The first two sessions of the 2018 run of Holiday Hoops are in the book at the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton, with eleven games played between Friday afternoon and Saturday evening on the North Central Missouri College campus.
The event opened for business at 4 o’clock on Friday afternoon, with the Sturgeon Lady Bulldogs taking down the Orrick Lady Bearcats, 54-34. Camryon Orf had 20 points to lead Sturgeon, with Jahna Burris adding 15. Mara Inks had 13 points for OHS.
In the boys contest, Sturgeon took down Orrick by a score of 63-45, with Kenny Stone leading Sturgeon’s balanced attack with 19 points. Jacob Brooks tossed in 17 and Logan Flaspohler 15. For the Bearcats, Seth McAfee scored 12.
In one of the marquee boys games from the 2018 event, Lincoln High School of Council Bluffs, Iowa battled the Fighting Irish of St. Joseph Lafayette, with the Iowans coming out on top 48-42. Hunter Hendrix paced Lincoln with 19 points, while Ike Book, the younger brother of NCMC Lady Pirate sophomore Maddie Book, had 16 points for the Irish.
Friday’s session came to a close with a 48-40 win for the Lady Hawks of Hillsboro against Lafayette. Payton Bingman had 12 and Maya LaPlante 12 for Hillsboro, while Maddison Hopkins led the Lady Irish with 13 points.
The Tri-County Lady Mustangs rebounded from Thursday night’s conference loss to Mercer with a 52-35 victory over Bucklin/Macon County on Saturday morning, as Bailee Hoover led the Jamesport attack with 14 points. Ali Burns had 15 for BMC.
The Tri-County boys defeated Bucklin/Macon County on two free throws in the final 10 seconds of regulation, winning by a score of 43-41. Garrett Skinner paced the Mustangs with 18 points, with Than Tomlinson adding 16.
The Benton girls rolled to a decisive win over an overmatched Hillsboro side, as St. Joseph’s “South Siders” won by a score of 74-14, as Jayde Williams had 18 and Mia Henderson 16 points for the Lady Cardinals.
In an all-Iowa boys game, Lincoln returned for a meeting with the Hoover High School Huskies from Des Moines. Lincoln finished the weekend 2-0 with a hard-fought 60-56 win, as Hunter Hendrix had 23 points and Josh Dix 12 for the Lynx. For the losing side from Hoover, Adam Jackson had 24 points and Manny Austin 20.
The Chillicothe boys won for the third straight game with a 54-41 triumph over the Plattsburg Tigers. Westley Brandsgaard led Tim Cool’s Hornets with 19 points, while C.J. Pfaff had 15.
The Stanberry girls took a small-school showdown with Mercer, winning 55-48. Lily Osborn led the two-time defending GRC champions with 23 points, with Madi Sager scoring 20. For Mercer, Aubrey Wilson had 14 points while Rayne Kost contributed 12.
The Mercer boys rode a dominant first-half performance by Hunter Shipley to a 68-53 win over Stanberry, as Shipley scored 25 points, all in the first 16 minutes of play. Austin Nix had 13 and Jonathan Johnson 12 for the Cardinals, wile Collin Sager had 19 points and Cole Durbin 13 for the Bulldogs.
Holiday Hoops continues on Monday and Tuesday nights with two-game sessions. On Monday at 5:30, the Benton boys play Grandview Christian of Des Moines, followed by the Lafayette boys playing Odessa at 7 o’clock.
On Tuesday, the Grundy R-5 girls and boys take on Higbee in doubleheader action, with the girls playing at 5:30 and the boys at 7.
