Teams have started to fully get into the second time around in the Big Seven league schedule as the final month of the basketball regular season is upon us. On Tuesday night the Jeff West Tigers played host to the Nemaha Central Thunder and the lady Tigers got revenge for an early season loss with a 48-28 win, while the Thunder boys made it a season sweep of the Tigers with a 62-48 victory.

It was a tight ballgame early in the girls varsity competition with both teams having their share of turnovers and solid offensive sets in the first quarter and the Tigers were up 14-10 as the quarter was coming to a close and Mikayla Peterson hit a three-pointer to bring Nemaha Central to within one, 14-13 at the end of one. Both teams traded blows in the second quarter and the Tigers pushed their lead to five at halftime leading 27-23. In the second half it was one-sided as Jeff West broke the Nemaha Central pressure and forced the Thunder to get frazzled and turnover the ball over themselves and never got anything going in the second half. The Thunder was held to five second half points by Jeff West as the Tigers outscored Nemaha Central 21-5 in the second half, not allowing a Thunder field goal until under one-minute in the third quarter. Behind the strong second half the Tigers worked to the 48-28 rout of Nemaha Central.

Senior, Olivia Brees led the Tigers on the night with 20 points, while finishing one rebound shy of another double-double grabbing nine rebounds and adding four blocks, earning her Community National Bank "Player to Bank On" honors on KMZA radio. Faith Becker joined Brees in double figures finishing with 11 points as Jeff West with the win improved to 6-8 and 4-6 in Big Seven play. Nemaha Central with the loss fell to 9-5 and 6-4 in League action and was led by Moriah Rottinghaus who scored eight points on the night.

In the boys matchup Nemaha Central came out of the gate with get pace and behind a solid first quarter from Trent Schulte and Luke Holthaus who combined for 12 points in the quarter the Thunder led 17-7 after one period. The Jeff West didn't go away quietly battling back within one-point in the second quarter as 24-23 and had the chance to take the lead three different times but never were able to and the Thunder then ended the half on a 5-0 run to take a 29-23 lead into halftime. The Thunder started to roll again in the third quarter working out to an 11-point lead multiple times and led by nine after three quarters (41-32). Nemaha Central finished off the game with a 21-16 four quarter and secured the 62-48 road win over Jeff West, sweeping the season series.

It was a balanced offensive attack that paced the Thunder on the night as they improved to 12-2 on the season and 9-1 in Big Seven action. Senior, Devin Henry led Nemaha Central on the night with 14 points, while Holthaus added 11 points and Matt Winkler posted his first double figure game of the season with 10 points. Winkler's 10 point night and grittiness earned him Community National Bank "Player to Bank" on KMZA radio. Schulte and Abe Elder added nine and eight points, respectively for the Thunder also on the night. Jeff West led by senior, Jacob Dickey who posted 28 points and scored 13 points in the fourth quarter trying to keep his team in the game; Grady Middendorf chipped in 13 points also for Jeff West.

The Thunder turns their attention to Hiawatha next coming up next Tuesday, February 10th, while Jeff West takes to the road to face Sabetha on Friday.