It was a Jackson County Big 7 League battle on Tuesday in Holton and both the girls and boys varsity games went into overtime tied at 32. The Wildcats would come away with a sweep as both Holton teams improved to 4-9 on the season.

GIRLS = Holton 41, Royal Valley 36 in OT

It was a tight contest throughout with neither team ever leading by more than six points. Elizabeth Schuster tied the game making one of two free throws with 1:25 in regulation and  the Panthers missed a couple free throws and also missed an open three-pointer at the buzzer. RV had rallied from a late 30-24 deficit to take a 32-31 advantage on a trey by Panno Wahwassuck. 

However, Holton got a pair of big buckets from Brooke Willcott to jump to the early led in overtime and never look back. Brooke finished with five in the extra session and four in the fourth quarter to lead the Cats with 11 points. Schuster had 10 points and more than that many rebounds while Lora Larison was a huge spark off the bench with 7 of her 9 points in the first half. Natalie Willcott added six points and Holton hit 11 of 24 free throws while Royal Valley was just 3 of 6 at the line. 

Holton did not make any triples and played without point guard Kaiya Taylor to avenge a one-point road loss earlier in the season. They are now 2-5 in the Big 7 League. Royal Valley has lost 8 in a row since beat Holton in December and the Panthers are 2-10 overall. Athena Broaddus had 11 points in a balanced Panther attack that also had Averie Stithem score 9 and Wahwassuck and Samantha Klotz each chip in 8 points. 

BOYS = Holton 42, Royal Valley 33 in OT

Like the girls game, neither team led by more than six points in regulation and the game was tied at 32 after four quarters. Both defenses played great as the offenses struggled to find consistency. Royal Valley led 30-25 with six minutes to play, only to see Holton got on a 7-0 run including a three-point play by Brayden Peek to give Holton the 32-30 advantage. The Panthers didn't get a good look with the ball to end regulation.

Holton dominated the overtime 10-1 with Peek going 6 for 6 from the foul line to finish with 19 points. Bodie Dillon added 18 as the junior duo scored all but five of Holton's points in the affair. Free throws also played a big part in this game with Holton going 12 of 18 at the charity stripe and Royal Valley converting on just 3 of 6.  Holton improved to 3-4 in Big 7 play and will host Perry Lecompton in their first meeting of the year and makeup game on Thursday before Nemaha Central comes to Holton on Friday. 

Royal Valley got 12 points from freshman Landon Gilbert, but no other player had more than six points for the Panthers with Matt Buskirk hitting the only two triples for RV. Royal Valley falls to 3-9 overall and 2-6 in League play and will also have two more games this week hosting Nemaha Central on Thursday and playing at Sabetha on Friday.