It was the second game of the season and the Big 7 League opener in Meriden on Tuesday night with a pair of tightly contested games. 

GIRLS = Jeff West 43, Royal Valley 40

In their first home game of the season, the Jeff West girls led 8-2 after one quarter and held Royal Valley without a field goal. The Tigers extended the lead to 16-4 before the Panthers closed the gap to 21-16 at halftime. JW still had a 10-point lead entering the fourth quarter and was able to hang on despite a ten-point surge including a couple of treys in the fourth quarter by Mahpiya Irving. It was 43-37 before Irving hit a deep three as time expired to finish with 24 points in the Panthers loss.

Kennedy Bryan and Karlie Albright each added five points but after making 11 triples in their opening win against Jackson Heights, Royal Valley (1-1) really struggled shooting the ball and Wakiyan Wi Irving played very limited minutes battling foul trouble before fouling out.  

Jeff West got 13 points from Kristin Biltoff and 12 from Mellany Roenne who combined to make 9-13 free throws in the second half. The Tigers did not make a three-pointer while improving to 2-0 on the season. 

BOYS = Royal Valley 50, Jeff West 48 in overtime 

Jeff West started the game on a 7-0 run and led 15-5 after one quarter with Josh Broxterman scoring 12 early points. The Tigers maintained a 27-22 halftime lead before Royal Valley took over in the third period and posted a 16-4 run that included a steal and dunk by Brady Klotz to give the Panthers their first lead at 32-30. RV led 38-31 entering the fourth frame before Garett Athon helped fuel a comeback with a three-point play to tie the score at 40, and another one to give JW a 43-40 advantage with just under a minute remaining. Yet Nahcs Wahwassuck created and hit a guarded trifecta with 10 seconds to go and sent the game to overtime. 

Klotz hit a trey to start the scoring in overtime and Royal Valley would hang on for the win as Jeff West missed a potential winning triple before the final horn sounded. Wahwassuck scored 17 of his 22 points after halftime and Klotz finished with nine while KJ Miller added eight and the Panthers evened their record at 1-1 on the season to begin their Big 7 title defense. 

Jeff West had 19 turnovers, including seven in the third quarter when the lead vanished. After winning in two OTs against Silver Lake, the Tigers are now 1-1 on the season. Broxterman had 15 points but played very limited minutes in the third quarter and fouled out with 4:24 remaining in the fourth. Athon scored 15 points as well and Carson Brading had 8 while Preston Gibson added 7 as a spark off the bench. 

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

Mellany Roenne of Jeff West and Nahcs Wahwassuck from Royal Valley.