Sabetha welcomed the Perry-Lecompton Kaws to town Tuesday, Feb. 14, for the second meeting between these two teams. It was a defensive battle with the game tied at the half, but Sabetha would come away with the win, 30-29.

“This was a really difficult game for us, especially shooting the ball, but as I’ve said many times, if you are focused, you never have an ‘off night’ on the defensive end. That’s what won us the game,” said Head Coach Nate Bauman.

Senior Mary Lukert led her team throughout the night, scoring all of her team’s points in the first quarter. Lukert dropped a triple, two doubles and was three of four from the free throw line to tally 10 points. Sabetha led the Kaws 10-7 at the end of the first.

Lukert put up 6 additional points in the second period, but the Kaws flipped the script and outscored the Jays, 10-7. Both teams retreated to the locker room with the score knotted at 17 at the intermission.

“Perry’s length and athleticism affected our shots somewhat, and we had a difficult time adjusting to that as well as we did the first time we played them,” Coach Bauman said. “I think it is possible to play well on offense, but still have a hard time scoring and I felt that is what happened tonight.”

The third quarter was another low scoring affair with Sabetha building a thin four-point lead. Lukert had a bucket and a pair of free throws and senior Halle Scoby added 2 points for her team. Sabetha’s defense smothered Perry-Lecompton’s offense, allowing them just 2 points in the third period, and the Lady Jays led 23-19 heading into the home stretch.

Senior Trinity Detweiler buried a three-pointer in the opening seconds of the final quarter to help stretch Sabetha’s lead. Perry answered with a pair of scores, but Lukert knocked two shots and the Jays led, 30-24. The Kaws dropped a trey of their own, had a two-point basket and a free throw completed, and had a late bucket to pull within 1 point in the waning minutes of the contest. But Sabetha’s defense kept them from scoring down the stretch and the Lady Jays came away with the win, 30-29.

“Any time you hold a team below 30 points, you have a great chance to win and that is exactly what we had to do. We did not turn the ball over much – we got 20 more shots off than our opponent and the shots we got were good shots for us, they just didn’t fall,” Coach Bauman said. “Mary [Lukert] once again led us in scoring, but we also got big baskets from Trinity Detweiler and Halle Scoby in the second half to help us to the victory. We definitely had some chances to put the game away and didn’t execute like we wanted in the fourth quarter, so we have that to continue to improve on.”

Lukert finished with 24 points, Detweiler and Scoby each had 3 points, and with the win, Sabetha improved to 11-7 overall.