Kansas teams win Border Battle

The first annual RBA Border Battle was played Saturday at Hartman Arena in Park
City, Kansas. The game brought togethersome of the top players from Kansas and
Nebraska for a chance ofborder bragging rights. Both games were officiated by college
basketball officials and the college rules would also apply.

The ladies took the floor first with Wichita area players such as Joanna McFarland
(Derby), Lindsey Keller (Goddard), and Bishop Carroll product Julia Marshall. All three
of them headed to NCAA Division I schools this fall.

During the first four minutes of the game, Nebraska controlled the scoreboard taking
a 11-4 lead. However the Kansas girls went on a run tomake it an even 13-13 game
three minutes later.Each time Nebraska came down the floor their shots would not fall and
Kansas' McFarland wenta stretch of grabbing five straightdefensive rebounds.From then
on the Sunflower state girls never looked back, but Nebraska held on for the ride only trailing
35-31 at halftime.

In the second half, the Kansas ladies stretched their lead to double digits in the
first six minutes 47-36. Nebraska cut the lead to 52-48 in the nextfour minutes
showing hopes of regaining the lead, but Kansas stomped out any spark of
catching up.

The first ever girls side of the RBA Border Battle came to an end with Kansas on top 81-73.
The area trio of McFarland, Keller, and Marshall combined for 38 points and27 rebounds.

Once the girls stepped off court, it was time for boys game in which six Wichita area
players took the floor. Bryce Mayes (Oxford), Dorrian Roberts (Wichita Heights), Luke Meisch
(Andover), Grant Langhofer (Goddard), allJoe Mitchell (Wichita Southeast) represented
the area. They were also coached by Wichita Collegiate's Mitch Fiegel who took his Spartans
to a 3A State Championship this winter.

There weren't any outstanding leads in this game with both teams frequentlytrading baskets.
A brief moment of excitement brought the crowd to their feet when Roberts lobbed a pass to
Topeka Hayden's Jeff Reid for a slam.

With 1:25 remainingin the first half, Kansas trailed by one 33-32, but a three point basket
in the corner from Robertsgave the team a 35-33 lead concluding the first half.

A lead coming out of halftime gave Kansas players theconfidence to go ahead and take
some outside shots, but they started out cold in the second half which made them take a
different approach to offense.

"For awhile we were just shooting with no penetration,"Fiegel said. "Once we got some dribble
penetration and got to the line, we started to hit some wide open three point shots."

Kansas' improved offense gave them their first lead since halftime 60-59with5 minutes remaining
in the ball game. From then on, the game was very similar to the first half with its constant back
and forth pace. With about 3 minutes to go in the game the emotion of the crowd kicked when
Washburn Rural's Bobby Chipman sank a three pointer to give Kansas a 67-65 lead.

The next series of excitement came with 24 seconds to go. Nebraska's Jarrell Crayton blocked
Mitchell, thenmoved up the court quickly and ashe was about to score a basket to take the lead
Chipman stepped in the paint and took a charge. The outstanding defensive play allowed Kansas
to win 69-66.

Wichita's Roberts and Mitchell combined for 26 points and 8 rebounds to lead Kansas on paper.
Crayton from Nebraska was awarded the MVP award scoring 20 points and 22 reboundsalmost the
same number as the whole Kansas team who recorded 24.