It was an Area Game of the Week sweep Friday night in Columbus for their girls and boys basketball teams, as they downed Lone Tree in both ends of a SEISC North doubleheader.

The Lone Tree girls arrived in Columbus Junction Friday evening with a share of first place in the Superconference North on their minds. However, the ‘Cats dashed those dreams with a season sweep of the Lady Lions by a final of 51-44. Columbus saw themseleves in front by two after one frame, turning into a four-point deficit by halftime thanks to a 13-5 run in the middle of the second frame by Lone Tree. The lead was short-lived, as Columbus stringed together a 9-0 run out of the half to force a timeout. The defensive intensity continued to frustrate the Lady Lions in the fourth quarter, and it was enough to push the Wildcats over the top to remain alone atop the Superconference North standings.

Unofficially, Columbus would win the contest despite giving up 40 rebounds, losing that battle by 13. The ‘Cats did take the turnover battle, recording just 16 in the win. Washington County Hospital and Clinics Player of the Game, Lily Coil, led the Wildcats with 15 points, while Lone Tree was led by Cate Sexton’s 18. Coil spoke with KCII Sports live postgame to talk about the win. “Our gameplan was to shut down Finley [Jacque] because that’s the best shooter they had, and I think that brought them down as a team,” Coil said. “We also came back out better and ready to go. We expected to have a really good game, and I think that’s what we had. We pushed through. I’m proud of everybody on our team.”

Columbus Head Coach Kasey Keltner also spoke with KCII Sports to break down the victory. “I was expecting it to come down to the end, and fortunately for us we made a few more plays than they did,” Keltner said.

The boys game was as tight as the girls game, with neither side taking control through the first 16 minutes of play. Columbus began to pick up the pace in the third period, outscoring Lone Tree 17-10 to take a 40-35 lead into the final frame. Buckets were exchanged back and forth between Lone Tree’s Emmett Burke and Columbus’ Drake Marin before Burke would exit with a left leg injury. Without their leader on the court and little time to make anything happen, Columbus was able to get to the foul line and capitalize on the Burke injury, taking the nightcap by a 57-53 final score to avoid being swept on the season by the Lions.

Unofficially, Columbus won the rebounding battle by nine, but lost turnovers by one. The Wildcats were led by Washington County Hospital and Clinics Player of the Game, Juan Chairez, with 12 points. Columbus had at least five players score nine points in the win. Lone Tree was led by Emmett Burke’s 19.

Columbus sophomore Ellis Hills-Carrier spoke with KCII Sports live on the Area Game of the Week postgame show to recap the victory. “We just really stayed strong on defense, so when Emmett [Burke] went down, they didn’t really have that spark they needed,” Hills-Carrier said.

Columbus Head Coach Marcus Hall also spoke with KCII Sports live on the postgame show to talk about the win. “I thought in the second half we locked down on defense like we knew we needed to, and it felt like we cut down on turnovers significantly tonight from our last two contests. That’s a big key,” Hall said.

With their victories, the Columbus girls and boys improve to 11-2 and 5-7 overall respectively ahead of a Tuesday doubleheader with Hillcrest Academy. The Lone Tree girls and boys drop to 9-3 and 3-7 overall respectively before a road matchup in Winfield Tuesday. The Area Game of the Week is back in action at Hillcrest Union Saturday afternoon for a matinee non-conference doubleheader between the Keota Eagles and the home Ravens.