Wamego 53 Abilene Cowgirls 41
Abilene – The Abilene Cowgirls have played improved basketball over the last two games but unfortunately don’t have wins to show for it. Friday night, Abilene hosted #4 Wamego. The Lady Red Raiders blew out the Cowgirls 69-32 on January 11. Abilene turned over the basketball 32 times in that loss.
Friday night, the Cowgirls took better care of the ball, early in the game, and led 10-9 at the end of 1st quarter. Wamego outscored Abilene 16-11 in the 2nd quarter but only led 25-21 at halftime. The Cowgirls unofficially had 21 turnovers in the game but 12 of them came in the second half which helped the Lady Red Raiders pull away for the victory. Wamego led 41-30 after three quarters and led by as many as 17 at the 6:40 mark of the 4th.
Abilene got a big night from Sophmore, Claira Dannefer, who finished with 19 points. Senior, Jenna Hayes also reached double-figures with 13. Wamego’s Paige Donnely totaled 24 points in the win. The Lady Red Raiders are now 15-1, 6-0 while the Cowgirls fell to 3-14, 1-7.
Wamego 47 Abilene Cowboys 42
Abilene – Abilene’s comeback effort fell short in the 4th quarter in Friday night’s loss to Wamego. The Cowboys fell behind 40-27 with 6:55 to play in the game. Abilene would respond with a 13-1 run to pull to within 41-40, with 1:19 left to play, on a basket by Cooper Wildey. The Cowboys then got the ball back with just over a minute to go, with a chance to take the lead but turned it over and never got back into that same position.
Wamego led most of the night. They had a 10-7 lead at the end of the 1st quarter, the game was tied at 18 at halftime and their lead grew to 35-27 at the end of three quarters. Abilene fell to 12-5, 6-2 and dropped to 2nd place in the NCKL. Wamego improved to 10-6, 5-1 with the win and is now in 1st place. The Cowboys were led by Sophomore, Thomas McClendon, who finished with 16 points. Wamego was led by Senior, Jacob Fritz, he finished with a game-high 22 points. He is the son of Saline County native, Steve Fritz.
