The Chillicothe Hornets met the Platte County Pirates in the championship game of the Savannah Tournament on Saturday afternoon, and for one half, the game looked like a mismatch, with the Pirates up-tempo style and athletic ability giving the Pirates a 35-15 edge after 16 minutes.
With pin-point shooting leading the way in the second half, CHS rallied, and eventually would tie the game with 2:05 remaining in the fourth quarter on a C.J. Pfaff three-pointer, the Hornets fifth of the half.
Platte County, in the game’s final minutes, made one more free throw than Chillicothe, for the game’s final margin, giving the Hornets (3-1) their first loss of the season, by the final score of 50-49. For Chillicothe, Westley Brandsgaard finished with 18 points and 9 rebounds, while Walker Graves had 9 points and 10 rebounds.
Brandsgaard was named to the Savannah All-Tournament team, along with Platte County’s high scoring back-court of Deiondre Ragsdale and Kobe Summings. The victory improves Platte County to 3-0. Chillicothe Lady Hornet sophomore Hunter Keithley also was named to the All-Tournament team for a CHS girl’s squad that finished in third place at Savannah.
Chillicothe’s teams will next be in action on Thursday night at Trenton High School against the rival Bulldogs, in a varsity doubleheader to be broadcast on KTTN FM 92.3.
The girls championship trophy on Saturday afternoon went to Kansas City Staley, as the Lady Falcons played the strongest game of their young season in a 67-45 win over the host Savannah Lady Savages. Staley had a key 10-1 win in the first quarter to put the Savages in a hole from where they could not get out of. A 9-0 run in the second quarter, after Savannah had closed the lead to 19-17, again put the Savages down by double digits.
Grace Stites had 13 points and Liz Everly 11 for Savannah.
