The Kearney Bulldog Varsity Boys basketball program is off to a strong start in the 2020-21 season.

*Brennan Watkins led the scoring with 23 points - Photo Courtesy Mac Moore*

The Bulldogs won their first three games, including two in the Savannah Tournament, and have advanced to the championship game. By comparison, last years team did not win its third game last year until over a month into the season.

Kearney began the 2020-2021 season by defeating Chillicothe 61-44 on Monday and then advanced to play St. Joe Benton in the semifinals of the Savannah Tournament.

The Bulldogs struggled to score in the first half and trailed at halftime 20-16. The Bulldogs continued to struggle well into the 3rd quarter where they found themselves trailing by 9.

The Bulldogs were able to get timely stops defensively, and things began to improve on the offensive side of the ball as well. The team was able to get to the freethrow line in the 4th quarter where they made 13 of 15 free throws. This allowed the Bulldogs to recover from being behind for almost the entire contest and go on to win 45-41.

Brennan Watkins led the scoring with 23 points and Ashton Halloway finished with 13 points.

The Bulldogs moved to 3-0 and will face Platte County in the championship game on Saturday, Dec. 5, at 1:00pm at Savannah High School.

The Bulldog Varsity Girls Basketball Team opened their season on the road where they fell to Liberty 41-25.

Kenzi Hoffman scored 14 points, while going 4 for 8 from the three point line. Hoffman also led the team in steals with 3. Shelby Holst scored 9 points, including a shot from three point range.

The Varsity Girls will be in action next week in the Liberty North Tournament where they will play Raytown on Monday, December 7, at 7:00pm.

KPGZ Sports – Jim Dickerson contributed to this story