Skyline Sweeps Warsaw Tournament

Skyline Sweeps 

Warsaw Tournament

The Skyline Tigers boy’s and girl’s basketball teams cleaned house last week in this year’s edition of the Warsaw Invitational Basketball Tournament as they both smoothed their way to championships.

The girls got their 33rd annual event underway on Monday night as the (1) Eldorado Springs Lady Bulldogs defeated the (8) Lincoln Lady Cardinals with a 71-29 final in the opening game.  Reese Schaaf led all scorers with 24 points for Eldo and Macie Mays had 22.  Lincoln’s Jenna Vandeveer led the Lady Cardinals with 23 points in a losing effort. 

In the second game of the night, (4) Clinton doubled up the (5) Cole Camp Lady Bluebirds with a 62-31 final.  Riley Heerdink had 13 points for the Lady Cardinals and Maddy Allard followed closely behind with 12.  Destiny Kestner led Cole Camp with 15 points.

The (2) Skyline Lady Tigers throttled (7) Warsaw with a 79-14 final.  Alyee Gunter led Skyline with 17 points.  Taylor Howe and Ellie Murrell both had 5 for the Ladycats.

In the nightcap, the (3) Butler Lady Bears took an early lead and then held on down the stretch to beat the (6) Knob Noster Lady Panthers in the closest game of the night, 51-48.  Blaire Miller checked in with 16 points for Butler and Shelby Shouse finished with 15.  Caylie Holyfield had 22 for the Lady Panthers and Estella Huntsman added 14.  

Tuesday marked the opening night for the 88th annual event on the boy’s side and in the first contest, the defending champion (1) Skyline Tigers made easy work of the (8) Warsaw Wildcats by running away to an 80-39 victory.  Lawson Beem had 18 for the Tigers and Bradyn Porter tallied 17.  Warsaw’s Trey Palmer led all scorers with 21 in the game.

In the final game of the night and probably the most dramatic of the week, (6) Lincoln escaped a late comeback by the (3) Butler Bears to win 53-52.  Connor Lynde led the victors with 17 points while Kyle Eckhoff and Devon Parrott finished with 13 and 12, respectively.  Jagur Eidson led the way for the Bears with 16.

(2) Knob Noster and (5) Eldorado Springs advanced to the next round by way of forfeit when (7) Clinton and (4) Cole Camp were both forced to resign due to Covid concerns.  

On Wednesday night, the ladies were all back for the second round and in the first game, Warsaw advanced to the consolation final with a 38-33 win over the Lady Panthers of Knob Noster.  Murrell led the Ladycats with 12 points and Taylor Howe added 8.  Jane Yates led all scorers with 15 for Knob Noster. 

Skyline cruised to another win in the next game when they handily defeated Butler with a 61-37 final, moving them on to the championship game for the 16th year in a row.  Justine Barb had 20 points for Skyline and Miranda Quennoz added 13.  Miller led the Lady Bears with 16 points.

In the third game of the night, Eldorado Springs rolled their way to a 75-46 victory over Clinton.  Their advancement to the championship game would give them a chance to defend their crown.  Mays led the way for Eldo with 25 points.  Tevi Gurley had 13, Dani Ogle had 11 and Schaaf chipped in with 10.  Paige Gillund led the Lady Cardinals with 9 points and Olivia Kiely and Allard both notched 7. 

The night’s final game saw Cole Camp jump out to an early lead but the Lincoln Lady Cardinals whittled their way back before eventually being put away by a 43-33 final score as the Lady Bluebirds advanced to the consolation.  Desiree Heimsoth led Cole Camp with 14 points and Kestner had 11.  Vandaveer led Lincoln again with 15 points.

In the consolation game on the boy’s side on Thursday night, the Butler Bears trailed early but then rebounded by halftime and went on to defeat Warsaw with a 65-49 final.  Gavin Brockman and Carter Trumbore each had 13 points for the Bears.  Austin Brazel led the Wildcats with 16 points while Trey Palmer and George Montez added 14 and 12.  

The first semifinal was another upset for the Lincoln Cardinals as they took down Knob Noster with a 62-56 final to advance to the championship.  Parrott led the Cardinals with 25 points while Mack Hesse contributed 14.  Anthony Lopez led Knob Noster with 16 points and Lane Elwell and Wyatt Schreiner both had 11.  

Skyline advanced to their second straight championship appearance with a 63-30 win over Eldorado Springs.  Porter had 20 points for the Tigers and Beem came in close behind with 19 points.  Preston Robison led the Bulldogs with 8 points. 

The girl’s last night saw the Ladycats of Warsaw defeat Cole Camp in an all-Benton County consolation final with a score of 58-35.  Howe led Warsaw with 22 points and Murrell added 14 for the Ladycats.  Heimsoth had 9 for Cole Camp and Ashley Campbell had 8. 

In the third place game, Clinton used a strong fourth quarter to take the lead and then eventually go on to take the trophy with a 52-48 win over Butler.  Allard led Clinton with 14 points and Gillund added 11.  Miller led the way for Butler with 18 points. 

In the girl’s championship, the Skyline Lady Tigers avenged a loss to Eldorado in the same event a year ago by downing the Lady Bulldogs with a 63-49 final.  Barb had 23 points for the Lady Tigers and Emily Edwards added 10.  Mays paved the way for Eldo with 21 points while Gurley and Schaaf added 14 and 12, respectively. 

Saturday evening marked the final day of the tournament when the boy’s met to fight over trophies.  In the third place game, Eldorado Springs came out of the locker room with a hot-hand and used a strong third quarter to pull away en route to a 76-51 final.  Ian Esry knocked down 27 for Eldo while Gaven Brockman and Robison both had 10.  Lopez had 21 for the Panthers in the loss and Shreiner added 17.

Skyline ran away with the championship on the boy’s side as they jumped out to a 15-8 first quarter lead over Lincoln and then led 35-13 at halftime.  A 31-12 advantage for the Tigers in the second half led to the 66-25 championship win.  Beem led all scorers in the contest with 25 points and Jaytin DeFreece added 12.  Parrott had 8 points for Lincoln.  

Reese Schaaf of Eldorado Springs was voted as the tournament’s MVP on the girl’s side and Skyline's Bradyn Porter was the MVP for the boys.  Both awards are voted on by tournament coaches.  

So after 18 games in the books, that’s a wrap on another Warsaw basketball tournament.  Through research, it is believed that the annual event is the second oldest high school basketball tournament in the state and will, undoubtedly, be back for it’s 89th and 34th years in 2021.