Basketball Recap: Western Plains Takes a Loss

Western Plains lost against Wheatland-Grinnell back in January of 2024 and unfortunately they wound up with the same result on Friday. The Western Plains Bobcats were outmatched by the Wheatland-Grinnell Thunderhawks and fell 62-27. While losing is never fun, the Bobcats can't take it too hard given the team's big disadvantage in MaxPreps' Kansas basketball rankings (they are ranked 242nd, while the Thunderhawks are ranked 107th).

Despite the loss, Western Plains still got an impressive performance from Madelyn Kraus, who went 5 for 12 en route to 14 points in addition to six steals and five boards. Kraus has been hot, having posted two or more steals the last six times she's played.

Wheatland-Grinnell got their victory on the backs of several key players, but it was Natalie Bixenman out in front who went 8 of 15 on her way to 19 points along with eight rebounds and six assists. The team also got some help courtesy of Marissa Beckman, who went 7 for 14 en route to 17 points and three steals.

This is the second loss in a row for Western Plains and nudges their season record down to 4-6. As for Wheatland-Grinnell, they are on a roll lately: they've won six of their last seven games, which provided a nice bump to their 8-3 record this season.

Western Plains has already played their next contest (against Heartland Christian), but no score has been uploaded at the time of writing. Wheatland-Grinnell will be playing in front of their home fans against Oakley at 6:00 p.m. on Tuesday. Both teams are coming into the matchup red-hot, with Wheatland-Grinnell sitting on four straight wins and Oakley on seven.