The Wellsville-Middletown basketball teams ended their road season on a down note on Feb. 10 as both girls and boys squads fell to the Bowling Green Bobcats.

The girls lost 48-32 to Bowling Green in the first game of the doubleheader, while the boys dropped 51-29 to the Bobcats in the nightcap.

The W-M girls are 14-10 overall and 3-6 in Eastern Missouri Conference play. The boys are 9-14 overall and 1-8 in conference play.

Both squads lost to Silex at home Feb. 14. They will wrap up their regular season with another home game on Feb. 16 against Wright City.

The contest against Wright City will be the last home game for seven W-M seniors – Dylan Alsop, Natalie Boeckleman, CJ Curd, Carly Henderson, Jacob Mandrell, Lucas Moore and Logan Pursifull.

Despite the loss to Bowling Green, the W-M girls finished with a winning season on the road, going 5-3. The Tigers had road victories over South Callaway, Marion County, Mark Twain, Sturgeon and Van-Far.

The 60-39 win over Van-Far on Feb. 7 clinched W-M its first winning season in many years. The Tigers surpassed their win total of 11 from last year.

The W-M girls were denied a chance to beat Bowling Green for the second year in a row. They led 26-23 with 2:57 left in the third quarter before they made just one field goal the rest of the way.

Junior Bethany Slovensky finished with 12 points before fouling out with 1:46 to go in the game. She gave the Tigers the 26-23 lead after recovering a Bowling Green turnover and scoring a layup. The two-time all-EMO selection also went 5 for 6 from the free-throw line.

Junior Jenelle Boeckelman also finished with 12 points. She hit three 3-pointers, including two in the third quarter.
Senior Natalie Boeckelman finished with six rebounds, sophomore Hallie Guzy had three points with eight rebounds, freshman Helanea McKenzie hit a 3-pointer in the closing seconds of the first quarter to give the Tigers a 9-6 lead and sophomore Indica Scott scored her only basket with 7:28 to go in the second quarter to give W-M an 11-6 lead, its largest of the game.

Earlier in the day, the Tigers found out their postseason schedule. They earned the No. 2 seed in the six-team Class 1, District 10 tournament at Madison and will play the winner between Higbee and Keytesville in a semifinal game at 7 p.m. on Feb. 23. W-M beat both Higbee and Keytesville at the Keytesville Tournament earlier in the year.

The W-M boys lost their third straight game after dropping to Bowling Green. They beat the Bobcats in each of the last two years.

The Tigers had strong efforts from Pursifull and sophomores Carson Huff, Cooper Henderson and Hunter Bickell in the losing cause. Huff finished with 13 points, Pursifull had five points and seven rebounds, Henderson finished with four points and eight boards and Bickell added five points and five rebounds off the bench.

W-M finished 1-7 on the road, with its only victory coming against Chamois on Dec. 6. The Tigers beat Louisiana for their only win in conference play on Feb. 3.

The Tigers, who finished fourth in last year’s Class 1 state tournament, will play Cairo at 8 p.m. on Feb. 20 in a Class 2, District 5 tournament quarterfinal at Sturgeon.