SIDNEY – The Lady Raiders and Red Raiders opened the Sidney Holiday Shootout Friday afternoon with blowout wins over Lexington to advance to Saturday’s championship games. The Lady Raiders held the Minutemaids to just five first half points on the way to a 54-18 semifinal win. The Red Raiders turned a slow start into a running clock in the fourth period for a 65-25 win to move into the championship game.

Kayla Westby nailed a three pointer just 17 seconds into the game to catapult the Lady Raiders to a 17-4 first quarter lead. The Lady Raider defense forced 24 first-half turnovers while holding Lexington to a single point in the second period to take a 33-5 lead into intermission. Sidney cruised through the Second half for the win.

Kayla Westby paced the Lady Raiders with a trio of three pointers and finishing with 16 points while Taylor Sprenger knocked down a pair of triples to finish with 10 points.

The Red Raiders trailed the Lexington Minutemen 7-6 early in the game until Keian Kaiser’s three pointer with 3:56left in the first quarter to give Sidney a lead they would not relinquish. Sidney, who led 15-10 after the first period, held Lexington scoreless for over 10 minutes in the first half to take a 31-12 lead into halftime.

Keian Kaiser led the Red Raiders with 16 points, Alek Doty added 12 points in the win. Kash Knobbe chipped in nine points off the bench as Sidney improved to 7-0 on the season.

The Lady Raiders will face Fillmore Central in the championship game at 1:00 p.m. The Lady Panthers defeated Chace County 54-42 to advance to the tournament finale. The Red Raiders will follow at 2:30 p.m. against Fillmore Central in the boy’s championship game at 2:30 p.m. The Panthers handled Chase County 68-52 in the semifinals.

Both championship games will air on Cheyenne County Country (1340 AM, 95.7 FM), newschannnelnebraska.com and the free NCN app.