By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
The Minneapolis and Ellsworth basketball teams split a doubleheader on the hardwood on Tuesday night, with the Lady Bearcats remaining undefeated on the year, and the Lions collecting their first victory of 2025.
Girls: Ellsworth 52, Minneapolis 46 (OT)
The Lady Bearcats stumbled a bit out of the gates but recovered flawlessly and rode the hot hand of Lainey Peschka to their fourth-straight win in 2025.
Minneapolis jumped out to an early 17-7 lead thanks to the hot shooting of Baylee Randall-Hurt, who scored seven of the 17 Lady Lion points in the first quarter.
Things would cool off considerably for Minneapolis in the second quarter as they mustered just one made field goal and four total points, watching Ellsworth come back to take a two-point lead at halftime.
The third quarter was a back-and-forth affair but late in the fourth, Randall-Hurt was called for an offensive foul, collecting her fifth and finishing her night with 17 points.
From there, Peschka took over, scoring seven of Ellsworth’s final twelve points, including a dagger three in overtime, to help the Lady Bearcats pull away for an overtime win.
With this win, Ellsworth remains perfect at 4-0 while Minneapolis falls to 3-2.
Boys: Minneapolis 44, Ellsworth 33
The boys' game got off to a very slow start offensively, with Minneapolis holding an 8-2 lead at the end of the first quarter.
Things picked up in the second for both teams, and by the intermission the Lion lead was up to 21-13.
Minneapolis spread out their scoring evenly, with each member of their starting five contributing in the second half, as the Lions matched pace down the stretch en route to a 44-33 win, their first of the 2025-26 season.
Free throws proved to be a crucial difference in this game as Minneapolis sunk 15-20, while Ellsworth shot 7-13 at the stripe.
Tanner Norris (14) and Owen Just (12) led the way for the Lions in scoring, while Cooper McGowan (13) did his best in a losing effort.
With this result, Minneapolis improves to 1-4 while Ellsworth slides to 1-3.
You can watch both of these games on-demand any time below.