BY MAKENNA ALLEN
The signs on the walls of the gym read “Built Bulldog Tough” and “This is Our Dawg House” and the Quinter High School Bulldogs worked to defend their house on Saturday in the final day of the 37th Annual Castle Rock Classic.
On the fourth day of the tournament that began Tuesday, the boys defeated the Dighton Hornets 62-22 in the third-place game while the girl’s team fell 59-47 to the Ellis High School Railroaders. The Lady Bulldogs competed in the championship game but were unable to secure the title in this year’s classic.
The boys, however, were able to bring home a win after successfully beating the Rawlins County High School Buffaloes by a score of 67-47 during the first round of the tournament. However, they tasted defeat on Friday evening when they fell to Wheatland-Grinnell by a 4-point margin.
Despite the loss, the Bulldogs progressed to soundly beat the 0-2 Dighton team by a score of 62-22 in order to secure the third-place spot in the tournament.
Entering Saturday’s game, junior forward Jaden Boone led the team in points scored for the season with 43. Junior, Bradley Riedel, was another top scorer going into the game with 40-points for the season.
The total of 62 Bulldog points on Saturday was, however, a group effort. The Quinter team was able to turn away from some of its key scorers after extending the lead, a feat made possible in part by a strong defensive effort.
“We’ve improved a lot from last year defensively and hopefully we can just keep building on that but it was a nice win for us,” Bulldog boy’s basketball head coach, John Crist, said. “It was fun to get a whole bunch of kids into the scoring column and everybody contributed.”
Leading scorer Riedel was the first Bulldog to put points on the board during the game with an easy two soon after stepping on the court. After this, both teams struggled to shoot during the first quarter. However, the Bulldogs led 14-8 when the clock ran down at the end of the quarter.
The start of the second quarter brought a quick three-pointer by senior Collin Thielen. Another two-points from Boone extended the lead further and allowed the Bulldogs to gain momentum. Though Dighton managed to put up seven-points during the quarter, Quinter dominated the period and led 35-15 heading into halftime.
The Bulldogs took the court after the half slightly cooler. Though the scoring was at a slower pace, Quinter continued to extend their lead. By the end of the second half, the Bulldogs had outscored the Hornets 27-7.
Ultimately, Crist was proud of his team’s effort and energy in the tournament.
“Today we played really well,” Crist said. “I was excited how much energy we had after playing three games in a row. I was a little worried about that going in but our kids came out with a lot of energy.”
The win leaves the Bulldogs with a current record of 3-1. Quinter will next travel to Greeley County to take on the Jackrabbits. Tip-off is scheduled for 6:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 18.
Just after the boy’s Bulldogs team worked to beat the Hornets on Quinter’s home court, the Lady Bulldogs sought to do the same in the championship game against the Ellis Railroaders. Both teams were looking to remain undefeated in this season of play.
Headed into the final game of the Classic, the Lady Bulldogs were averaging 51-points per game. They were 70% from the line and 41% from the field. The girls were also 21% from beyond the three-point line.
Senior Kayler Getz led the team in shooting with 46-points prior to Saturday’s championship game and was a force to be reckoned with during Friday’s game in which she put up 22-points against Rawlins County.
Saturday evening, Quinter hoped to pull out a strong victory over Ellis similar to the one they managed Friday; however, early in the first quarter, the Railroaders began to pull away.
Throughout the first half, the Bulldogs struggled to mount an offensive attack against Ellis who played a solid game on both sides of the ball. Thanks to a strong offense led by Fort Hays State University commit, Grace Eck, the Railroaders held a 30-19 advantage over the Bulldogs at the half.
The Bulldogs managed to gain some momentum late in the third quarter following two-points from sophomore, Ava Gillespie and a three-pointer by sophomore, Anna Briggs. However, Ellis quickly extended the lead to 12-points, the largest margin of the game.
Despite back-and-forth play during the game’s final quarter, the Bulldogs were unable to turn the tide in their direction. Ellis prevailed 59-47.
Bulldog girl’s basketball head coach, Matt Havlas, was proud of his girls’ team effort in the face of adversity.
“There were times in the game we could have given up and it could have gotten out of hand and it didn’t,” Havlas said. “We cut it back to five in the third and ended up losing by 12 but it made us better. We got better tonight.”
With the win, Ellis took home their first-ever championship title in the Castle Rock Classic.
Throughout the game, Grace Eck proved to be an offensive force. She will head home with the Classic championship title and will ultimately bring her talent to the FHSU Tigers next year.
The Quinter girls next play against Greeley County at 5:00 p.m. on Friday, December 18.