FREE PRE ss Page 8 Colby Free Press Monday, December 19, 2011 SSPORTPORT SS Bulldogs improve at Quinter tourney By Judy Rogers “We decided as a team that we needed to work to- Golden Plains High School gether to score more but still couldn’t get the baskets to fall in the second half against Quinter,” Christens- The Golden Plains High School boys showed im- en continued. provement during the Castle Rock Classic Basket- Weber once again led the scoring with 15 points ball Tournament held in Quinter from Dec. 8 to 10. along with Christensen with 13. Also contributing The boys played a challenging game against Hox- to the 42-point total were Tristan Schwarz with 5, ie for the first round on Thursday. They fell behind Bermudez with 4, Grant Spresser with 3, and Trey 14-21 by the end of the first quarter. Frustration Schwarz with 2. reined in the second quarter as they had a hard time For the final game of the tournament early Satur- controlling the ball and couldn’t get their baskets to day afternoon, the boys faced the team from Wheat- fall, allowing Hoxie to extend the lead to 20-33 by land-Grinnell. This game gave the boys the oppor- halftime. tunity to show the skills they had gained from their Their challenges continued during the third as they previous action. After falling short in the first quarter only put in two points from senior Kalyn Weber as 9-23, the boys put in 16 to the Thunderhawks’ 11 in Hoxie pumped in 25. Hoxie backed off a bit in the the second. fourth and added 7 to their total as the Bulldogs add- Outscoring the ‘Hawks 16-9 in the third, the Bull- ed four to end the game with a final score of 26-65. dogs pulled to within two points by the end of the Weber led the team with 10 points along with third with a score of 41-43. The ‘Hawks were de- Cole Christensen, who had 7, Trey Schwarz finished termined as they stepped up with 12 in the fourth to the game with 2 points, Ethan Walter scored 2, An- give the ‘Dogs their fourth loss of the season with a drew Luna had 2, Tristan Schwarz had 2 and Jose final score of 48-55. Bermudez had 1. Christensen grabbed 11 rebounds Christensen and Weber led the offensive drive and Tristan Schwarz pulled down 7. Weber had 3, with 21 and 15 points, respectively. Several other Camron Spresser had 2, Chance Hoeting had 1 and team members added to the Bulldogs highest scor- Walter had 1. ing game of the season including Camron Spresser “The team members were pretty low after the with 4 points and Walter, Luna, Bermudez, and Trey Hoxie game but we just couldn’t make anything in Schwarz with 2 each. the second half,” Christensen said. “Although we got down early, we played well in In the second round on Friday, the Golden Plains the second half,” Christensen commented. “Although Bulldogs played against the Quinter Bulldogs. Gold- we did not completely recover from the 17-point def- en Plains led 12-9 at the end of the first 8 minutes of icit, we did get it down to within 4. We need to start play. Quinter found the basket in the second quarter making more of our outside shots.” putting in 24 to Golden Plains’ 9. The Bulldogs game against Healy scheduled for Trailing 21-33 to start the third, the Bulldogs only Tuesday was postponed due to the icy weather to JUDY ROGERS/Golden Plains High School dropped 7 in the third and 14 in the fourth while Monday, Feb. 20, but they faced Wheatland-Grinnell Senior Cole Christensen went up for two against Quinter in the second round of the Castle Rock Quinter pulled further ahead for the 42-58 win. again on Saturday in Grainfield. Tournament on Dec. 9. Christensen put in 13 points and grabbed 5 rebounds during this game. K-State wallops Chiefs end Green Bay Packers’ No. 23 Alabama perfect season with 19-14 win trailed by seven, though, when By Dave Skretta By Dave Skretta day,” said Rodgers, who quickly by still pushed the kick right. Thomas Jones managed to gain a AP Sports Writer they finally figured out how to AP Sports Writer brushed aside the ending to the Rodgers finished the half 6 of yard and Le’Ron McClain bulled KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Jor- get open shots along the base- Packers’ remarkable win streak. 