The Abilene High School basketball teams swept Chapman Monday night, in make-up games from January 5th. The Cowgirls used a huge second half run to pull away for their first victory of the season, the final 41-26. The Cowboys dominated after halftime on their way to a 50-35 victory.
The Cowgirls got off to a great start and led multiple times by 11 points in the second quarter. Abilene would go on to take an 18-10 lead into halftime. Chapman got back into the game, in the third quarter, with a 9-2 run to pull within 19-18 on a Maya Kirkpatrick basket with 2:44 to play in the third quarter. Abilene would then counter with a 20-1 run, that bridged the third and fourth quarters. The run was capped by a pair of Joy Clemence free-throws to put the Cowgirls ahead 39-19 with around 3 minutes left in the game.
Abilene got a big night from Senior, Abi Lillard. She finished with a 12 of her game-high 19 points in the second half. Her point total was her season-high and just 1 point off of her career-high. She has added a perimeter shoot to her game this season. She hit a career-high 4 three-pointers in the victory. She was the Nex-Tech Wireless Player of the Game along with Senior, Reagan Ditto, who finished with a season-high 6 points on 3-3 shooting. She also led the team with 4 steals. Abilene improved to 1-5, 1-4 with the victory, while Chapman dropped to 0-3, 0-3 with the loss.
The Chapman boys led nearly the entire first half in the loss to Abilene. The Cowboy’s Blaise McVann gave Abilene the lead at 23-21 in the final seconds of the first half. The Cowboy’s would never trail again. They scored the first 7 points of the second half and never looked back. Abilene outscored Chapman 27-14 in the second half.
The Cowboys got a big second half from Senior, Avery Bryson, who scored a game-high 14 points. He was the Nex-Tech Wireless Player of the Game. Abilene improved to 5-2, 3-1 with the victory, while Chapman fell to 1-2, 1-2 with the loss.
Abilene will return to action Thursday in the S.I.T. The Cowboys (4) will play Concordia (5) at 3 PM at Salina Central High School. The Cowgirls (7) will play Liberal (2) at 5 PM at Salina South Middle School.
