Pirates beat Sarcoxie, Diamond; look to Spokane Tournament at No.1 seed

The Ash Grove High School boys’ and girls’ basketball teams were both in action last week, as the Pirates won both of their games, while the Lady Pirates split their two contests.

    The Class 2 No. 3 ranked Pirates traveled to Sarcoxie on Friday, Jan 13, and came away with a 24-point, 63-39 victory.
    The Pirates led 20-7 after the first quarter and 40-20 at the half. Things didn’t get any easier for Sarcoxie in the third quarter, as Ash Grove put up another 20 points to increase their lead to 60-29, before being outscored 10-3 in the final period of play, which included a hefty amount of minutes from the Pirate bench.
    "Our guys came out and really executed the game plan offensively,” said head coach Grant Williamson. “We were able to get great shots against their zone and showed a lot of balance on offense."
    Brady Nicholson paced Ash Grove with 22 points, Asher Rust added 14 points and Tyler Tummons ended the game with 11 points.
    The Pirates opened the week by hosting Diamond on Tuesday, Jan 10, and battled to a 79-60 win.
    Ash Grove jumped out to a 19-12 first quarter lead before exploding for 29 points in the second quarter to lead 48-28 at the half.
    "Our guys played really tough in this one,” said Williamson. “It was a balanced attack which makes us difficult to defend. We had four guys in double figures and several others contributed in a lot of ways."
    Nicholson led Ash Grove with 23 points, Rust added 20 points, Brock Mooneyham had 15 points and Tummons ended the game with 10 points.
The Pirates are now 12-3 on the season and will play in the 39th annual Spokane Tournament from Jan. 16-21 where they are the No. 1 seed. They opened play Monday, Jan. 16 against No. 8 seed Exeter.

Lady Pirates knock off Sarcoxie, begin play in Marionville Lady Comet Classic
    The Lady Pirates took the trip to Sarcoxie on Thursday, Jan. 12, and came home with a 20-point, 57-37 win.
    Ash Grove trailed 11-10 at the end of the first quarter but broke out for 17 points in the second quarter to take a 27-19 lead into the half. The Lady Pirates added another 17 points in the third quarter to increase their lead to 44-28, before closing the game out with 13 points in the fourth quarter.
    Madison Lutz led Ash Grove with 14 points, Bethany Wheeler added 12 points and Megan Hawkins had 11 points in the win.
    The Lady Pirates traveled to Sparta on Monday, Jan. 9, and came home with a lopsided 69-23 loss.
    Sparta led 23-6 after the first quarter, and 36-11 at the half.
    Wheeler led Ash Grove with seven points and Chelsye Graham had five points in the loss.
    The Lady Pirates are now 5-10 on the season and will travel to Marionville this week to take part in the Lady Comet Classic from Jan. 16-21 where they entered as the seventh seed. The Lady Pirates played in the opening round against No. 1 seed Marionville on Jan. 16.