BUFFALO – Milo Peterson Gymnasium has truly been “the friendly confines” for the
Altoona-Midway Jets this year, and Tuesday’s season-finale at home was no exception.
Making their final home appearance of what has been a very memorable season, the AMHS
boys capped off a tremendous home-court run in 2023-24 with an impressive 69-26 victory
over the Yates Center Wildcats.
The Jets, 13-6 overall and 7-3 in Three Rivers League play, finished an incredible 7-1 on
their home floor this season, with the only blemish being a loss to a red-hot Pleasanton
squad in late January.
Meanwhile, the Altoona-Midway girls made some history of their own, starting the clean
sweep of the evening by posting a 32-22 decision against the Lady Wildcats.
That victory improved the Lady Jets’ record to 5-14 on the season, which marks the highest
season win total amassed by the girls’ program since 2011.
It was Senior Night at Milo Peterson Gymnasium, and Altoona-Midway bid farewell to a
total of five AMHS seniors who were playing the last home game of their respective
careers.
Lady Jets making their finale before the appreciative home crowd were Ava Hufford and
Summer Raymond, while the fans gave an admiring sendoff on the boys’ side to Blaine
Collins, Jacob Meigs, and Lane Poeverlein. Senior cheerleaders Karissa Cook and Heather
Lane was also honored in a ceremony between the two varsity games. Altoona-Midway will close the curtain on the regular season Friday, Feb. 16, traveling to
Mound City to face Jayhawk-Linn High School.
AMHS BOYS
Altoona-Midway, leading just 13-8 late in the opening period, rattled off 16 unanswered
points and finished the half with a 33-14 bulge, leaving little doubt who would be victorious
in this TRL contest.
The Jets stayed hot after intermission, opening with a 9-2 spurt en route to a 23-point
barrage in building a 56-24 third-quarter lead. A running clock in the final stanza resulted in
the 69-26 final. “We got off to a bit of a slow start, but halfway through the first quarter the energy kicked in and it was a total team effort for the rest of the game,” said Jets head coach Dave Vance.
AMHS enjoyed a balanced offensive attack, with eight of the nine suited players making
their way into the scoring column, each of them scoring six or more points. “We shared the ball very well, and we had eight players score six points or more,” Vance noted. “Our assist-to-turnover ratio was 16 assists to only four turnovers; we also managed 18 steals as a team.”
William Stackhouse and Jacob Meigs paced the winners with 15 and 12 points, respectively.
Kieran Foster and Blaine Collins fired in eight points apiece, Lane Poeverlein and Kage
Beck each tallied seven, while Taj Chism and Joey Lamendola both finished with six points.
Stackhouse was credited with seven assists, nine steals and four deflections. Foster and
Meigs each handed out three assists, while Chism had two blocks and Meigs led with six
deflections and eight rebounds.
“There weren’t as many rebounds as usual this game, due to the fact that we actually hit a
decent percentage of our shots,” Vance grinned. The Jets connected on 8-of-18 attempts
from beyond the arc. The Wildcats got nine points from Jarrett Birk, seven from Evan McVey, and six from Devereaux Sarchet.
The streaking Jets (13-6, 7-3) have won five in a row, 8 of their last 10, and are 11-3 since a
2-3 start to the season.“It was a very ‘feel good’ game for Senior Night with everyone contributing,” Vance added.“The players feel very strongly about finishing this season on a winning streak and taking it as far as we can go. It appears we are all bought into the team concept and next-play mentality.
“I am very proud of the improvement we have made this year, but hopefully we are not
finished.” Yates Center fell to 2-7 in TRL action and 2-16 overall. AMHS was also victorious 12-11 in a two-quarter junior varsity tilt. Joey Lamendola fired in eight points and Lane Poeverlein netted four for the Jets.
AMHS GIRLS
The Altoona-Midway girls came out ready to play from the opening tip and collected a
satisfying 32-22 Three Rivers League victory over Yates Center.
The Lady Jets (5-14, 2-8) snapped a six-game losing streak and earned their first league
victory on the court this year, having also picked up a forfeit win earlier against Chetopa.
“I’m incredibly proud of this team,” said AMHS head coach Jessica Porter. “They have
continued to improve throughout the season, and they are just a good group of kids.”
Emmalynn Pupanek hauled in a full-court in-bounds pass from Summer Raymond and her
layup gave AMHS a 4-2 lead they never relinquished. Chantal Morales then connected on a
pair of free throws and hit a trey to give the Lady Jets a 9-2 lead at the quarter.
“I had told the girls that we had to come out with a lot of energy and effort because Yates
Center wanted this win just as much as we did,” Porter noted. “My girls listened, rebounded, and applied what we’ve worked on in practice – and we got the win.” Altoona-Midway led 13-6 at intermission and 15-10 early in the third stanza. At that point the Lady Jets went on an 8-0 run to go up 23-10 entering the final period. Raymond started the streak and Pupanek then connected for six straight points.
Ava Tindle got the opening bucket of the fourth quarter to extend the lead to 25-10, and the
Jets pretty much coasted to victory by the final 32-22 count. “I’m so glad that the seniors got to have this win for their last game in front of the home fans,” Porter added. “They deserved it.”
Pupanek poured in 14 points and Raymond finished with eight to pace the Lady Jets attack.
Morales tallied five points, Ava Hufford scored three and Tindle two to round out the scoring.
Kinley Morrison did all she could to keep Yates Center in the game, finding the range for a
game-high 17 points.
The loss snapped a two-game win streak for the Lady Wildcats, who fell to 3-15.