It took some effort, but the Gilman City High School basketball teams got their holiday season off on the right foot, scoring a sweep of Stet Tuesday night at North Central Missouri College’s High School Holiday Hoops at the Ketcham Community Center in Trenton. The Lady Hawks closed strong, winning 49-40, and the Hawks overcame a slow start to get a 58-41 win.
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Lady Hawks
The Gilman girls grabbed a slim lead early on, leading Stet throughout the majority of the first half, and went to the locker room with a 25-20 halftime advantage. Stet would battle back, however, controlling much of the third quarter to close the gap to 31-30 with one quarter remaining. Gilman City got the job done, hitting nine-of 12 fourth quarter free throw attempts.
Leading the way for Gilman was Saige Johnson, who had a team-high 24 points and nine steals. Mikayla Toombs added 18 points and eight rebounds. Gilman City also got six points and three assists from Morgan Reed, five points from Kady Sperry and five rebounds from Jill Newton.
“In the fourth quarter we were nine-for-12 from the free throw line and had 18 points,” Lady Hawks’ Head Coach Jacob Wilson said. “The girls played hard all the way to the end. We finally got our offense going in the fourth quarter and Saige Johnson and Mikayla Toombs were scoring like they have been. It was a good night for us.”
With the win, Gilman City improved to 3-5 on the season.
Hawks
The Gilman City boys found themselves in a little bit of trouble early on against Stet, falling behind 17-11 in the first quarter. The Cardinal advantage would be shortlived, however, as the Hawks opened the second quarter with a 7-0 run that gave Gilman an 18-17 lead. After trading the lead back-and-forth momentarily, Gilman City pushed ahead and began to pull away. Gilman never trailed in the second half as the Hawks picked up the victory.
Leading the way for the Hawks on a night when their leading scorer Mason Ward didn’t hit double figures, was Brennon Carey. Carey stepped up with some solid post play, leading Gilman with 18 points. Zach Cox knocked down a couple of three-pointers and finished with 15 points and Corey Rouner had 10.
With the victory, the Gilman boys evened their record on the season, moving to 4-4 overall.
Both the Lady Hawks and Hawks will be on the floor at the Ketcham Community Center a second time as Gilman battles Brashear on Thursday morning. The girls tip off at 9 o’clock and the boys follow at 10:30.