Basketball Recap: Golden Plains Comes Up Short

Golden Plains suffered their biggest defeat since January 14th on Thursday. They took a blow against the Rawlins County Buffaloes, falling 54-23. While losing is never fun, the Bulldogs can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 215th, while the Buffaloes are ranked 67th).

Kailee Wessel

Rebounds

12/14/24 vs St. Francis	17
01/24/25 @ Weskan	16
12/06/24 vs Cheylin	14
01/17/25 @ Triplains/Brewster	12
01/31/25 vs Logan/Palco	11
+ 15 more games

Despite the loss, Golden Plains saw an underclassman step up: sophomore Kailee Wessel dropped a double-double with 12 points and ten rebounds. Wessel is becoming a predictor of Golden Plains' success: when she posts at least eight boards the team is 9-4 (and 3-4 when she doesn't).

Even though they lost, Golden Plains smashed the offensive glass and finished the game with 14 offensive rebounds. This was only their third loss (out of 12 games) when they hit their own glass that hard.

Leading Rawlins County to victory were Camden Franklin and Tayten Dewey. Franklin went 7-for-10 to rack up 20 points along with seven steals and five assists, while Dewey shot 67% from the field en route to 16 points in addition to six rebounds and three steals. Franklin is on a roll when it comes to steals, as she's now grabbed two or more in each of the last 17 games she's played. Kayte Shively was another key player, putting up eight points and eight boards.

The defeat snapped Golden Plains' winning streak at three games and leaves them with a 12-8 record. As for Rawlins County, their victory was their eighth straight at home, which pushed their record up to 15-4.

Golden Plains has already played their next game, a 52-8 win against Chase on the 24th. As for Rawlins County, they also didn't take long to hit the court again: they've already played their next matchup, a 48-42 victory against Dighton on the 21st.