Friday night during the night cap of Highway 100 triple header basketball action at Hermann High School (HHS), one head coach was going to get a win in his debut.

Chamois’ Pirates coached by Owensville native Parker Jett and Hermann’s Bearcats coached by Belle native Drew Lansford matched up in the third game of a Friday night of hoops action inside the HHS gym.

Trailing 9-8 with 6:47 until halftime, Hermann’s Kruz Eldringhoff gave the Bearcats a 10-9 lead that they would not relinquish the rest of the way of their 51-35 victory over the Highway 100 neighbors to the west in Osage County.

“It felt great to get that first win on our home court,” Lansford said. “It took us a little bit to get going. When we started hitting shots and executing our game plan, things just fell into place.”

Chamois took the first lead of the game on a Jaxon Wuelling bucket at the 5:58 mark of the first quarter before a Kohlt Witthaus free throw and an Eldringhoff 3-pointer put Hermann in front 4-2 just over 90 seconds later.

Wuelling answered with two Pirate buckets to tie the game at 6-6 before two Witthaus free throws with 1:18 for the first quarter gave the Bearcats an 8-6 lead after eight minutes of basketball.

“I’m proud of my guys for how hard they played tonight against a bigger school,” Jett said. “We were able to hang with them for a half and then their athleticism wore us down.”

After Eldringhoff’s aforementioned bucket early in the second quarter, Hermann ended the first half on a 14-3 run to double up the visiting Pirates 24-12 at halftime.

Ryker Ash and Eldringhoff each led the Bearcats with seven first-half points apiece.

Wuelling’s six first-quarter points paced the Pirates in the first-half.

Five points from Brayden Cotton and another Wuelling bucket at the start of the second half kept the Pirates within single digits of Hermann at 28-19 with 4:30 for the third quarter.

Ending the quarter on a 13-7 run, the host Bearcats took a 41-26 lead into the fourth quarter sparked by an Eldringhoff corner 3-pointer that splashed home just as the third-quarter buzzer sounded.

Edging the Pirates 10-9 over the final eight minutes, Hermann’s varsity Bearcats gave Lansford a 51-35 victory in his head-coaching debut.

Baking up 13 of his game-high 20 points in the second half, Eldringhoff added five rebounds and three steals to his point total that led all scorers.

Witthaus also reached double digits scoring nine of his 14 points in the second half.

He nearly finished with a double double adding seven rebounds, three steals and an assist to his 14 points.

Ash flirted with a double double chipping in seven points, six rebounds, three assists and a blocked shot for the Bearcats.

Layne Bader added a pair of 3-point shots giving him six points in the Bearcat scoring column to go with seven rebounds, two assists and a steal.

Corbin Sadler and Tayven Hopkins rounded out the Hermann scoring with two points apiece for the Bearcats.

Hopkins also added four rebounds and a blocked shot to go with his fourth-quarter bucket.

Wuelling led the Pirates with 19 points, two rebounds and two steals.

Cotton wound up with a double double of 15 points, 10 rebounds, two blocked shots and a steal for the Osage County swashbucklers.

Levi Weed rounded out the Chamois scoring with a second-quarter free throw for one point.

Kaden Wuelling chipped in two blocked shots and two assists for the Pirates before foul trouble saddled him most of the night.

Lansford’s Bearcats played on the road at Wright City last night (Tuesday) and will return to action after Thanksgiving in the Montgomery County Invitational Boys Basketball Tournament.

Hermann VG vs. Washington

Seeing their junior-varsity counterparts fall 33-26 against Washington, Ashley Aaron’s Hermann varsity Lady Bearcats looked to pick them up with a victory against the visiting Lady Blue Jays in game two of a Friday Highway 100 hoops triple header.

Opening the game on a 15-0 run, Aaron’s Lady Bearcats saw Washington whittle the lead all the way down to two at 35-33 with 1:30 for the third quarter before a 12-4 second-half run put the game away helping Hermann to a 49-42 win in varsity girls action.

“We got off to such a strong start tonight against a good Washington team,” Aaron said. “We crashed the boards for a lot of our points in the first half and I was proud of how our girls responded when our lead got cut to two points in the second half.”

