Stockton hosts Pre-Season NPL Basketball Tourney

Stockton High School hosted the Pre-Season NPL Basketball Tournament last with games being held on Tuesday, Friday and Saturday. Coming out on top were the Rock Hills girls, who ended up going 3-0 for the tourney, and the Rock Hills boys who went 2-1.

The Stockton Lady Tigers ended up 2-1, downing both Lakeside and Thunder Ridge, but falling to Rock Hills. The Tiger Boys fell to each of their three opponents. The Stockton girls and boys now own records of 2-2 and 0-4 respectively.

This Tuesday Stockton will travel to Tescott for games, and on Friday, the 20th, the Tigers will host Lakeside.

Pre-Season NPL Basketball Tournament

Stockton vs. Lakeside 

(12-10-24)

Lady Tigers 

For three quarters, Tuesday’s game between the Stockton and Lakeside girls was fairly close with the Lady Tigers leading 7-5 after the first period, and 17-13 at halftime. By the 3:34 mark of the third quarter, the Lady Knights had tied the game at 21-21, but at the end of the third Stockton owned a narrow, 25-24 advantage.

In the first minute of the fourth period the Lady Tigers scored two buckets to take a 29-24 lead, and with 6:21 left in the game Stockton was up by double digits, 34-24, following a layup by senior Bodye Stithem. An old-fashioned three-point play by senior Brin Muir, with 3:23 to go, gave the Lady Tigers a 42-28 lead, and they would be up 48-30 late, before eventually winning 48-35.

Brin Muir scored a game-high 18 points for the Stockton girls, while senior Aubrey Kesler added 15.

The Lady Knights were led by Kaylee Otte, who scored 14 points.

Lakeside 5 8 11 11—35

Stockton 7 10 8 23—48

Lakeside—Kaylee Otte 14, Miller 9, McCoy 4, Syman 4, Herskowitz 4.

Stockton—Brin Muir 18, Kesler 15, Stithem 8, Dix 4, Gasper 2, Odle 1.

Tiger Boys

The Tigers played with Lakeside throughout the first quarter, trailing just 14-9 at its end, but in the second period Stockton was only able to put two points on the scoreboard, while the Knights added 13 to lead 27-11 at the intermission. At the end of the third quarter the Tigers found themselves trailing 42-16, and they went on to fall 53-23.

Vincent Thayer, a freshman, led Stockton in scoring with 9 points.

Lakeside was led by Jace Cunningham and Reece Remus with 19 and 16 points, respectively.

Lakeside 14 13 15 11—53

Stockton 9 2 5 7—23

Lakeside—Jace Cunningham 19, Reece Remus 16, Schmitt 4, McCoy 4, Hutson 4, Smith 3, Cline 3.

Stockton—V. Thayer 9, I. Thayer 5, Earl 4, Gasper 3, Kuhlmann 2.

Stockton vs. Thunder Ridge

(12-13-24)

Lady Tigers 

Friday night’s game between Stockton and Thunder Ridge was a repeat from the prior week when the teams played each other in their season opener, however, this time the Lady Tigers picked up a convincing 55-14 victory, avenging their 37-34 loss to the Lady Longhorns.

The Stockton girls jumped out to an early lead with Aubrey Kesler’s basket at the 4:50 mark of the opening period giving the Lady Tigers a 13-0 advantage. Thunder Ridge put their first points on the scoreboard with 3:05 left in the first quarter, making the score 13-1, but a trey by Brin Muir a minute later put Stockton on top 16-2, and the Lady Tigers owned a comfortable 20-3 lead going into the second period.

With 2:35 left to play in the first half the Lady Tigers were up 25-5, and they would go into the locker room at the intermission with a 28-6 advantage, following a three-pointer by Bodye Stithem.

Muir and Stithem each had three treys in the first half, while senior Ava Dix added two treys in the second half as Stockton went on to win big, 55-14.

The Lady Tigers had three players in double figures: Bodye Stithem 15, Brin Muir 14, and Aubrey Kesler 13.

Thunder Ridge was led by Jasmine Ferguson with 5 points.