17 for 59 yards, with a handful of ahead for three more, setting up dan Henriquez and Angel Ro- line, and that opened up holes. KANSAS CITY, Mo. – Romeo “The next step is the No. 1 seed in drops between wide receiver Don- third down from just outside the driguez checked into the game Kansas State was still cling- Crennel stood dripping wet on the playoffs.” ald Driver and tight end Jermi- goal line. Battle took the carry over when Kansas State was scuf- ing to a 38-37 lead with just the sideline, a water cooler hav- Ryan Succop kicked four field chael Finley. In fact, things were the right side and powered into the fling, the ball clanking off the more than 13 minutes left when ing been dumped over his head. goals for Kansas City (6-8), which going so badly for Green Bay that end zone, giving the Kansas City rim every time it went up and Samuels hit a 3-pointer off a Kyle Orton’s jersey was covered had lost five of its last six games at one point it ran out of the wild- offense its highest-scoring game Alabama slowly pulling away. feed from Rodriguez, one of his in grass stains as he took one last and fired coach Todd Haley last cat despite having one of the best since the Chiefs beat San Diego in The duo provided the spark career-best seven assists. Shane snap from center. Monday. Jackie Battle added a quarterbacks in the game. overtime in late October. the Wildcats needed. Southwell scored moments lat- The Kansas City Chiefs had a short touchdown plunge with 4:53 The Chiefs were still clinging The Packers marched down Henriquez scored a career- er, Samuels added a pair of free new coach on Sunday. They had a left in the game, points that came to a 6-0 lead when Rodgers finally field in the closing minutes, and high 17 points, Rodriguez add- throws and Rodriguez scored new quarterback, too. in handy when Rodgers led one hit down field, finding Finley over Rodgers showed his moxie by ed a career-best 13 and Kansas after a nifty behind-the-back They looked like a whole new last scoring drive. top the coverage for a 41-yard scampering around the end for State rallied from a slow start to move that got him open in the team. “That’s about as much fun as gain. Three plays later, the Pack- a touchdown that made it 19-14. beat the No. 23 Crimson Tide lane to make it 49-39 with less Orton threw for 299 yards to I’ve ever had on a football field,” ers’ star quarterback hit Driver in But the onside kick ended up in 71-58 on Saturday night. than 10 minutes to play. outduel Aaron Rodgers, and the said Orton, who was claimed off the corner of the end zone for a the Chiefs’ hands, and they were It wasn’t just the scoring, The lead swelled to 61-45 Chiefs rallied behind Crennel for waivers from Denver a few weeks 7-6 lead with 8:04 left in the third able to pound out a couple first though, but how they did it. when Henriquez scored back- a shocking 19-14 victory over ago but had only played one snap quarter. downs to secure the upset victory. Rodriguez, the freshman guard, to-back baskets and Thomas Green Bay on Sunday that ended before hurting the index finger on Kansas City answered when Or- Green Bay came into the game kept finding his 7-foot center Gipson added a tough bucket the Packers’ 19-game winning his throwing hand. Orton was fi- ton hit his own tight end, Leonard averaging nearly 36 points, but inside for easy baskets, racking in the paint. The Crimson Tide streak and bid for a perfect sea- nally healthy enough to make the Pope, for a career-long 38-yard was held to its lowest total since up six of his seven assists by never got close the rest of the son. start in place of Tyler Palko, who catch. Jon Baldwin added a 17- beating the Chicago Bears 10-3 halftime. way. It was the Packers’ first loss had started the last four games af- yard grab to set up Succop’s 46- in Week 17 last year. The Packers Jamar Samuels added 14 Alabama, one of the nation’s since Dec. 19, 2010, and kept ter Matt Cassel went down with a yard, go-ahead field goal. needed to win that game to make points for the Wildcats (7-1), best defensive teams, held the them from securing home-field season-ending injury. The Packers moved into field- the playoffs, and wound up riding who used a 19-6 run midway Wildcats to two field goals over advantage throughout the play- Neither team seemed as if it goal range on their ensuing drive, the momentum to a Super Bowl through the second half to avoid the first 10 minutes, slowly offs.