Pirate basketball defeats Bradleyville, Southwest last week

Lady Pirates drop close game to Clever, remain active in Walnut Grove Holiday Classic tournament
 
The Ash Grove boys basketball team played three games last week, winning two of them.
The Pirates hosted a first round game on Saturday, Dec. 20 in the Walnut Grove Holiday Classic defeating Bradleyville, 74-53.
Ash Grove trailed the Eagles, 16-14 at the end of the first quarter but a 23-point second quarter propelled the Pirates to within points at the half, 29-27. The hot shooting continued for the Pirates in the third quarter, adding 24 points to push ahead of Bradleyville, 61-47. Ash Grove tightened up on defense in the fourth quarter to hold the Eagles to just six points while extending their lead with 13 more points, to win the game by 21.
Easton Rust led Ash Grove with 19 points and Jaden Hance added 18 points in the win.
“We started off a little slow,” said Head Coach Grant Williamson. “But we really got going in transition in the middle two quarters by taking advantage of our opponents’ mistakes.”
Ash Grove traveled to Southwest (Washburn) on Thursday, Dec. 18 and returned home with an easy 72-48 win.
The Pirates led 13-8 after the first quarter and extended that lead to 38-20 by the half. A 20-point third quarter gave the Pirates an insurmountable 58-37 lead heading into the final quarter of play. In the fourth, Ash Grove outscored the Trojans 14-11 to win the game by 24 points.
Rust led all scorers with 32 points; Kyler Reece added 19 points and Hance chipped in 16 points in the game.
“Easton was in a groove and made a lot of shots tonight to springboard us offensively,”said Williamson. “On the defensive side it was a group effort to minimize their impact and put the game away.”
The Pirates opened the week by hosting Sparta on Tuesday, Dec. 18 but lost to the Trojans 71-62.
Sparta led 22-13 after the first quarter, but the Pirates battled back in the second quarter to cut the Sparta lead to 37-31 at the half. A 22-point third quarter by the Trojans helped them to increase their lead to 59-48. Ash Grove outscored Sparta 14-12 in the fourth quarter.
Reece led Ash Grove with 21 points, Hance had 12 points and Harison Thompson ended the game with 10 points.
“Overall, we competed really tough in this game,” said Williamson. “We didn’t make a lot of mistakes, but when we did Sparta took advantage.”
The Pirates are 6-3 on the season and were scheduled to play Monday night in the quarter finals of the Walnut Grove Holiday Classic against either Bakersfield or Greenfield.

Girls basketball
The Lady Pirates also hosted a first round game of the Walnut Grove Holiday Classic, defeating Billings 70-20 on Saturday.
Ash Grove traveled to Clever on Monday, Dec. 15 and lost to the Lady Jays 61-56.
Clever jumped out to a 19-8 first quarter lead, but the Lady Pirates fought back in the second quarter to cut the lead to 30-23. A 14-point third quarter, got Ash Grove a little closer, as they entered the fourth quarter trailing the Lady Jays 41-37. Both teams shot extremely well in the fourth quarter, as they combined for 39 points, but Ash grove would fall five points short.
Bristol Lathrop led Ash Grove with 24 points and Millison Sapp added 18 points in the loss.
Ash Grove is now 6-2 on the season and were scheduled to play the winner of the Appleton City/Sparta game in the quarter finals of the Walnut Grove Holiday Classic on Monday night.