On Thursday, February 22, Hickman High School played host for a defensive and offensive clinic run by the Hickman Girls Basketball team.
The formerly 10-15 Jays from Jefferson City came to Columbia looking for a win to close out the CMAC season; the Kewpies, who are on the opposite side of the spectrum with a record of 17-8 going into the game, were trying to go into the district tournament with a win.
The game opened up with Hickman unfortunately losing the tipoff. The scoring wouldn’t begin for either team until a minute and a half into the game when Lyssa Sportsman (12) of Jefferson City scored with a putback layup.
A few possessions later, the Kewpies got on the scoreboard with Sy’Rae Stemmons (11) scoring a layup. On the next play, she would get the ball back and score again.
Throughout the first three minutes, Sy’Rae was on a roll with seven points, forcing Jefferson City to call a timeout. Heading into the timeout, Hickman led the game 7-5.
At the end of the first quarter, Hickman had a commanding lead of 17-10.
The Jays were primarily led by Lyssa Sportsman who only had four points, while Sy’Rae led the Kewpies with nine points. Hickman was able to defend the shot well in this quarter, and the whole game, without fouling. The Jays were unfortunately unable to do so, as they had five team fouls.
In the second quarter, Hickman was able to go up by ten, with a layup from Addison Carr (10).
For the rest of the quarter, the Jays would fight back until Ashtyn Klusmeyer (12) made a three-pointer for the Kewpies, to give them a twelve-point lead with 1:12 left, and to get to seven points herself.
Ashtyn would come back and make another one almost a minute later to go up by 13, and to get 10 points.
At the end of the first half, the Kewpies led 32-20. Their leading scorers were Sy’rae with twelve points and Ashtyn with 10. On the other side, Lyssa Sportsman and Bri Avery (12) were the Jays’ leading scorers with 7 points each.
At the start of the second half, Jefferson City had possession of the ball, but they didn’t hold onto it for long as Hickman’s Jayla Griffith (11) stole it and passed it up the court to Keyona Hall (12) for a fast-break layup.
On the next play, Keyona (12) would get the ball again and score another fast break layup to put the Kewpies up by 16.
From there, the third quarter would slow down, and the score at the end of the quarter would be 48-32 after the Kewpies fended off a run from the Jays, led by Bri Avery who had twelve points at that time.
The fourth quarter would go back to how the rest of the game was: very high-scoring. Jayla Griffith would make a layup to go up by 20 with about six minutes to go, and to get twelve points.
Just one minute later, the Kewpies would go up by 24, and Hickman would put in their subs.
Senior Ashtyn Klusmeyer had fourteen points and fellow senior Keyona Hall had eight. The only player for Jefferson City with double digits was another senior, Bri Avery, with 13 points. The game would end, and the Kewpies would walk away with their 18th win and they handed the Jays their 16th loss, in a 58-36 victory.
This was a great game and a great show of defensive and offensive skill shown by the Kewpies. Heading into districts later this month, Hickman will be a threat for the title for sure.