Bayard Girls, Boys Win MAC Tourney

Saturday was a great day for the Bayard Tigers and Lady Tigers as they both captured Minuteman Activities Conference (MAC) basketball titles on Saturday. The second and final rounds of the tournament took place in Bridgeport last Thursday and Saturday, with a consolation game for third place played prior to the championship games on Saturday.

Bayard's boys team earned its' way to the finals by beating the Creek Valley Storm on Thursday night, 44-22. The Storm could not handle the Tigers aggressive defense, and quickly fell behind early in the contest. Although the Storm managed to pick up some ground in the third quarter, a 15-2 fourth quarter differential in favor of the Tigers was more than Creek Valley could overcome. Bayard junior Justin Whitebear led the scoring for Bayard with 18 points.

On Saturday, the fourth seeded Bayard Tigers faced off against the second seeded Garden County Eagles in the championship game. The Tigers started fast and shut out the Eagles in the first quarter while putting up 13 points of their own. The Eagles started to find their rhythm as game progressed and outscored the Tigers in both the second and third periods, but an especially strong fourth quarter by Tigers junior Payton Oliverius kept the Eagles at bay, and the Tigers won their first MAC Championship since joining the conference in 2014. Oliverius led all scorers with 15 points, 7 of them coming in the final quarter.

On the girls side, the Potter-Dix Lady Coyotes earned their way into the finals by defeating the South Platte Lady Blue Knights on Thursday by a score of 36-29. A close game throughout, the Lady Coyotes were able to make an eight-point lead at halftime hold up as the second half was tightly contested, with Potter-Dix scoring 21 points to South Platte's 20. Potter-Dix senior Trinity Langley led the scoring with 14 points in the win.

Bayard's girls earned their way to the finals by defeating Leyton on Thursday 52-22. After leading 19-15 at the half, Bayard exploded for 33 points while Leyton went ice cold, cruising to a 30 point second round victory.

"We had good shots, but it was just a rough shooting night as a team-we didn't score at all in the third quarter", said Leyton coach Lance Howitt.

Bayard junior Kylie Stuart led the scoring for the Lady Tigers with 11 points.

On Saturday, the number one seeded Lady Coyotes squared off against the number two seeded Lady Tigers in the championship game. Potter-Dix was the three time defending tournament champion going into the contest, but was without senior Payge Hoffman due to injury.

Potter-Dix coach Lance Juelfs said going into the contest, "Bayard is a team that can get hot from the floor at any time-we have to stick to our defensive game plan and hit the boards to eliminate their second chance opportunities."

After a low scoring first half, the Lady Coyotes held a 17-13 advantage, but the Lady Tigers made adjustments, and got hot just as Potter-Dix coach Juelfs predicted, and were able to outscore the Lady Coyotes 25-9 in the final two periods to bring home their first MAC Tournament Championship trophy.

Only two Lady Coyotes scored any points in the contest (junior Audrey Juelfs with 18 and senior Trinity Langley with 8) while seven Lady Tigers contributed to the scoring, with junior Liz Marker leading Bayard with 12 points.

In the boy's consolation round, the Creek Valley Storm easily defeated the Minatare Indians 63-32, with Creek Valley junior Tanner Crass leading the Storm's offense with 17 points to take third place tournament honors. Creek Valley's defense continued to shine holding Minatare to only 32 points.

In the girl's consolation round, South Platte defeated Leyton 42-24 on the strength of a dominant second and fourth quarters to capture third place honors for the Lady Blue Knights.

Leyton had defeated South Platte earlier in the year in a close game, but could not shake the tough loss against Bayard in the second round to overcome South Platte's strong finishes in both halves of the game.