Seneca and West Oak met to renew their regional and in-county rivalry, Friday night. A jam packed crowd gathered on campus to take in the action. The Lady Warriors cruised to a 53-31 win. They to move to 14-4 overall and 4-1 in region play to keep pace in the region race with Daniel and Walhalla.
There was much buzz surrounding the match-up, specifically in the boys game. West-Oak swept Seneca's Boys last year for the 1st time in over a decade. As we mentioned, it was Senior night and there was another storyline to the game.
West-Oak Senior Guard Anthony Kaliski was at Seneca last year and transferred to play for the Warriors, this year. Seneca traveled strong and their student section was energized and was very vocal towards Kaliski throughout the game.
The transfer was recognized with his West Oak classmates for Senior night. Lucas Towe a senior for the Warriors and last year's Region Player Of The Year and Kaliski got going, early on. West Oak would hang tough in the 1st half and Seneca led 34-31 at the break.
Bobcat Coach Kevin Padgett made some adjustments at half and they paid off. Seneca used a 25-11 3rd quarter advantage to cruise to a 71-54 win. In the 2nd half, Seneca turned up their defensive efforts, specifically in slowing down Towe, forcing him to take contested shots. The Cats also attacked the rim and crashed the offensive glass much better in the 2nd half.
Seneca had a 14-5 advantage in offensive rebounding. They were also plus 6 in turnover margin. Seneca Senior Cam O'Kelley who announced that his plans to attend and further his hoop career at Appalachian State had 23 for Seneca. Jalen Craig had a double-double of 23 points and 12 rebounds for Seneca. Stu Finley added a dozen on four made three's for the night.
Lucas Towe led West-Oak with a team high 23 points, just 7 of those came in the 2nd half. Anthony Kaliski added 12 on four of five shooting from the floor and went four of five from the free throw line, in the losing effort. He had 9 in the 1st half.