Monday night turned out to be upset night at the Class 2, District 16 Tournament held at Albany High School, and Gallatin’s girls saw their season come to an abrupt halt.
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Fifth-seeded Polo made up a 12-point half time deficit on the strength of a 19-5 third quarter surge that carried the Lady Panthers to a 60-59 win over the #4 Lady Bulldogs.
A bucket by Kailey Salmon gave Gallatin a 59-58 lead with 45 seconds left but Polo regained the edge with a bucket at the 0:11 mark. The Lady Bulldogs came out of a time out with eight seconds left to go the length of the floor. The Lady Bulldogs ran into a double team in the paint and Polo forced a held ball. Gallatin retained possession and called another time out to set up a final play, but the Lady Panthers stole the in-bounds pass.
Salmon led Gallatin with 25 points in her final varsity game. Kylie Collins added 10 points for the Lady Bulldogs. Gallatin received additional scoring from Aubrey Burns 8, Bailey Maxwell 7, Taylor Sloan 4, Tristyn Siegel 3 and Madison Rounkles 2.
Maxwell pulled down 13 rebounds and Sloan finished with five shot blocks.
Neither team fared well shooting from extended range. The Lady Bulldogs hit on one of 13 three-point shots. The Lady Panthers delivered two of 20 from long range.
The Lady Bulldogs weren’t the only upset victims Monday night. Sixth-seeded Maysville knocked off the #3 South Harrison girls, 54-51, in overtime to advance to Wednesday’s semifinal round against #2 Hamilton. Polo will face top-seeded North Platte in the other girls’ semifinal.
Boys advance
Gallatin’s #3 seeded boys sidestepped an upset bid by #6 Albany on Tuesday. The Bulldogs advanced to Thursday’s semifinal round at 7:15 p.m. against Hamilton but it wasn’t easy to get there.
Colten Beck, Jacob Boyd and Grant Simmons combined to hit 9-of-10 free throws in the final two minutes to help their team get over the hump, 46-40, against three-point shooting Albany.
Gallatin led, 16-8, at intermission but Albany came out with a 9-2 run to close to 18-17. A pair of old-fashioned three-point plays by Boyd sparked a nine-point GHS spread but the Warriors came back again with seven straight points to make it a 26-24 game.
The Warriors hit four treys in the fourth period, two by Cole Parman and two from Tom Sagun, but it wasn’t enough to offset foul shooting by the Bulldogs, who finished the game with an 18-of-21 success rate from the line.
Boyd led the Bulldogs with 18 points, including 14 in the second half. Beck tallied 14 for Gallatin.
Thursday=s other semifinal pits #1 Mid-Buchanan against #5 North Platte at 6 p.m.