Kimber Hale started the scoring for the Lady Bearcats with a bucket at the 7:45 mark of the first quarter before Madyson Yates and Kealie Lane combined to score the next six points bumping Hermann’s lead to 8-0.

Freshman Andrea VanBooven moved the Lady Bearcat lead into double digits at 10-0 scoring at the 4:23 mark of the opening quarter forcing Washington to burn its second timeout of the first half.

A Brynlee Ash bucket and 3-pointer from Lane capped Hermann’s game-opening 15-0 run before Aaliyah Williams got Washington on the board with a basket at the 1:57 mark of the first quarter.

Consecutive buckets by Ash over the final :46 of the opening quarter helped Hermann to a 19-2 lead after eight minutes of basketball.

In spite of being outscored 17-11 in the second quarter by Washington, Hermann was able to go into halftime with a double-digit lead by a score of 30-19.

Lane showed the way for the Lady Bearcats with nine points and seven rebounds in the opening half while Yates added eight points and eight rebounds of her own.

Being held to one field goal in the third quarter, Hermann was able to go 5-6 from the free-throw line with VanBooven hitting three of them over the final 1:54 of the quarter keeping the Lady Bearcats ahead of the Lady Blue Jays 37-33 with eight minutes of Highway 100 basketball remaining to be played.

Picking up where she left off at the start of the third quarter, VanBooven scored the first four points of the fourth quarter before Lane and Yates combined to scored Hermann’s remaining eight points helping them to a season-opening victory.

One of three Lady Bearcats to secure double doubles in their season opener, Lane led the blue and white with 17 points, 10 rebounds, three steals, three blocked shots and two assists.

Yates also chipped in 12 points while grabbing a game-high 18 rebounds to go with a steal and a blocked shot.

VanBooven marked her varsity debut with a double double of 11 points, 14 rebounds and two blocked shots.

Ash nearly made it four double double for Hermann with seven points, six rebounds, three steals and a blocked shot.

Hale rounded out the Hermann scoring with two points, two assists, two rebounds and a steal.

Olivia Gruber led Washington scoring eight of her 12 points in the second half while also grabbing six rebounds.

Keyanna Littrell also reached double digits for the Lady Blue Jays with 10 points and four rebounds.

Williams nearly made it three Washington girls scoring in double figures with eight points, three rebounds, three steals, two assists and a blocked shot.

Emily Schwoeppe rounded out the Lady Blue Jay scoring with five points, six rebounds, six blocked shots and two steals.

Aaron’s Lady Bearcats hosted Father Tolton’s Lady Trailblazers Monday night and will return to action after Thanksgiving in the Montgomery County Invitational Girls Basketball Tournament.

Hermann JVG vs. Washington

Opening Friday night’s Highway 100 hoops triple header at Hermann High School, Jess Robb’s Hermann JV Lady Bearcats took on Washington’s JV Lady Blue Jays.

Down 6-2 after one quarter, Hermann went on a 9-3 second-quarter run to take an 11-9 lead on a Brooklyn Yates bucket at the 1:50 mark of the first half.

Washington then scored the final four points of the half to leave the JV Lady Bearcats trailing 13-11 at halftime.

Seeing Washington open the second half on an 11-0 run, Hermann got within six points on a Remi Groner basket with 1:04 left.

Unable to get any closer, Hermann ended up on the short end of a 33-26 final score.

Brooklyn Yates led Hermann’s JV Lady Bearcats with nine points, three rebounds, a steal, an assist and a blocked shot.

Groner nearly started the night with a double double finishing with eight points, eight rebounds, three steals and two assists.

Hailey Diebal was next in the scoring column with five points, seven rebounds and three steals.

Lily Korman rounded out the JV Lady Bearcat scoring with four points, a rebound and a steal.

Makayla Dickerson led Washington with a near triple-double effort of eight points, 10 rebounds and six steals.

Quinn Guss also had eight points to share team-high scoring honors with Dickerson.

Hosting St. Francis Borgia’s freshmen Lady Knights Monday night, Robb’s JV Lady Bearcats will return to action after Thanksgiving during the Hermann JV Girls Basketball Tournament starting on Tuesday, Dec. 2.