The basketball season ended for the Paton-Churdan girls with a 45-34 loss to the Glidden-Ralston Wildcats in the second round of Class 1A Region 8 tournament play.
The Rockets did not score in the first quarter and scored only nine points in the second quarter to take a 24-9 deficit into the locker room at halftime. They were down by as many as 18 points during the second quarter.
They outscored Glidden-Ralston 25-21 in the second half but the hole was too deep and the Rockets lost to the Wildcats, who hold a 20-3 record, for the third time this season. Rocket coach Chris Petersen said, “A lot of credit goes to the aggressive defense played by Glidden-Ralston.”
About his own team the coach said, “It was a successful season for the girls and a great career for the four seniors we will be losing to graduation. Over the past four years, they really turned the program around and laid a solid foundation for future season teams to build upon.”
The Rockets finished the season at 12-10. The Tuesday night game was the last for seniors Carleigh Paup, the lead scorer in Iowa girls 1A, Sydney Koch, Kasey Lane and Reilly Niles.
Paup scored 22 points, with Lane at six, Koch at three, freshman Megan Carey at two and freshman Jenna Beyers at one point. Beyers and Lane had seven rebounds each and Koch and Paup had four steals each. Koch led in assists with three and had one block.
The Paton-Churdan boys had a bye in the first round of 1A District 14 play. They’ll play the Guthrie Center Tigers Feb. 18 at 6:30 pm in Manning.
