By CAYDEN SANDERS
Tiger Media Network
Class 3A postseason basketball begins this week in Kansas, and the Hoisington Cardinals boys’ and girls’ teams will both open their sub-state journeys at home on Thursday. In their penultimate tune-up games of the season on Friday against Larned, the boys won 57-24, further securing a home first-round game. The girls dropped their contest 47-30 but still earned a first-round home game.
Girls’ Game –
Hoisington (11-9, 4-4) entered Friday’s game No. 6 in the Central Kansas League standings, while Larned (16-6, 6-2) was hoping to secure the No. 3 spot with a victory. The Indians used a strong second half to pull away from Hoisington 47-30.
“Larned is a good team, they shot the ball well in that second half. They were able to turn us over and force the ball out of our hands,” Hoisington head coach Trina Lutters said.
Both teams started slowly, with the score tied 8-8 at the end of the first quarter. The second quarter was much of the same. Larned scored the final basket before halftime to go up 18-16 at the break. Larned did outshoot Hoisington in the first half, hitting on 44% of their shots compared to just 37% for the Cardinals.
“That first half, we were able to stay with them, we were able to create opportunities for ourselves and got open to having good looks,” Lutters said. “I thought we did that well early to keep us in the game.”
Larned pulled away in the third quarter, outscoring Hoisington 17-7 on 7-of-17 shooting and 2-of-4 shooting from beyond the arc. Larned’s defense also turned up, only allowing Hoisington to take 6 total shots in the period. The Indians outscored the Cardinals 12-7 in the fourth quarter to win comfortably.
The Indians were led by junior Jadyn Crosby, who had 14 points, 6 rebounds, and 1 steal while Hoisington senior Kelsi Maier led the Cardinals with 10 points, 4 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block.
Hoisington’s senior Kelsi Maier had a night as well with ten points, four rebounds, one steal, and one block.
“It was great to see Kelsi (Maier) play well tonight. During the game, we did not know if we would have a home game on Friday,” Lutters said. “I thought that she played [well] up against (Jadyn) Crosby. She is a great player, and those two played well tonight.”
Hoisington has one more regular-season game at 6 p.m. tonight at Halstead. However, the Cardinals will return home on Thursday to host Colby in the first round of 3A sub-state.
Boys’ Game –
In the final regular-season home game for the Cardinals, Hoisington took care of business against Larned 57-24.
“We knew that if we got out to an early start in this one, we could get some other guys some minutes,” Cardinal head coach Kyle Haxton said. “I did not know we were going to play as many guys as we did, though, as we cleared our bench so everyone could play,”
Hoisington (13-9, 5-2) outscored the Indians 16-5 in the first quarter, and by halftime had extended its lead over Larned (6-16, 1-7) to 39-11.
“I felt like we came out like an inspired team, a well-prepared team,” Haxton said. “We were able to get Mason Martin and Kobe Crawford some good looks, and the guys just responded.”
Martin ended his senior night with 23 points, 2 rebounds, 1 steal and 1 block while Crawford added 10 points, 1 rebound, 2 steals, and 1 block to end the final regular-season home game of his junior campaign.
Haxton spoke highly of Martin as he wraps up his career.
“Mason has been a big part of this program,” Haxton said. “He just went over the 1,000 point mark, and that only happens if you play all four years anymore. He just comes ready to play every night, and he is going to be missed.”
He also said that Crawford has been playing well of late for the Cardinals.
“Kobe has found his role on this team,” Haxton said. “He is always a good player night in and night out, and he was just more noticeable tonight against Larned and really found a way to exploit their defense.”
Haxton emptied his bench, but the Cardinals still outscored Larned 14-11 in the third quarter. Both teams scored 2 points in the fourth quarter.
Koby Lang led Larned with 10 points, 1 rebound, 1 steal, and 1 block.
In their 3A sub-state bracket, the Cardinals earned the No. 4 seed. Hoisington will play Ellsworth on Thursday after ending the regular season against Halstead tonight.
Hoisington and Ellsworth played just 10 days ago, where the Cardinals lost 58-50.
“After we lost that game, we were not happy with that result,” Haxton said. “We felt like we could have played a lot better against them. This time, it is win or go home, and I don’t think the boys want to stop playing yet.”
This story was written for INF 349 Convergent Media Lab, a course within the Department of Informatics at Fort Hays State University.