The St Thomas More boys and girls basketball teams made the trip Rapid City to Chadron Friday night a successful on as they swept the Cardinals…taking the girls game 59-43 and the boys game 53-32.

The girls game was a rematch of two highly ranked teams in their respective states, but failed to live up to that lofty billing as the Lady Cavaliers dominated Chadron just as they had in handing the Cardinals their only other loss of the eason in January.

St Thomas More led start to finish. They were up 16-9 at the end of the first quarter, then blitzed the Lady Cardinals 19-8 to take an 18 point lead into the locker room. It was 51-31 through three quarters, but Chadron did trim the final margin against the reserves.

The Lady Cavaliers had two players who combined to outscore the entire Chadron team 45-43 as Ciara Duffy finished with 26 and Alexys Swedlund 19.

Chadron had 3 players in double figures…Ashlea Kerr with 15, her twin sister Bailea with 12, and Peyton Hinn with 11 points including a buzzer beating 3-pointer to end the first half. 17-2 Chadron plays another South Dakota team Saturday night, traveling to Pine Ridge to meet Red Cloud.

The Chadron-St Thomas More boys game was decided early as the Cavaliers jumped out to a 17-2 lead after a quarter. The Cardinals trimmed the deficit to 11 at the half 26-15, but St Thomas More outscored them 21-11 in the third period to put the game away.

The Cavaliers…who made 10 treys on the night…had balanced scoring with just 2 players in double digits, Jeron Laurenti with 17 and Jacob Henderson with 12.

Spencer Eliason accounted for almost 60% of Chadron’s points with 19 and added 8 rebounds for good measure. The Cardinals are off until next Friday when they play at Sidney.