As the Twin Valley League tournament draws near teams were looking to gain momentum going into the tournament and perhaps improve their seeding. On Friday night the Frankfort Wildcats hosted the Axtell Eagles and all four teams were coming off wins earlier in the week, but at the end of the night it was the Axtell girls and boys extending their win streaks, as the girls won 65-47 and the boys 65-33.

For two and half quarters it was a single digit lead in the girls game with both teams trading leads in the first quarter and Axtell clinging to a 14-12 lead after the first period. Frankfort battled to take the lead in the second quarter until the Eagles ended the first half with a 7-0 run to lead 32-25 at the half. Frankfort despite struggling from three-point range in the first half came out firing in the third quarter and Kyla Hardwick hit a trey, while Rebecca Adams hit two and the Wildcats were close again but even despite foul trouble the Eagles answered back and finished the third outscoring the Wildcats 23-15 to lead 55-40 and go on to earn the 65-47 win. 

Axtell battled foul trouble throughout the contest as leading scorer Courtney Heinen finished with a team high 19 points but fouled out midway through the fourth. Kiersten Talbot and Bradie Schmitz each added double figures with 14 and 11 points, respectively for Axtell. The play of Emily Ronnebaum was a spark in the first half for the Eagles as she came in early for Megan Buessing who picked up two early fouls in the first and Ronnebaum notched seven first half points for the Eagles finishing with nine for the game and earned Community National Bank "Player to Bank On" honors on KMZA. The win pushes the Eagles to 8-2 on the season and 5-1 in League play, while pushing their win streak to six straight. 

Frankfort in the loss was once again led by Emilee Ebert who tallied 20 points, while Adams posted 11 points and Jessa Yaussi finished with nine. The loss puts the Wildcats at 3-5 on the season and 2-2 in TVL play. 

In the boy’s matchup both teams started slow but Axtell took advantage of free throws and found a groove on offense to ultimately pull away from Frankfort for the win. Axtell held a 12-5 lead after the first quarter and never trailed in the game as the lead moved up to 30-17 at halftime and behind a 20-6 third quarter was 50-23 going into the final eight minutes of the game. The Eagles took advantage of free throws on the nigt going 16-22 (11-11 in the first half) helping them to the 65-33 win, while Frankfort struggled from the free throw line finishing just 9-26 from the charity stripe. 

A season high by Brice Koch paced Axtell on the night as he finished with 18 points and was 8-11 from the free throw line, making his first seven free throws on the night. Koch's aggressive performance got him the nod for Community National Bank "Player of the Game" on KMZA. Both Kaleb Buessing and Mitchell Kuckelman added double figures finishing with 15 and 12 points, respectively. The win makes it three in a row for the Eagles, while they move to 5-5 on the season and 4-2 in TVL play. 

Frankfort with the loss falls to 2-6 on the season and 2-2 in League action and were led by an 11 point performance by Adam Kenworthy in the contest, while Brenden Levi chipped in eight points. 

Both teams have one more TVL contest on Tuesday, January 12th before turning their attention to the TVL tournament. For Frankfort they will host Centralia on Tuesday, while Axtell is set to host Blue Valley Tuesday night.