Argonia cruises to first tournament victory

Eagle staff

Published March 11 at 2:55 a.m. | Last updated March 11 at 3:14 a.m.

Last season the Argonia Raiders entered the Class 1A girls tournament with a perfect record and lost its first game.

This year Argonia sported the same 25-0 record in its first-round game against Lincoln, but the Raiders didn't succumb to the first-round upset Wednesday.

Argonia routed Lincoln 81-50 at Gross Coliseum in Hays to advance to Friday's semifinals, where the second-seeded Raiders will face St. Paul.

St. Paul (25-0) and South Gray (26-0) were two other undefeated teams to win in the first round. One-loss St. John rounded out the semifinalists.

Ashton Stansbury led Argonia with 17 points and 13 rebounds, while Allis Brewster had 14 points, 12 rebounds and five steals.

Davi Peetoom (17 points) and Brooke Boatright (16) added big games for Argonia, which won its first state tournament game in school history.

Lincoln's Jenna Farris scored 28.

Defending champion St. John held Frankfort to 12 first-half points in its 43-32 win. Brooke Burgan scored 18 and Teresa Wade hit 7 of 9 shots en route to her 17 points.

Led by Mikayla Skidmore's 24 points, top-seeded South Gray advanced to the semifinals for the third straight season, defeating Wilson 60-55.

Kayla Thomas had 16 points and 13 rebounds for South Gray, which overcame a 31-30 halftime deficit.

St. Paul won a state tournament game for the first time since 2002, eliminating Tribune 50-35.

Morgan Westhoff scored 20 for St. Paul.