Rivalry night

The last high school basketball game night turned out to be Homecoming Night — Frontenac, Girard, Northeast and Southeast all held their annual festivities last Friday — and tonight will be Rivalry Night.

St. Mary’s Colgan hosts Crawford-Neosho-Cherokee League rival Girard at the Fieldhouse, Pittsburg hosts Southeast Kansas League rival Fort Scott for Senior Night, Frontenac hosts Southeast and defending Three Rivers League champion Northeast hosts Oswego for Senior Night.
Some teams are rolling, some teams are reeling entering tonight but anything can happen on a high school basketball game night.

The Girard girls (11-3, 3-0 CNC) have found their groove with three straight wins since a 39-35 loss to Caney Valley in the Wilson County Classic. The Trojans blew out Fredonia by 24 points, Galena by 31 and Riverton by 43.
Hadyn Herlocker scored a career-high 32 against Galena and Hope McLeod added 12, as the Girard backcourt dominated the Bulldogs.
An encouraging development for Girard in recent games would be increased production from interior players like Ashley Johnson and MaCahla Leslie. Over her last seven games, Johnson has averaged 6.1 points per game. Opposing defenses often throw everything and the kitchen sink at Herlocker, leaving shot opportunities for other players.
Girard was on a roll before Christmas break and it looks as if the Trojans are hitting their stride at the right time of the year.

Meanwhile, the Colgan girls have been up and down all season for second year head coach Abby Farabi.

The Panthers (7-5, 0-1) began the season with three straight wins, then came three straight losses, four straight wins and now two straight losses after winning the Tony Dubray Classic title during Tournament Week.
Key tonight will be how Colgan handles the defensive pressure of Girard perimeter defenders like Herlocker and McLeod. The Panthers have been without injured sophomore point guard Alex Minton the past few games and it will be interesting to see how Colgan addresses the Trojans’ swarm.
Colgan seniors Nichole Kolarik and Mariah Klenke have been playing some of the best basketball of their careers, senior Taylor Bolinger can be a sharpshooter and sophomore Aliee Story came on strong during the Dubray Classic with both her offensive and defensive productivity.

Colgan last defeated Girard in a varsity girls basketball game on Feb. 9, 2001 — 56-42 at Colgan. Pam Radell and Christi Garrison scored 18 and 16 points, respectively, for Colgan and Kristen Oehme added 13.

Both the Colgan and the Girard boys are fresh off Friday night losses.
Colgan (10-3, 1-0) dropped a nonleague contest against Missouri opponent Lamar 47-39 and Girard (6-8, 1-2) lost its second consecutive league game of the week to Riverton 64-49. The Colgan loss ended a five-game winning streak and Girard enters on a three-game skid since making the championship game of the Wilson County Classic against Independence.

The Panthers have developed Austin Commons and Luke Marquardt as legitimate scoring options beside Dyson Dechant and during the winning streak, Conner Dayton and Christian Cedeno provided more offensive punch.

Opponents have done their best to limit Girard leading scorer Devin Alters, whose shooting fortunes often seem to coincide with Girard winning or losing. Alters can score points in bunches. Key seniors Cody Grilz and Trenton Stolte battled foul trouble against Riverton on Friday. At different times this season, freshman Drew Davied and junior Austin O’Dell have given Girard a lift.

The Panthers have long been known for their defensive abilities and propensity to gain an advantage in free throws on their opponents.
The Pittsburg girls (8-4, 3-2) have lost three straight games since a 41-31 win over Labette County in the Burlington Invitational.

Pittsburg, wracked by injuries and illnesses (Katie Phalen and Lizzy Willis both had surgeries within a 24-hour period), lost to Santa Fe Trail, Sabetha and Chanute by an average of 28 points.

Meanwhile, the Fort Scott girls (8-5, 4-1) have gone 6-1 in January, won the championship of the inaugural Kansas National Guard Invitational and gave head coach Jeff Armstrong career victory No. 100 last Friday with a 43-13 rout of former SEK League foe Iola.

The Tigers’ only loss during January came against Girard (39-36) and wins include Chanute (37-35), Frontenac (56-45) and Baxter Springs (43-37) during this stretch.

Once upon a time this season, the Pittsburg boys were 4-1 and now enter tonight 6-6 and 1-4 in the SEK League. As the second half of the league’s double round-robin schedule approaches us, Pittsburg rests in sixth place with Fort Scott, Independence, Labette County, Chanute and Coffeyville ahead.

Senior interior players Stefon Rich and FeDor Lomax pose a potentially great size advantage for Pittsburg, senior wing Tanner Ellis has shown sharpshooter capabilities and the Purple Dragons’ fates often hinge on turnovers and finding another complementary scorer for Rich, Lomax and Ellis.

The Fort Scott boys (5-8, 2-3) are led by senior guard Johnathan Stark (13.7 points per game) and younger players Garin Sinn, Jash Pytlowany, Alex Fink and Kaleb DeLaTorre have all enjoyed their moments.

Head coaches Kiley Roelfs (Pittsburg) and Jeff DeLaTorre (Fort Scott) are SEK League veterans, Roelfs at Pittsburg since 1999 and DeLaTorre at Fort Scott since 2000. Before that, Roelfs coached at Columbus for two seasons.

The Frontenac and the Southeast girls played each other three times last season — the championship game of the Lancer Classic, their regular season game on Southeast Homecoming and the Class 3A substate semifinals. Frontenac won all three meetings.

The girls at both schools have developed a rivalry in recent years, including volleyball and softball as well as basketball.

This year, with Frontenac moving up to Class 4A and starting its own invitational tournament, the Lancers and the Raiders only meet once.
Frontenac enters tonight 11-2, 1-0 CNC and Southeast comes in 7-5, 0-1.
The Frontenac and the Southeast boys are both 1-0 in CNC play, both claiming wins over winless Baxter Springs.

The Raiders (8-5) had their three-game winning streak snapped by Parsons last Friday on Homecoming and the Lancers (6-6) evened their record with a win over Baxter Springs on Homecoming, overcoming sloppy play.

The Northeast boys and girls, both posting 5-10 overall records this season, play their final home games of the regular season tonight. The Oswego boys are undefeated in Three Rivers play and hope to keep pace with fellow TRL unbeatens Crest, Chetopa and St. Paul. The Oswego girls (2-1 TRL) are just ahead of the steadily improving Northeast girls (2-2) in the league standings.