Spartans Double Down Over Knights

The second crosstown basketball game of the prep season went down Friday night as the Sentinel Spartans played the Hellgate Knights and the Spartans swept the Knights with the girls winning the first game 59-24 and the boys picking up a 47-40 win.

In game one the Lady Spartans dominated the Lady Knights holding Hellgate to a single point in the first quarter off a Kaitlin Olson free throw, mean while Sentinel dropped 17 points of their own. Sentinel’s Jordyn Schweyen lit up the scoreboard going 4-6 from the three point line to keep the Spartans out in front of the Knights in the first half. The Spartans kept up the pressure only allowing a three pointer in the second quarter to go into the half time break up 32-4.

At the start of the third quarter Sentinel did not change the game plan keeping the defensive push while dominating the boards on both ends of the court. Coach Deden kept a fresh rotation of players throughout the second half, at times subbing in five at a time. Hellgate found the bucket in the fourth quarter to score in the double digits for the first time in the game with 13 points, but it was to little to late and the Lady Spartans coasted to a 59-24 win.

Girls Box Score

Game two on Friday was a tighter match between the Sentinel and Hellgate boy’s with the Knights dominating the first two and half quarters. Hellgate played a tight defense in the opening frame forcing the Spartans to turn over the ball holding Sentinel to four points. The Knight’s played unselfish ball on the offensive side of the court, keeping the ball flowing on the perimeter to free up the open shot in the paint. Hellgate team leader Rollie Worster used slight of hand and natural athleticism running the Knight offense to steer them to a 20-11 lead at the break.

One of the most important aspects of sports is the half time adjustment and the both boy’s coaches are masters of the half time adjustment, but which one would come up the best second half scheme. For the Spartans it was to get their leader Sam Beighle involved in the offense since Beighle only scored two points in the opening half. Beighle went to work and the Man From Down Town started dropping three pointers, eventually going 5-6 from long distance in the second half. The part of the equation that Hellgate had not accounted for was Sentinel freshman Hayden Kolb who dropped two key three pointers that kept Sentinel a head. Beighle’s hot hand and unwillingness to give up found the Spartans in the win column at the nights end.

The two super stars from each team lead all scorers with Beighle dropping 21 and Worster hitting 19, Beighle’s coming from beyond the arc and Worsters coming in the third quarter with eight in the paint, and going 6-10 from the charity stripe in the second half. The Knight’s will get a chance at revenge February 10th at Sentinel.

Boys Box Score