Wichita Sunrise 52, Veritas boys 44

Junction City — Veritas Christian’s boys basketball team couldn’t overcome a slow start and fell to Wichita Sunrise, 52-44, on Thursday in the first round of the KCAA state tournament.

The Eagles trailed 14-5 after one quarter.

“The better team won today,” Veritas coach Gary Hammer said. “We played OK in spurts, but not nearly enough to beat them. We needed to put together four good solid quarters, and we didn’t play well for long stretches of time. We didn’t get off to a very good start.”

Chad Stieben led Veritas with 14 points, followed by Andrew Currier with nine and Caleb Holland and Thomas Bachert with eight apiece.

Veritas (16-8) will play Topeka Cair Paravel at 11:30 a.m. today in the consolation semifinals.

“Hopefully we can win the next two,” Hammer said, “and come away feeling good about ourselves.”

Veritas scoring: Chad Stieben 14, Micah Edmondson 3, Andrew Currier 9, Caleb Holland 8, Thomas Bachert 8, Bryce Boland 2.

Topeka Cair Paravel 56, Veritas girls 39

Junction City — Tori Huslig scored 16 points and pulled down 11 rebounds, but the Veritas Christian girls fell to Cair Paravel, 56-39, in the opening round of the KCAA state tournament.

Madi Bennett scored seven points, Ali Dover had five points and seven rebounds, and Naomi Hickman had seven rebounds.

Veritas trailed 30-21 at halftime.

“Cair Paravel has beaten us three times this year,” Veritas coach Kevin Shelton said. “We kind of dug ourselves a hole. We made a run at them in the third quarter, but we just wore down. I thought we fought hard, we battled hard. It just wasn’t our night to win.”

Veritas (10-13) will play Manhattan CHIEF at 10 a.m. today in the consolation semifinals.

Veritas 9 12 11 9 — 39

Cair Paravel 14 16 7 19 — 56

Veritas: Tori Huslig 16, Hannah Gloss 2, Madi Bennett 7, Macie Dressler 2, Kristen Finger 4, Ali Dover 5, Naomi Hickman 2.

Cair Paravel: Williams 26, Guenther 9, Hiebert 8, Helms 9, Fisher 2, Ramos 2.