County Line, Jasper earn championships

1A REGION 1 BOYS COUNTY LINE 71, OZARK CATHOLIC 34

LINCOLN — The County Line Indians will be unblemished going into the Class 1A state tournament at Ozark next week.

County Line blitzed Ozark Catholic with a first-quarter run and carried it over into the second quarter for a 71-34 win for the boys championship of the Class 1A Region 1 Tournament on Saturday.

County Line ( 41- 0) has won seven regional titles in the past 13 years, including two straight. It also marks the second-straight season to win at least 40 games after finishing 40-5 with a loss in the state championship game to Bradley.

On Saturday, County Line led 11-10 before scoring eight points in the final 74 seconds of the first quarter for a 19-10 lead.

“We knew that Ozark Catholic could play with us,” County Line Coach Joe Brunson said. “It felt good jumping out to an early lead. That allowed us to relax the rest of the way.”

Junior guard Trent Johnston scored the final two baskets of the run, converting a steal by Aundrae Milum into a layup and finishing with a another layup.

Milum capped a 7-0 second-quarter run with a conventional three-point play, converting a fast-break layup and a free throw after being fouled.

County Line increased its lead to 41-18 at the half and then put the game away with a 26- 8 margin in the third quarter.

“They started rolling a little bit,” Brunson said. “They played well. We try to get as many of those points we can from offensive rebounds and live- ball turnovers. That’s one thing this group really does is share the ball really well.”

The Indians had runs of 10- 0 and 14- 0 in the third quarter.

County Line scored five baskets in the 10-0 run with three off offensive rebounds, one each by Cooper Watson, Johnston and Milum.

Milum took over the 14-0 run, scoring 12 of the points.

He scored inside, and after Kelby Rudd drilled a trey, Milum converted a fast-break off a feed from Watson, and added a layup off a feed from Vest.

Johnston then made a steal, passed to Watson, who fed Milum with a behind-theback pass for the layup.

Milum then converted a steal into a layup and added a free throw after being fouled for a 67-24 lead with 11 seconds left in the quarter.

Milum finished with 17 points, Johnston 16 and Rudd 11.

Ozark Catholic ( 34- 8) was led by Will Buron with 11 points.

NEW SCHOOL 64, OMAHA 50

Quintus McNeal scored 29 points to lead The New School to the third-place victory.

McNeal scored 14 in the fourth quarter when the Cougars scored 20 points to put the win away.

McNeal was 13-of-16 from the freethrow line.

Evan Goldman added 13, and Will Sturner 10 for The New School (34-5).

Dylan Greenwood scored 19, and Kaden Lee 14 for Omaha (24-12).

The New School led 15-3 after a quarter, 30-17 at the half, and 44-35 after three quarters.

GIRLS JASPER 57, ALPENA 56

History did not repeat itself in the Class A Region 1 championship game.

The Jasper Lady Pirates scored 30 points over the last 8:11 to wipe out a third- quarter deficit and avenge a district tournament loss to Alpena on Saturday with a 57-56 win.

Jasper (24-12) won the regular-season 1A-1-East but lost to Alpena (19-16) in the district final after winning both conference games.

“They got us in the district tournament in the finals,” Jasper Coach Ben Grice said. “It felt good to get it back.”

Alpena led 35-26 midway of the third quarter after an 11-0 run sparked by a pair of three-pointers by Katherine Rodas and another by Laini Block.

Aubrey Henderson scored underneath for Jasper with 2:11 left in the third quarter that started the game-ending run.

Lyla Raulston also provided a lift for Jasper with a long three-pointer at the third-quarter buzzer that narrowed Alpena’s lead to 38-34.

“That was huge,” Grice said. “They had gone on a big run, and they had just hit one so that was a huge answer going into the last quarter.”

Cassidy Owens scored for Alpena to open the fourth quarter, but Jasper scored four-straight buckets with Tiana Siebert scoring underneath, Raulston hitting a 3-pointer and scoring inside, and Leney Daniels converting a steal into a layup for a 43-40 lead with 5:24 left

Jasper maintained the lead the remainder of the game.

“No. 1, we finally hit some outside shots,” Grice said. “Then, my bigs started actually started attacking hard. We got the ball inside and got some better post passing the second half. That helped us.”

Henderson scored 20 points, including eight in the fourth quarter, and Raulston 19 with nine in the final quarter, for Jasper.

Rodas finished with 21 points and nine rebounds, and Cassidy Ohler scoring 18 points and Emma Johnson 12.

KINGSTON 61, OMAHA 44

Kingston hit five of its nine three-pointers in the first quarter and jumped out to a 24-8 lead in the win.

Jaidyn Head hit a pair of treys in the first quarter, and Karli Myers, Lila Hartness and Paige Randall added one each.

Omaha outscored Kingston, 19-10, in the second quarter to cut Kingston’s lead to 34-27 at the half but Kingston took a 51-40 lead into the fourth quarter.

Hartness led Kingston (25-11) with 19 points, Riley Pitman added 18 and Randall nine.

Omaha (15-17) was led by Elaine Rasmussen’s 11 points.