YATES CENTER — In the opening round of the 2015 Wildcat Winter Classic, Yates Center High had its opportunities to advance to the winners’ bracket in both the boys’ and girls’ games against Southern Coffey County.
But the Titans held strong down the stretch in both contests, and, as a result, the Wildcats must begin their own home tournament from the losers’ bracket.
In the girls’ game, SCC defeated Yates Center, 37-24. The Wildcats had a difficult time trying to stop Danielle Kasprzak, who was the only player in the game with a double-digit scoring performance (10).
With SCC’s Erikah Lyons and Kalyn Deal adding another 8 and 7 points, respectively, the Lady Titans had more scoring from just of their players than the entire Wildcats team combined.
Still, Yates Center was still very much alive throughout the matchup because it was able to reach the free-throw line 11 times in the night.
Had the Wildcats made all 11 of its attempts from the charity stripe rather than just 4, coach Jason Graf’s team would have been in position to come back — especially considering the Lady Titans went just 5-for-21 at the free-throw line.
In the boys’ game, SCC defeated Yates Center, 42-40. Like in the girls’ matchup, the Wildcats’ less-than-stellar free-throw performance may have cost them a chance at victory.
Yates Center finished the night 5-for-11 at the free-throw line.
The Wildcats’ Aaron King had an opportunity to tie the contest at 41 with less than a minute left when he was sent to the line, but he only sunk 1-of-2 to cut the deficit to 41-40.
After being fouled, SCC knocked down 1-of-2 free throws to extend its lead to 2 points, which was all the Titans would need to claim a win because the Wildcats never got the chance to get off another shot before the game concluded.
Although both Aaron and Josh King for Yates Center put up 10 points each, they were no match for SCC’s duo of Weston Weers and Chonnor Ludolph. The Titans’ two leading scorers recorded 15 points each to account for 71 percent of the team’s offensive output.
With their victories over Yates Center, both the boys and girls teams for SCC will advance in the tournament to face Lebo on Thursday night.
Yates Center, on the other hand, will face off against Altoona-Midway in the losers’ bracket.
SCC wins first round games
