BY KEVIN PRICE
kprice@gbtribune.com

HOISINGTON — It wasn’t the first time the Ellinwood High School boys’ basketball team had seen Quivira Heights this season.
The two teams did battle on Jan. 4, resulting in an Eagles 43-40 win.
In the Hoisington Winter Jam on Thursday night, Ellinwood finished on top again, this time 50-43.
It didn’t always look pretty for the Eagles, who took a 26-8 lead into the locker room at halftime.
“Great battle,” Ellinwood head coach Shane Duncan said. “I thought we came out and played a near flawless first half. I thought defensively, we executed the game plan great, and I thought we were going very unselfishly offensively.
“I’d say that in the third quarter, it was completely opposite.”
The Thunderbirds roared back into the game, cutting Ellinwood’s lead from 18 points to only five after the third quarter.
Quivira Heights head coach Clay Mettlen said he noticed one big difference in his team.
“Energy,” Mettlen said. “We were mad. We come out, we were a little bit embarrassed of how they played in the first half.  They had a chip on their shoulder and we got off to a good start, and played some defense to start.”
With little less than four minutes remaining in the game, Quivira Heights took its first lead of the game when Taylor Siemsen, who finished with a game-high 20 points, including 7 of 8 free throws for 87.5 percent, drilled two shots from free-throw line.
The Thunderbirds’ 37-36 lead was short-lived. Ellinwood’s Kyle Corbett, who led the Eagles with 18 points, made a free throw to knot the game at 37.
The two teams traded points with a Siemsen jumper for two points and Kyle Blakeslee’s layup.
Then the Eagles, taking advantage of a missed jumper from Jordan Trevino, took a four-point lead when Chantz Clawson, who was back in playing limited minutes after sitting out the last few games with a foot injury that he sustained during the football season, made two free throws.
“I really thought that Chantz Clawson was a catalyst for our win tonight,” Duncan said. “He played some limited minutes, but his defensive intensity was just awesome all night long. He did a great job with that, and stepping up and hitting those free throws at such a crucial time when we were down.”
Gunner Phelan, who rang up 19 points for the Thunderbirds, missed an open jumper, but made up for it by stealing the ball at half court and laying up for two points.
“They are great shooters,” Duncan said of Siemsen and Phelan. “Those two are great, two of the best shooters in the area, and I give a ton of credit to Quivira Heights for not ducking their head when they were down that much at half. Then it was just a dog fight, and I thought our kids showed a lot of heart and a lot of fight there in the final two minutes.”
Corbett responded by hitting an open 3-pointer and hitting two free throws on the following possession.
Siemsen hit two free throws for the Thunderbirds to close the gap to 46-43, but it was the closest Quivira Heights would come.
The Thunderbirds sent Blakeslee, who finished with a double-double with 15 points and 11 rebounds, two the line twice in the final 30 seconds, and he drained all four to make the Eagles 9-for-10 in the final four minutes of the game from the line.
After the game, Mettlen said that his team can learn from the loss.
“We showed a lot of toughness,” Mettlen said. “We had to play very poorly to get to the point where we could show that much toughness, but you know, we learned a lot in the game that’s going to be useful. We’re not going to have a spectacular record to go into regionals with so we can build off of this just as much as we could a win.”
GIRLS
Victoria 42, Ellinwood 39, OT
HOISINGTON — Ellinwood and Victoria traded leads throughout the game, but both teams finished the regulation 32 minutes at 35 points.
Led by Andrea Dome and Kristin Huser, who combined for all seven points the Lady Knights compiled in overtime, Victoria beat Ellinwood in the first game of the consolation bracket at the Hoisington Winter Jam on Thursday night.
The Lady Eagles were led by Darrien Beckwith, who rang up 11 points.
Bailey Schartz joined her in double digits with 10 points, and Lauren Thill added nine.
Russell 50, Otis-Bison 37
HOISINGTON — Otis-Bison, having been held scoreless through one quarter, rang up 16 points in the second quarter to cut Russell’s lead to 19-16.
However, Russell responded with a 31-point second half to retain the lead, and win at the Hoisington Winter Jam on Thursday night.
The Lady Cougars were led by Janel Tammen, who finished the game with 18 points, including 10 in the second quarter.
Anndrea Kraisinger added seven points, and Dakota Nelson and Hannah Bannister each put in three.