The Ellsworth Bearcats captured third place this past week at Hoisington’s Winter Jam. The ‘Cats were stopped Friday on their way to the championship game by Hoisington, the tournament’s No. 1 seed and eventual champion.

The final score in the hard-fought game was 50-46.

“We played good; it was a tough loss to Hoisington last night,” said Ellsworth’s Will Cravens.

Braden Schulte led the ‘Cats with 21 points, including three, 3-pointers. Also in double digits were Trey Anderson with 13 points, including one, 3-pointer; and Avery Haxton, 10 points. Luke Sharp contributed 2.

Ellsworth defeated Otis-Bison — holding the Cougars to 17 points compared to the ‘Cats’ 55 points; and also LaCrosse 51-45.

“LaCrosse is a good team but we managed to survive ... They shot the ball but we got a win,” Coach Ryan Webber said.

Lady ‘Cats

The Lady ‘Cats lost their first two games of the tournament, to Cimarron, 16-60, and then to Otis-Bison, 27-46 before finishing their final game with a 42-31 win over La Crosse.

“From our first game this season we have improved more, we come to practice every day ready to work and get better. We are a very young team. We are working through that and getting a lot better,” Ellsworth’s Natalie Rolfs said.

Scoring honors were evenly distributed in the

La Crosse game.

Paityn Tenbrink led the Lady ‘Cats with 9 points. She was followed by Greta Klein and Rylan Ohl, both with 8 points, Natalie Rolfs with 7, Kylan Turnipseed with 6, and Lexi West with 4.

Ellsworth is scheduled to play Friday at Southeast of Saline.