The Abilene High School basketball teams returned home for the first time since December 8, Tuesday night against Wamego. Wamego was able to sweep Abilene by using 4th quarter comebacks in both victories. The Wamego girls trailed by a point as they entered the final quarter and won 43-33. The Wamego boys erased a 15 point deficit on their way to a 47-43 win.
In the boys game, the Cowboys led 35-20 with 2:59 to play in the third quarter and that’s when the game turned. The Red Raiders finished the quarter on a 7-0 run to cut the deficit to 35-27 to start the fourth. Junior, Tanner Hecht carried the team through three quarters with 20 of his game high 21 points. In the fourth quarter, he got help from Junior, Ledjor Rowden. He scored 10 of his 15 points in the final quarter. During one stretch in the second half he scored 9 straight points. His final points during that run brought his team within 39-37. The two teams would then exchange buckets before Jacob Fritz’s three-pointer gave Wamego their first lead of the game at 44-41 with just 53 seconds left. The Red Raiders would never trail again and go on to the 4 point victory.
Abilene was led by Kaleb Becker, who tied a career-high with 19 points in the loss. The Cowboys are now 0-2 at home and fell to 3-2, 1-1 on the season. Wamego improved to 5-1, 2-1 with the victory.
The Cowgirls got off to a slow start. They trailed 8-2 at the end of the first quarter but erupted for a season high 16 points in the second quarter and led 18-14 at halftime. Abilene was led by Abi Lillard, who finished with 8 of her game-high 15 points in the second quarter. She added 7 more points in the third quarter and hit three, three-pointers in the game.
Abilene fell to 0-4, 0-3 on the season with the loss. Wamego improved to 4-1, 2-0 with the victory. The Cowgirls and Cowboys will travel to Clay Center on Friday.
