Sumner Newscow report — It is Christmas break, and the Wellington varsity basketball teams are a combined 11-3.

Wellington traveled to Winfield Tuesday night to complete the 2023 version of its schedule. The girls dominated the Vikings 60-25 to improve to 6-1. The boys beat Winfield 65-59 to improve to 5-2. Both Viking teams are winless.

Now comes the break. Crusaders won’t see another game for 17 days when Clearwater comes to town on Friday, Jan. 5. Maybe a new scoreboard will be erected then.

The girls dominated Winfield and had a running clock in the fourth quarter — the fifth consecutive game in doing so. Running clocks occur when a team is 25 points ahead in the final quarter.

Wellington opened with a stifling 3-2 full-court trap defense that befuddled the past five opponents and was up 15-3 at the four-minute mark of the first quarter. It was 20-5 at the end of the first quarter and 41-12 at the half. The Crusaders would go on to outscore Winfield in the second half 19-13.

The Crusaders remain No. 5 in the latest Kansas Basketball Coaches Association poll (see here) released Tuesday.

“We feel good where this team is right now,” said Eric Adams, Wellington head boys basketball coach. “We used our full-court pressure to create turnovers and ran our fast break offense very well.”

Britt Zeka was the leading scorer for Wellington with 22 points and six rebounds. Val Norwood had 13 points and six assists, Lyndi Barton 13 points and five steals. Winfield was led by Moore with 19 points.

Wellington 60 Winfield 25
Wellington —   20   21   13     6   — 60
Winfield —         5     7     8      13 — 25
Wellington: B. Zeka 22, Norwood 13, Barton 13, Gregory 6, Goodrum 3, Cornejo 3. Total: 20 (4) 8-12 — 60. Winfield: Moore 19, McCauley 2, Jones 2, Timothy 1, Webb 1.

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In the boys’ game, Wellington survived a barrage of Winfield three-pointers to defeat the Vikings by six.  Morice Ayers led Wellington with 25 points – a career-best thus far.

The Crusaders were in control from start to finish. But it got a little uncomfortable late when Winfield went nuts in the fourth quarter beyond the arch. The Vikings would score eight 3-pointers in the fourth quarter and outscored Wellington 28-18. Luckily, Wellington had success at the free throw line down the stretch to stave off the Viking rally going 12-of-19. Nolan Russell, who had 20 points for the game, was 7-of-8 from the charity stripe in the fourth.

For the game, Winfield would score 45 of its 59 points at the three-point line, hitting 15. That would have been a school record in Wellington and might be in Winfield.

Wellington led 17-9 at the end of the first quarter and held a 29-22 advantage at the half. Wellington would open up a 47-31 lead at the end of three before things got a little interesting.

Winfield would pull within 10 with 2 minutes to play on a Christian Moree 3-pointer from the perimeter. Wellington re-upped the lead to 14 with two trips to the free throw line – Russell hitting all four shots.

Wellington was leading 65-52 with 20 seconds to play. Winfield ended the game going on a seven-point run including two technical shots.

Wellington 65 Winfield 59
Wellington —   17   12   18    18   — 65
Winfield —         9   13     9    28 — 59
Wellington: Ayers 25, Bannister 5, Burnett 8, Norris 2, Russell 20, Weir 6. Total: 21 (1) 20-35 65. Winfield: Moree 26, Graham 9, Hutto 3, Sheltea 3, Tovar 3, Gobsoa 5, Stanley 4. Total 3 (15) 8-12 59.

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Stats from Tuesday’s game is here: winfield

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