It was a Northeast Kansas League rivalry and the first games of 2020 for the Horton Chargers who went on the road and swept ACCHS.  Neither game had more than a 10 point margin at anytime. 

GIRLS = Horton 45, ACCHS 38

ACCHS was coming off a win January 3rd against Valley Falls and it showed as the Tigers had less rust to shake from the holiday break and jumped to a 10-2 early lead.  Horton however used constant full court pressure defense to get back in the contest and tied the score at 26 at halftime. Kailea Smith scored six straight points to start the second half and the Chargers would never give up the lead in taking a 45-38 victory to improve to 4-2 on the season.  Maryanna Randall scored 13 of her 15 points in in the first half while Maliyah Soto added 12 points and Horton matched their win total from last year. 

ACCHS has been led by three freshman all season and the trio combined for all but two of their points on Tuesday night. Aleah Wallisch scored 13 points while Natalie Nitz added 12 and Addison Schletzbaum chipped in 11 as the Lady Tigers fell to 3-5 on the season and made just one field goal in the fourth quarter.  

BOYS = Horton 50, ACCHS 47

Similiar to the girls game, ACCHS is the second contest of the January jumped to a 12-5 lead and despite a couple lead changes late in the second quarter, maintained a 22-21 halftime advantage.  Horton however used a 15-4 run in the third period to go ahead 36-26 and would eventually go 8-9 from the foul line in the fourth quarter to hold on for the 50-47 road win. 

The Tigers answered the brief double digit deficit with an 8-0 run, sparked by the play of senior, Tucker Smith, who single handely gave ACCHS a chance to win by scoring 13 of his 28 points in the fourth quarter.  Smith hit a bucket to put the Tigers ahead 45-44 with just under a minute to play and another basket to retake a 47-46 lead with 29 seconds remaining. Yet, Horton answered with a pair of baskets by Trey Lockwood, including the game-winner with 16 second left as his followed his own coast-to-coast miss with a put back and Quinn Gamino hit two free throws with five seconds left to seal the win. 

The Chargers were 13 of 16 at the charity stripe on the night, including Noah Isaacs who hit all eight of his attempts and six of them in the final stanza before fouling out. Isaacs scored 16 points while Drake Waser added 10 and Dutch Keo knocked down four three-pointers to score 12 in Horton's (1-5) first win of the season.  

ACCHS did not make any triples and missed eight foul shots while Smith had 28 of their 47 points and Marcus Hetherington added 10 while the rest of the team combined for just eight total points. The Tigers fell to 1-7 on the season with their seventh straight loss.  

Citizens State Bank and Trust Company of Hiawatha "Players to Bank On:"

Maryanna Randall and Noah Isaacs of Horton