Prep roundup for Friday, Dec. 15

Dec. 15—Northwestern's girls basketball team got off to an ideal start Thursday night, shutting out visiting Eastern in the opening quarter en route to a 61-27 Tiger victory.

Northwestern led 20-0 after a quarter, 27-10 at the half and 43-18 after three quarters.

"We came out and played really good defense, took extremely good care of the ball, and in high school basketball, you can directly correlate who wins by the number of live turnovers they have in a ballgame," NW coach Wendy Gatlin said. "We were able to take care of the ball, we were able to get into a lot of pressure defenses. Because we were taking care of the ball, we were able to take more risks defensively and we felt freer and more open to take more shots. I can't remember the last time we made as many 3s in a ballgame."

The Tigers hit six 3-pointers. Anna Bishir led Northestern (3-9) with 15 points. Lexi Hale scored 13, Halie Koetter scored 12 and hit a team-high three 3s. Berkley Wray scored seven and Izabella Arrick six.

Limiting turnovers has been a point of emphasis lately in Tiger practices.

"They were really locked in and I think it hit home with them about taking care of the basketball," Gatlin said. "I think that they looked locked in and focused in on some of the things that we've been working on in practice and it allowed them to play freely, with enthusiasm and excitement because they weren't constantly having to turn around and play defense."

Gatlin was sick Thursday so she coached from the end of the bench and relayed info to assistants, who did more of the work than normal.

"My staff was phenomenal," she said. "They really stepped up. They told me not to come, but they dealt with a sick, controlling coach that felt like she had to tough through. I'm so glad to have them as part of my staff. They were the difference in [Thursday] night's outcome."

Jenna Odle led the Comets (3-9) with 15 points and Elle Winger scored six.

MAC 62, PERU 30

The Braves jumped to a 25-9 lead after the first quarter and kept control the rest of the way in beating the Bengal Tigers in a Three Rivers Conference game at Maconaquah. It was 33-17 at halftime and 44-22 after the third quarter.

Bailey Carson led Mac's hot start as she scored nine points in the first quarter.

The Braves (5-6, 2-3 TRC) finished with balanced scoring. Ireland Kile led the team with 14 points, Carson scored 12 points, Miranda Stoll had 10 and Sydney Barnes and Delaney Betzner had nine apiece.

Addison Robbins led Peru (0-13, 0-7) with seven points.

GIRLS SWIMMING

NW 94, TIPTON 71

Triple winner Maryn Sims and double winner Kelsie Heintz led the Tigers to the victory in the meet at Tipton.

Individually, Sims won the 200-meter freestyle (2:16.84) and 400 free (4:36.13) and Heintz won the 100 free (1:13.41). They teamed with Jocelyn McKay and Addi Bumgardner to win the 400 free relay (4:51.70).

Also for the Tigers, Taylor Schmitt won the diving program (203.55) and Boglarka Bodmar won the 100 breaststroke (1:41.67).

"We're pretty evenly matched teams. I have four divers and those divers swam in every relay and our win came down to [having two teams to Tipton's one in] all of those relays," Northwestern coach Donita Walters said. "But the [second-to-last] event is the 100 breast and their girl actually won that race, but was disqualified because of a one-hand touch. Otherwise that meet score would have been even closer. We were only up two points before the breaststroke.

"It was a total team effort," Walters added. "We had girls swimming events that they had never swam before so we could have two girls in every event."

MAC 99, CASS 86

Maryn Zeck was a quadruple winner for Cass, winning the 200 IM and 100 backstroke individually. Mia Hall won the 100 breaststroke. And Zeck, Hall, Maci Garland and Sydney Holmquist teamed to win the 200 medley and 200 free relays.

BOYS SWIMMING

NW 131, TIPTON 22

Quadruple winner Sam Martin and triple winners Landon Munoz and Parks Ortman led the Tigers to victory in the meet at Tipton.

Individually, Martin won the 50-meter freestyle (:27.49) and 100 butterfly (1:08.020, Munoz won the 200 free (2:28.79) and Ortman was first in the 100 breaststroke (1:18.78). The Tigers also had individual wins from Brady Correll (diving, 193.80) and Jonah Jones (100 backstroke, 1:18.09).

Northwestern swept the relays. Kai Shoaff, Munoz, Maverick Harrell and Bryan Burkhalter won the 200 medley (2:19.44). Ortman, Harrell, Burkhalter and Martin won the 200 free (1:56.03). And Martin, Munoz, Shoaff and Ortman won the 400 free (4:32.58).

Walters said she mixed her lineup some since the Blue Devils have a limited roster.

"We had a meet on Monday, had a couple practices, the kids are tired, we're heading into finals week," she said. "It was neat to see some of them really focusing on details that we have been working on. Sam Martin has been working on his underwaters and that showed in his focus in that race. It was neat to see a freshman, Jonah Jones, get a win in the backstroke because that's a race that he really likes."

BOYS WRESTLING

WESTERN 51, N. MIAMI 25

The Class 2A No. 4-ranked Panthers celebrated senior night by beating Class A No. 6 North Miami.

Mitchell Betz, the state's No. 1-ranked wrestler at 157 pounds, started the match off with a pin for the Panthers. Also scoring pins for Western were Deaglan Pleak (165), Brock Frazier (190), Hayden Dillinger (215), Devin Frazier (285), Tanner Tishner (126), Tye Linser (132) and Liam Bumgardner (138). Brady Comer (144) won by decision.

"I thought we came out and wrestled hard," Western coach Chad Shepherd said. "We wrestled more aggressively than we had been. We still probably need to be a little more aggressive. Some of our younger guys are starting to pick it up a little bit which is good. Overall, I thought for a senior night, it was a pretty good showing."

GIRLS WRESTLING

WESTERN, NM SPLIT

Western and North Miami split six matches on senior night in the Panther gym. There was no team score. Shaylee Walker (120 pounds), Emma Roe (125) and Chloe Linn (190) each won by pin. Linn is the only senior on the squad.

"North Miami's got a really solid girls program," Shepherd said. "We got six matches in and we split, and I thought all the girls wrestled really well. One of the matches was two ranked girls. We came out on the short end of it but it was two top-10 girls and it was a pretty good match. We're getting better. We needed matches so it was a good evening."

FROM WEDNESDAY

CO-ED WRESTLING

PERU 54, EASTERN 29

Eastern had five winners. Eva Smith, Caleb Katsimpalis, Erick Krogstie and Andrew Cavazos won by pins and Evan Williams prevailed 16-0 for a tech fall.