The girls’ and boys’ teams from three schools won both of their games on Monday during the opening round of the Chadron Holiday Basketball Tournament, but Chadron and Chase County split during the final session with the Chadron girls edging Chase County 47-45, but the Chase County boys downing the Cardinals 62-51.

Some of the first-round games were quite lopsided.

In the opening matchups, the Valentine girls led Gering 37-14 at halftime and won 55-44. Paige Sprenger led the Badgers with 17 points while Jacelyn Brown paced Gering with 14. Led by Isaac Cronin’s 24 points, including 14 in the second period, Valentine won the boys’ game 63-54. Dominic Beebout added 15 points for the Badgers while Max Judy sank four 3-pointers to pace Gering with 12 points.  Gage Ruzicka added 11. (For replays of the Gering broadcasts from yesterday CLICK HERE.)

The Bridgeport teams ran away with their games against Niobrara County at Lusk. The Lady Bulldogs won 65-29 behind Elle Schluterbush’s 25 points and Olivia Browns’ 19. Sarah Krein paced Niobrara County with 10 points.  In the boys’ game, Bridgeport’s Gage Nein became a 1,000-point career scorer while tallying 19 points and Hayes Watts poured in 18.   No one had more than seven points for the Lusk team, which was missing two of its starters because of family obligations.

Both Gothenburg teams won handily over Custer, S.D.  The Lady Swedes won 73-37 with Zoe Beveridge scoring 16 points, Aubry Hall 14 and Halsey Thomalia 13 for the winners. Kylee Ellerton scored 14 points for Custer. Ten players. led by Brysen Neels with 17 points, scored for the Gothenburg boys who won their game 67-42,  Regan Sorenson paced Custer with 14 points. 

The Chadron-Chase County girls’ game was a donnybrook that Chadron won 47-45. Neither team ever led by more than five points.  The Cardinals got the winning basket with a minute and 12 seconds left to play when Rylan Barry scored on a layup.  Jezy Alcorn led the winners in scoring with 23 points while Karlie Anderson tallied 20 points for the Lady Longhorns.  

Chase County won the boys’ game 62-51 as Noah Rau scored 22 points and Lukas Fries added 16. Derek Bissonette led the Cardinals with 15 points and Ty Pourier added 10.

Eight more games are scheduled on Tuesday with the action beginning at 9:30 in the Chicoine Center at Chadron State College.

The final round will be played on Wednesday.