 points.
This game appeared disastrous for a while for the Crusaders. Valley Center was in front 20-13 after leading by double digits. The Hornets led 31-27 at the half. Valley Center outscored Wellington 19-17 in the third. Then Wellington surmounted an 18-12 comeback to tie the game before putting the Hornets away in overtime.
Wellington was 24-of-51 in field goal percentage and 10-of-26 from the 3-point stripe. The Crusaders, though, was not very proficient at the free-throw line, only going 13-of-31. The Crusader defense was the key knabbing 16 steals to Valley Center’s 4.
Wellington 71 Valley Center 67
Valley Center — 20 11 19 12 (5) — 67
Wellington— 13 14 17 18 (9) — 71
Valley Center: Halle Brittain 22, Ali Coash 12, Anna Eldridge 11, Maci George 10, Olivia Neidens 6, Kelsie Kinniburgh 6. Total: 22-40 (15-24) 8-15 67. Wellington: 24-51 (10-26), 13-31 71.
Rylee Rusk vs. McPherson.
Friday, Wellington battled McPherson, the no. 4 ranked basketball team in Class 4A. This may be the toughest opponent Wellington will see all year as McPherson consistently vies for state championships on a yearly basis.
Wellington got off to a tremendously slow start, falling behind 11-2, and was down 30-13 at the half. The Crusaders played even ball the rest of the way with the Bullpups.
Wellington did not help itself shooting wise. It was 13-of-35 from the field and 9-of-19 from the three-point line. Again free throw shooting was a problem as the Crusaders were 4-of-12.
The Crusaders were led by Zeka with 16. McPherson was led by Kassidy Beam with 29.
McPherson 58 Wellington 39
Wellington— 2 11 14 14 — 39
McPherson — 11 19 16 12 — 58
Wellington: Zeka 16, Gerten 8, R. French 6, Rusk 5, Frame 3, Hughes 1. Total: 13-35 (9-19) 4-12 39. McPherson: Beam 29, Malm 8, Pyle 7, Howard 6, Labertew 4, Alvord 2. Total: 24-44 (6-22) 4-10 58.