T Ridge 3 3 6 2—14

Stockton 20 8 18 9—55

Thunder Ridge—Ferguson 5, Reimer 4, Rust 3, Barnes 2.

Stockton—Bodye Stithem 15, Brin Muir 14, Aubrey Kesler 13, Ava Dix 12, Odle 1.

Tiger Boys

In the boys’ matchup between Stockton and Thunder Ridge, the Longhorns were able to take a 15-4 lead after the first quarter, and they led 31-19 at halftime. Thunder Ridge junior Evan Slavik, who scored 14 of this gamehigh 30 points in the third quarter, gave the Longhorns a 53-21 advantage going into the final eight minutes, and the visitors went on to win 58-21.

Sophomore Jace Kesler led the Tigers in scoring with 13 points, while Slavik led Thunder Ridge with 30 points.

T Ridge 15 16 22 5—58

Stockton 4 11 6 0—21

Thunder Ridge—Evan Slavic 30, Engelke 9, Tweedy 9, Wagenblast 4, McDowell 3, Brownwood 2, Taylor 1.

Stockton—Jace Kesler 13, Carpenter 3, V. Thayer 3, Gasper 2.

Stockton vs. Rock Hills

(12-14-24)

Lady Tigers

Both the Stockton and Rock Hill girls entered Saturday night’s contest having won their previous two games. Unfortunately, it was Rock Hills who would go undefeated in the tourney, as they got by the Lady Tigers 49-42.

The game was a close one throughout with the Lady Grizzlies leading most of the way, but Stockton staying within striking distance. After being tied at 8-8 with 2:47 to go in the opening quarter, the Lady Tigers would trail 17-10 at its end. Senior Ava Dix hit a basket just over a minute into the second period to cut the margin to five, 17-12, but Stockton would trail by nine, 24-15 with 1:08 left in the first half before Dix drained a threepointer which got the Lady Tigers back within six, 24-18. By halftime, Stockton was able to cut the difference back to four, 24-20, following a basket by Aubrey Kesler as time ran out in the first half.

Another basket by Dix, who scored a game-high 21 points, got the Lady Tigers within two, 24-22, and a free throw by Bodye Stithem made the score 24-23 in favor of Rock Hills. The game would remain close for the next few minutes, but the Lady Grizzlies gradually began to pull away, leading 35-29 going into the fourth quarter.

Stockton still had a lot of fight and a trey by Dix to open the fourth got the Lady Tigers back within three points, 35-32, but again Rock Hills was able to make some defensive stops and and hit some big baskets down the stretch to seal the 49-42 victory over Stockton.

Leading the Lady Tigers in scoring was Ava Dix, who scored all 21 of her points in the last three quarters. Aubrey Kesler added 10.

Junior Bethany Simmelink scored a gamehigh 25 points to lead Rock Hills.

Rock Hills 17 7 11 14—49

Stockton 10 10 9 13—42

Rock Hills—Bethany Simmelink 25, Ost 9, Mizner 7, Lindberg 6, Fogo 2.

Stockton—Ava Dix 21, Aubrey Kesler 10, Muir 8, Odle 2, Stithem 1.

Tiger Boys

As they did most of the tournament, the Stockton boys played a strong first quarter against the Grizzlies trailing by only six, 19-13, but Rock Hills would go on to score 19, 20 and 15 points over the next three quarters to defeat the Tigers 73-34. Stockton trailed 19-13, 38-22, and 58-30 before falling by the 39-point margin.

Jace Kesler led the Tigers in scoring with 10 points.

Rock Hills was led by senior Cooper McDill, who scored a game-high 26 points in the contest. Junior Kiplee Kussman added 10.

Rock Hills 19 19 20 15—73

Stockton 13 9 8 4—34

Rock Hills—Cooper McDill 26, Kiplee Kussman 10, Wurm 8, Whelchel 8, Ward 6, Vance 5, Wirth 4, Navarro 2, Luong 2, Eakins 2.

Stockton—Jace Kesler 10, I. Thayer 9, V. Thayer 9, Gasper 5, Carpenter 1.