The Columbus Wildcats and Lone Tree Lions split a conference basketball doubleheader last night in Johnson County. Lone Tree took the early 13-8 lead in the girls’ game, but Columbus rallied to tie the game at 17 by halftime.

The offense came to life for the Wildcats to match that scoring output in the third quarter alone, and while the Lions hung around all night, Columbus ultimately came away with the 44-37 victory.

Lily Coil had a double-double with 14 points, 12 rebounds and five steals to lead the ‘Cats, while fellow senior Ariana Vergara put up nine points, nine rebounds, five steals and three assists.

Junior Isabel Rendon added nine points, five boards, four assists and four thefts as Columbus moves to 2-0 both overall and inside the North division of the Southeast Iowa Super Conference.

Senior Cate Sexton and junior Ava Christofferson scored 10 points each to lead Lone Tree, but it was not enough to keep the Lions from falling to 0-2 in the Super Conference North and 2-2 overall.

In the boys’ game, Lone Tree got off to a fast start to its season by racing out to a 25-10 lead after a quarter of play. The Lions stretched the margin to 24 points by halftime and never looked back on their way to a 72-46 win.

Senior Ryan Coil had 13 points and three steals for Columbus and sophomore Ellis Hills-Carrier added 12 points and four rebounds, but the Wildcats nonetheless lose their season opener.

Both Columbus teams next play tomorrow night against North Cedar, while the Lone Tree boys take on Keota tomorrow before both teams square off with Winfield-Mount Union on Friday.

The KCII Area Game of the Week will bring you all the action when the Lions host the Eagles tomorrow evening starting with pregame at 7 o’clock, and you can catch Lone Tree’s doubleheader with WMU Friday starting at 5:30, all exclusively streaming on KCIIradio.com.