Yates Center High’s basketball teams keep banging on the proverbial door.
One of these days, they’re gonna kick the sucker in.
Alas, it was not to be on Friday, in the final round of the War on 54 Tournament.
The Wildcat girls,who rallied from an eight-point first-half deficit, took the lead against St. Paul late in the third quarter.
But the Indians drilled a buzzer-beating 3-pointer at the end of the period to retake the lead, 26-24.
St. Paul then scored early in the fourth and was able to winnow away the clock down the stretch in a 40-27 victory.
IN BOYS action, Yates Center was tied with Cherryvale, 23-23, at the break, but looked to be in control of the tempo.
“I don’t know if it was the long week, and we lost our legs or what, but we started making silly turnovers that weren’t there in the first half,” Wildcat head coach Lane Huffman said.
Cherryvale took advantage, ending the game on an 18-10 run to win, 48-41.
The losses keep both Yates Center squads winless as they face Chetopa on Tuesday.
“We’re proud of the guys for their effort,” Huffman said. “I think they all agree this was a game we probably should have won. But mental mistakes got the best of us, and Cherryvale made us make those mistakes.”
Kaiden Rutherford led Yates Center with 15 points, followed by Devereaux Sarchet with nine and Kaden McVey with eight.
Leuie Umbarger’s 19 led Cherryvale. Landon Fox was next with 13. Bricen Raida scored 10.
WILDCAT girls head coach Kevin Brown said Friday’s tilt was another step in the right direction for Yates Center.
“I was tickled with how we played,” he said. “The girls were very aggressive. We played really well.”
