The AC/GC Chargers basketball teams hosted the West Central Valley Wildcats for their senior night games Tuesday.
The seniors were recognized between the two games, with Shay Lemke as the lone senior on the court for the girls team, but with Belle Fagan as the teams manager for the last four years as well. The boys have five seniors in Jathan South, Noah Kading, Payton Policky, Ben Franzeen and Mason Wahl.
The Chargers girls started off big in the first quarter, getting to an early 18-3 lead. The Wildcats came back in the second a little bit though, and the halftime score was 27-13 in favor of AC/GC. The Chargers put on a clinic in the third, taking a 41-24 lead, and both teams scored low in the fourth, for the 48-30 victory for AC/GC. The boys game started off closer, with the score at the end of the first quarter sitting at 17-13 in favor of AC/GC. A big second quarter was in store for both teams, and the Chargers went into the break up 35-22. The second half was all AC/GC though, as the team took a 61-30 lead at the end of the third, and finished the night off with the 79-39 victory.
The Crafty’s Coffee Player of the Game for both games tonight went to the seniors, who are crucial pieces in having built the two teams up to where they are today. Sophomore Olivia Mahaffey shares on their leader, Shay Lemke.
“She’s amazing. We all love Shay, she’s been a great asset to the team. Great ball handler. She’s really good. She likes to pass it to everybody. She’s not a one person show, so that’s great. I love playing with her. Last year I didn’t really get many opportunities, but this year I took it upon myself during the summer to work even harder to play, especially with her and all the older girls. So it’s been amazing having Shay as our point guard and being an excellent leader.”
Sophomore Jonny Kading shares about having the five seniors on the boys team.
“It’s a lot of fun. I mean, they’re all great people and good basketball players, so we learn a lot. Just try and help them be better and win something their senior year. Have a lot of fun doing it.”
Senior Ben Franzeen tells Raccoon Valley Radio what he thought went well for the Chargers in their game.
“I think defense for sure. I like to hang my hat on defense and so do the guys. Like it’s something we want to do. Our goal is to hold teams to under a certain amount of points each game. And I think today we accomplished that. Another thing I really like that I can do well, I think my vision is all right. I can give the ball to people so they could drive gaps. So that went really well for me tonight. I was able to find my guys and open holes in the zone because they’re a really good team that likes to run zone. So finding holes, giving the guys the ball and get some assists.”
The Dub P Apparel Elite Fit Play of the game for the girls came in the form of a buzzer beater at the end of the first half from Karli Kautzky, a key play in keeping morale high for the team heading into the break. For the boys, the play came in the five point swing by the Chargers at the end of the third, where Jathan South made the first of his two free throws, with Payton Policky getting the rebound on the miss for the second, putting the shot up to add another two points, and then Tommy Skram stole the ball on the inbound to put up another made shot. Policky’s shot came with less than ten seconds left in the quarter, and Skram’s came in the final five seconds.
The Chargers host once more this week, with the Coon Rapids-Bayard Crusaders coming to Guthrie Center Thursday.