Davenport ends hoop seasons for Broncos

Postseason basketball play for Lind-Ritzville/Sprague ended far sooner than anyone would prefer. Both the boys and girls teams have impressive histories and have earned numerous trips to the state tournament.

Any hopes of a return to state were dashed last Wednesday during a pair of District 7 2B Northeast loser-out match ups. Both the boys and girls found themselves paired with Davenport. On the boys side, the Broncos wanted to avenge a narrow overtime loss during regular season play. On the girls side, the Lady Broncos had proven capable of upsetting the Lady Gorillas.

When the clock ran out on both games, the local teams found themselves on the wrong side of the final score and at the end of their season. The Lady Broncos were defeated 45-33. The boys put up a gallant battle, but fell just short 51-53.

During the boys outing, the Broncos took a 25-21 lead into the intermission. In the third quarter, they would falter just enough to allow the Gorillas to steal the lead. Davenport outscored LRS 13-6 in the third quarter to take a 34-31 lead.

The Broncos stormed by on offense in the fourth quarter with a 20-point effort, but defensively could not keep the Gorillas from scoring. The Broncos won the quarter 20-19, but lost the battle 53-31.

Brothers Dylan Hartz and Drew Hartz each scored 10 points during the game. Tyler Frederick had nine points while Connor O’Neill and Jake Dewald provided eight each. Jesse Miller, Chris Steinmetz and Brandon Knodel each scored two.

The Lady Broncos found themselves in a hole early, trailing after one quarter 15-4. By the end of the first half they were behind 26-9. They would outscore Davenport 24-21 in the second half, but could not muster a large enough comeback to offset the first half deficit.

Davis Killian scored 12 points to lead the team. Andrea Bennett had eight and Jenna Bennett scored seven. Dalyn Killian had six.