The EJH girls basketball team hosted the Phillipsburg Panthers on Nov. 28th. The Panthers left with two wins against both the Ellis varsity and JV.
In the varsity contest, Ellis went into halftime down by just one point 9-10. The Panthers continued their intense defense running a ‘platoon style’ game being able to rotate five fresh players throughout the contest. Ellis Coach Sheryl Butler said that she was proud of her girls for playing hard throughout but with Phillipsburg having the ability to rotate five fresh players plus four of the Ellis players having to each play a quarter in JV due to lack of numbers – “we just wore out. Phillipsburg was able to press during both the JV and varsity and we only had eight players available for both contests – our girls played hard.”
Leading scorer for Ellis was Rylan Aschenbrenner with four points, followed by Taryn Boydston with three and Haylee Comer had two. Leading rebounder for Ellis was Comer with eight rebounds, Mackinley Rhoden had six, Lila Richards had four. Maggie Downing, Aschenbrenner and Boydston each had one board. Final score was 9-26, Phillipsburg with the win.
In the two quarters of the J.V. game, Ellis was held to two points being scored by Rhoden. Leading rebounder was Downing with four rebounds followed by Adalyn Hamel with three and Comer had one. Final score of the JV contest was Ellis 2 to Phillipsburg 9.
The Ellis Jr. High girls basketball team played Hill City in the first round of the MCEL Tournament on November 30th. Ellis lost in the contest 9-22. As a carbon copy of the game Ellis played earlier in the week, Ellis was tied with Hill City at the half 5-5 but Hill City continued to build on their score and Ellis struggled getting anything to fall.
Leading scorer for Ellis was Rylan Aschenbrenner with four points, Mackinley Rhoden and Lila Richards each had two and Taryn Boydston had one point. Leading rebounder for Ellis was Haylee Comer with 10 rebounds. Richards and Rhoden each had five, Boydston had four and Aschenbrenner had three boards.