Central Heights claims both crowns at Pleasanton Tourney

PLEASANTON -- Central Heights' teams claimed the championships of both the boys' and girls' brackets of the Pleasanton Mid-Season Tournament here Saturday.

Viking boys (9-1) defeated Pioneer League rival Jayhawk-Linn, 67-38, in the boys' championship game. This was the first of three meetings the teams will have in seven days. They also met in a make-up game at Richmond Monday night and will face each other at Mound City Friday night.

Heights' girls (8-2) defeated another PL rival, Prairie View, for the girls' title, 42-26.

Both Central Heights teams are currently co-leaders on their sides of the Pioneer League standings. Coincidentally, the other co-leader on each side is Osawatomie.

On the girls' side of the bracket, Jayhawk-Linn took third place with a 46-33 victory over Uniontown, Pleasanton (3-7) claimed fifth with a 62-35 rout of Crest, and current Three Rivers League leader Altoona-Midway defeated Humboldt, 30-24, in the seventh-place game.

On the boys' side, TRL leader and three-time defending champion Crest (7-3) won the third-place game over Prairie View, 51-33, Humboldt took fifth with a 47-33 victory over Uniontown, and Altoona-Midway (1-9) claimed its first victory of the season with a 53-39 win over Pleasanton (0-10) in the seventh-place game.

Baylea White scored 12 points for Jayhawk-Linn's girls (6-5) in their victory over Uniontown in the third-place game. Chelsea Beckman and Emma Hargrove each added 8 points.

Heather Jurgensen led Uniontown (5-6) with 13 points and Breanna Esslinger added 10. Hayden Rathbun had 7 rebounds and 3 assists for Eagle girls, who will face Jayhawk-Linn again tonight at Uniontown.

Jayhawk-Linn led 11-9 at the end of a very low-scoring first half. But the 'Hawks outscored the Eagles 20-11 in the third and never looked back.

Noah Thornbrugh led Humboldt's boys with 24 points in their victory over Uniontown (4-7). Zach Travis scored 15 points for the Eagles and Brenton Esslinger chipped in with 10.

Humboldt led 10-7 after one period and 19-16 at the half, pulling away a little at a time over the course of the game.

Johnnea Saulsberry and Teal Baker each had 19 points and 5 assists in Pleasanton's victory over Crest (2-10). Karesa Lewis added 12 points and 8 rebounds to the Blu-Jay effort.

Pleasanton's teams will play at Altoona-Midway in a Three Rivers League doubleheader tonight.

Girls

UNIONTOWN: Jurgensen 6-13 1-3 13, Esslinger 3-7 2-3 10, Rathbun 2-9 0-0 4, Harper 1-2 0-0 2, Ulrey 1-3 0-0 2, Ridge 0-1 1-4 1, Shook 0-1 1-2 1, Rockhold 0-1 0-0 0, Shinn 0-1 0-1 0, Coyan 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 13-39 5-13 33.

JAYHAWK-LINN: White 6-15 0-2 12, Beckman 2-9 4-6 8, Hargrove 2-7 4-6 8, Bruner 2-2 2-2 7, Walters 2-6 3-3 7, Murrow 1-3 0-0 2, Krull 1-1 0-0 2, Wilson 0-1 0-2 0, Clark 0-0 0-0 0. TOTALS: 18-45 13-23 48.

Jayhawk-Linn..... 8 3 20 15 -- 46

Three-point field goals: Uniontown 2-7 (Esslinger 2-6, Harper 0-1), Jayhawk-Linn 1-2 (Bruner 1-1, Beckman 0-1).

Total fouls: Uniontown 18, Jayhawk-Linn 9. Fouled out: Jurgensen, Shook. Technical fouls: none.

Rebounds: Uniontown 24 (Rathbun 7), Jayhawk-Linn 31. Assists: Uniontown 8 (Rathbun 3), Jayhawk-Linn 13. Turnovers: Uniontown 26, Jayhawk-Linn 19. Steals: Uniontown 9 (Jurgensen 4), Jayhawk-Linn 7.

Boys

UNIONTOWN: Ramsey 2, Travis 15, Wiley 1, Miller 3, Robinson 2, Esslinger 10. TOTAL: 33.

HUMBOLDT: McNutt 11, McCall 7, Crawford 2, Johnson 3, Thornbrugh 24. TOTAL: 47.

Humboldt........... 10 9 12 16 -- 47