Champions once again by Adrian Curry
I wasn’t sure what to expect when watching the d3 district final between cardington and Amanda-clearcreek. This was a rematch of a district final where Amanda came back from a 17-point deficit to defeat cardington at the buzzer last year. I hadn’t seen either team all season but knew they both were very good. Amanda came out fast jumping out to a 9-2 lead early on as cardington struggled to make shots. Amanda’s all-team leading scorer Alyssa Evans struggled early on but her teammates picked up the slack. The 2nd quarter was really where this game was won where Amanda started to make shots and share the ball on offense while clamping down on defense limiting cardington to only 3 points in the 2nd quarter. A buzzer beater by alyssa Evans allowed Amanda to have a commanding 24-7 lead which felt like 30 points the way cardington was struggling on offense. The 3rd quarter cardington came alive and played much better on both ends of the floor but despite that they still trailed by double digits. In the 4th quarter they made runs but Amanda and Alyssa Evans had an answer. Cardington cut all the way down to 6 with possession but wasn’t able to convert to make the comeback complete. Amanda finished the game out and won their 2nd straight district championship 42-34 over cardington. They advance to next weeks regional in Springfield. With the loss cardington concludes their season at 21-4. Nothing to hold their heads as they had a great season started out undefeated and won another kmac championship continuing the great tradition of cardington basketball. Alyssa Evans led Amanda-clearcreek in scoring as usual with 19 points while her teammate katelyn Connell chipped in with 14 points while Casey bertke led cardington in scoring with 19 points.