Prairie Valley vs Gold-Burg boys
The Prairie Valley Bulldogs beat Gold-Burg on Friday.
The Bulldogs won 68-50 against the Bears in one of Prairie Valley’s best offensive games.
Gold-Burg came out in man-to-man defense to try and limit the Bulldogs from shooting clean 3-pointers, but this opened the Bears up to drives to the basket.
Prairie Valley tried to full-court press and trap, but Gold-Burg did a good job of consistently breaking through and getting shots it wanted to take.
The Bulldogs led 17-12 after the first quarter, but the second quarter saw Prairie Valley extend its lead doing more of the same. Down 36-22 at halftime, the Bears played a much more even third quarter, but could not make up much ground even after switching their defense to zone.
Prairie Valley took advantage in the fourth quarter making four 3-pointers as it coasted to the win.
Isaac Yeargin led all scorers with 27 points. Konner Ritchie led the team with 14 rebounds to go with 14 points. Eli Croxton also finished in double figures with 12 points while Tyler Winkler had a team high 10 assists.
Coach Seth Stephens liked what he saw overall from his team, though he knows his team can play better defensively.
For Gold-Burg, Kani Grace led the team with 16 points while Kolton Whitaker was second with 12 points.
Prairie Valley’s last game is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Feb. 12 at home against Bellevue. For the Bears, their final game is scheduled for 6 p.m. on Feb. 12 at Midway.

Prairie Valley vs Gold-Burg girls
The Prairie Valley Lady Bulldogs won their final game of the season at Gold-Burg on Tuesday.
The Lady Bulldogs held off a late rally from the Lady Bears to win 42-40.
Early on it looked like Prairie Valley was the better team. The Lady Bulldogs were passing around Gold-Burg’s zone defense and getting open shots and crashing the offensive glass for multiple looks each possession.
On the flip size, the Lady Bears were struggling to score against the Lady Bulldogs zone defense, only scoring two baskets in the first quarter. Prairie Valley led 11-4.
Gold-Burg switched its defense from a two-three zone to a three-two zone in the second quarter and changed things around. This forced some turnovers and allowed the Lady Bears some opportunity to score in transition. Scoring 19 points, Gold-Burg got the lead 23-22 at halftime.
The third quarter saw Prairie Valley take better care of the ball and attack the paint more while limiting the Lady Bears chances at easy baskets. The Lady Bulldogs led 34-29 heading into the fourth quarter.
Down the stretch things got hectic. After Gold-Burg cut the score 36-33, Prairie Valley went on a 6-2 run to go up 42-35. With only 1:32 left to play, the Lady Bears would need to make some things happen.
In a 25 second time period, Gold-Burg made a 3-pointer and then scored a quick basket following a turnover to cut the score to 42-40 with 1:07 left to play.
After Prairie Valley missed some free throws, the Lady Bears had a couple of looks at tying the score on one possession thanks to several offensive rebounds.
No shots went in and the Lady Bulldogs held on to win.
Emily Carpenter led Prairie Valley with 11 points and 10 rebounds. Randi Gilleland and Hailey Winkler scored 10 points apiece as well.
With it being Winkler and Molly Gilleland’s final game, Coach Jeanie Carpenter expressed how much the team will miss both next year, but feels confident the rest of the team will step up next year.
Sadie Whitaker and Taylor Lyons led Gold-Burg with 11 points. Coach Cheryl Cromleigh thought some of the calls during the game dictated more of the game than it should have. She was still proud her team never gave up and almost came back to win.
The Lady Bears final game came earlier in the week on Tuesday against district champs Slidell.

Saint Jo vs Forestburg boys
The Saint Jo Panthers won their senior night on Friday against rival Forestburg.
The Panthers wrapped up at least a second place finish in the district, winning 77-21 against the young Longhorn team.
While not much went right for Forestburg, the senior night could not have gone much better for a Saint Jo team playing its best basketball now.
“All four of our seniors (Cade Stevens, Tyler Cook, Chance Bennett and Noble Koelzer) scored and I felt like we did right by them with how we played from start to finish with no letdowns,” Panther Coach Lyndon Cook said. “Even though none of these seniors were part of our program last year, the impact they have made this year by instilling that toughness and gritty culture into the younger guys has been immense.”
Kile Thurman led Saint Jo with 16 points while Brice Durham was right behind him with 15 points and five 3-pointers. Stevens led the team with nine assists to go with 12 points.
The Panthers hope to give top-ranked team Slidell their best shot to finish the regular season.
A win would tie the team’s district records at the top and possibly give Saint Jo a chance at not just a share of the district title, but a better playoff seed.
The game is scheduled for 7:30 p.m. on Feb. 12 at Slidell. Forestburg’s final game was played on Tuesday against Bellevue.