Last night the Valley Heights Mustangs Boys and Girls went on the road to play their second game of the season, However, for the Axtell Eagles, this was their home opener as well as their season tip-off. Valley Heights Girls came into the night with an eight game winning streak against the Lady Eagles, while the Eagle Boys had won the last three straight matchups against the Mustang Boys. Axtell Boys come off a third place state finish from last season, and the Valley Heights Mustang Girls come off a fourth place finish.

Girls - Valley Heights over Axtell 64-45

Despite the total amount of turnovers on the game from both sides combined, roughly forty-five and thirty alone from Axtell, both teams did keep it pretty competitively close through most of the game. The first quarter was the biggest struggle for the Lady Eagles as the had fifteen turnovers in the quarter alone and allowed too many points off transitional finishes. The first quarter ended 22-14 with the ranked Mustangs never allowing a lead change for the quarter or the rest of the game. 

The half ended 37-21 and the Lady Mustangs outscored the Lady Eagles just 15-7 In the second quarter. The Lady Eagles were getting more rebounds in the first half, and despite the score their hustle was still not unnoticed, unfortunately still for them the Lady Mustangs had truly an unmatched and remarkable full-court press that truly felt unbreakable in the first two quarters. Ava Smith had already ten points in the first half with multiple rebounds and Lindsey Gray had two threes in the first half as well.

Going into the fourth quarter it was 52-32 and the second half was a lot more competitive of a showing before the final 64-45 score. In the second half alone Valley Heights had only outscored Axtell 27-24 in second half points, all be it through the Lady Mustangs mostly maintaining a sixteen point lead throughout both quarters. 

The Lady Mustangs put one an incredible performance overall with Ava Smith leading the way with her nineteen total points and about four rebounds. Mia Vermitten finished with six points, Anne Toeber with six, Tessa Miller with four, Josie Parker with nine points, Lindsey Gray with seven, and another big scorer with ten points out of the sophomore, Paige Miller. Despite the turnovers and final score the Eagles really battled their hardest, more impressively yet with three starting freshman playing in their first ever varsity game. Natalee Strathman for the Eagles finished with a near double-double, officially with ten points, and Katelyn Detweiler had ten points as well (ALL STATS NOT APPROXIMATE).

Boys - Axtell over Valley Heights 54-29

The Eagles in the first quarter showed exactly why they want to be considered state contenders this season, with absolute dominance on full blast from all ends. The first quarter ended 21-4 with a buzzer-beating three from Eli Broxterman to add onto the tally. The half ended 32-14 with a little more life being shown in the second quarter from the Mustangs. It was an extremely tough in the paint battle for Valley Heights due to the sheer size, length, verticality, and numbers the Eagles were able to put out on the court to hustle and create second chance opportunities on the down-low. There was one point in the first half where the Eagles were given four straight offensive rebounds before finally cashing in the bucket. The Mustangs did find one opportunity and opening in just being aggressive with driving and drawing shot fouls, which worked for awhile with the team nailing 6/10 at the free-throw line in just the first half. 

Valley Heights would make some great adjustments at half and outscore the Eagles in the third quarter 13-10, but would then go on to be outscored 12-2 in the final quarter. It was in the fourth quarter that the whole crowd in Axtell got to see an Eagle fly with the six-foot-five sophomore, Logan Sandmann, nailing an incredible dunk to send energy throughout the stands. To end the game with the final score of 54-29 the Axtell Eagles did finish the game with more turnovers then the Mustangs (not by much), however they absolutely crushed the rebounding battle with over thirty on the game. 

Some of the numbers from the game are Eli Broxterman with his eleven points and three threes, Brandon Schmelzle and his nine point performance, Wyatt Detweiler with seven, Landon Schmitz with four, Daltyn Heinen with six, Sandmann with seven, and Joe Lybarger with seven points and seven rebounds. The leading scorer’s this week for the Mustangs was Mack Shanks with eleven and Logan Gray with eight. The Mustangs played a total of six players on the court, primarily mostly the same five. But the Eagles had ten different players take the court, with eight constantly rotating.

Summary

The Lady Mustangs now improve to 2-0 on the season while the Boys drop to 0-2. The Lady Eagles drop the home opener to start 0-1 while the Boys dominate it and start the season 1-0. Mustangs next opponent is Riley County, while it is not yet official who the Eagles will be playing next Tuesday.