Muckers play final tournament before holiday break

The Tonopah Muckers boys and girls basketball teams played in their final tournament games before taking their winter break.

qqqTonopah opened the tournament on Friday against their hosts, the Round Mountain Knights. This was the first of three games between these two teams this year.

The Muckers had three players tied for the team lead in points. Jessica Callaway, Lilah Swanson and Savanna Muns all had five points for Tonopah.

Callaway led the way with a team-high 10 rebounds. She also had two steals in the game. Swanson added nine rebounds of her own for the Muckers.

The game didn’t quite go the Muckers’ way. They came up just short and lost the game by a score of 19-26.

The Muckers did much better in their second game of the tournament. They were able to come away with a 47-24 victory over Oasis Academy.

Kennedy Crawford and Muns led the way for the Muckers. They each scored 12 points for the Tonopah offense. Callaway led the team again in the rebounding department. She finished with six rebounds and added three steals.

The team was missing some of their main players going into the tournament.

“It was a rough weekend,” Tonopah head coach Jill Katzenback said. “We were missing three starters. The bench stepped up and worked hard. Hoping the winter break will give my injured and sick players a chance to heal before starting league play.”

It was a different story for the boys basketball team. They entered the tournament with a record of 1-5.

Like the Lady Muckers, the opening game for the boys against Round Mountain was the first of three contests they’ll be playing against each other this season.

In their game against Round Mountain, the Muckers were missing five players.

This was something that the Knights were able to take advantage of.

Guard Tony Bleasdell helped the Muckers keep the game close, but his high-level play wasn’t enough as the Knights came away with a 43-32 victory.

Bleasdell finished the game with a team-high 18 points, 11 of which came in the fourth quarter for Tonopah.

In the second game of the tournament, the Muckers played the Big Horns of Oasis Academy.

Tonopah got back all five missing players from the first game of the tournament, however, that didn’t seem to help the team. The Muckers only managed to score 23 points against the Oasis defense.

Bleasdell led the way again for the Muckers in the scoring department. He had 15 of the team’s total points. The only other Muckers who registered points were Anthony Gromis (4), Josh Reid (2) and Justin Stark (2).

Both Muckers teams will be taking a break for the holidays before they start their league play. They’ll resume games on Jan. 7. Both teams host the Lund Mustangs. The girls’ game will begin at 5 p.m. and the boys’ game will begin at 6:30 p.m.