JUNCTION CITY, Kan. — Winter Homecoming, Senior Night, and the final regular season basketball games ever to be played inside Shenk Gym all made for an exciting night of Centennial League basketball Friday.
In the ladies' contest, Junction City rolled to a 59-31 win over the Highland Park Lady Scots, behind 22 points from Lucy Rivera and 12 from Jayda Harris.
Perhaps the biggest two points of the game were Junction City's first two. JCHS allowed the Lady Scots to make a layup as the game began, and in exchange, Highland Park did the same for JCHS Senior Andrea Davis, who was lost to injury several weeks ago. The bucket allowed Davis the opportunity to score her final basket as a Lady Jay in front of friends and family, in the ultimate display of sportsmanship.
From there, the Lady Jays jumped out to a 25-8 lead after the first quarter and coasted to their 7th victory of the season, cementing their place in the 4-seed slot in the 6A Washburn Rural sub-state.
The Lady Jays will travel to Washburn Rural on Tuesday to wrap up the regular season, but regardless of the outcome, the Lady Jays will host Lawrence Free State on Saturday, February 27th.
In the boys contest, the Highland Park Runnin' Scots lived up to the name, racing up and down the floor all night long, seizing a convincing 84-67 win over Junction City, to avenge an earlier loss to the Jays back in early January.
Highland Park's Jahi Peppers lead all scorers with 25 points, getting assistance from 6'7" senior CJ Powell, who added in 17 points, as well as 14 from Muhkajhae Daniels and 11 from Juan'Tario Roberts.
Junction City saw 24 points from Senior and Winter Homecoming King Chris Dixon. JCHS also received a 17 point night from Howard Johnson and 10 from Terrence Tedder.
The Blue Jays fell to 8-10 on the season and will also wrap up the regular season on Tuesday at Washburn Rural before, in all likelihood, returning home on Saturday, February 27th to host Topeka High in the first round of sub-state in what will become a double-header with the girls.