Plainsmen girls fall short against Holyoke, Sedgwick County
By Emmalee Parsley Stevens
Grant Tribune Sentinel
The Perkins County Plainsmen girls basketball team faced a challenging week of competition, dropping two close contests to Holyoke and Sedgwick County despite strong individual performances and steady effort on the court.
HOLYOKE
Perkins County hosted the Holyoke Dragons on Monday, January 27, at Perkins County High School and suffered a narrow 53–49 loss.
The Plainsmen opened the game strong, scoring 20 points in the first quarter while Holyoke put up 17. Momentum shifted in the second quarter as the Dragons out-scored Perkins County 14–10 to take a slim halftime advantage. Holyoke continued to apply pressure in the third quarter, again edging the Plainsmen 14–10. Perkins County battled until the final buzzer, out-scoring Holyoke 9–8 in the fourth quarter, but ultimately came up just short.
Madison Potts led Perkins County offensively with 20 points in the game. Addison York was strong on the boards, pulling down 11 rebounds.
Head coach Deanne Bishop pointed to key challenges in the match-up.
“We had a tough time containing the 1–2 punch of their highly skilled point guard and two tall posts,” Bishop said. “We also had a number of unforced, timely turnovers. We battled well but came up just short.”
Sedgwick County
The Plainsmen were back in action on Thursday, January 29, traveling to face the Sedgwick County Cougars, where they dropped a hard-fought 41–36 decision.
Perkins County fell behind early, scoring four points in the first quarter while Sedgwick County scored nine. The Plainsmen settled in during the second quarter but were still out-scored 10–9. Both teams scored 12 points in the third quarter, keeping the game within reach. Perkins County out-scored the Cougars 11–10 in the fourth quarter, but the early deficit proved too much to overcome.
Potts once again led the Plainsmen, scoring 13 points, while York paced the team on the glass with eight rebounds.
Coach Bishop credited her team’s defensive effort against a strong opponent.
“Sedgwick County is a perennial power in both volleyball and girls basketball in the state of Colorado,” Bishop said. “We knew we had our work cut out for us on Thursday. Their strength lies in their guard play. For the most part, we did a good job of identifying and containing the top scorers and held Sedgwick County to only 41 points—which is well below their average. We shot below our typical average but still had a chance to win it at the end.”
Next Action
The Plainsmen girls will next travel to Maxwell High School to face the Maxwell Wildcats on Tuesday, February 3. Results from that contest will appear in the next edition of the Grant Tribune-Sentinel. Perkins County will then return home to host Southwest Public Schools at Perkins County High School on Thursday, February 5, with tip-off scheduled for 6:15 p.m.