McPherson High's Ashley Sweat packed quite a bit into one day.

It started Saturday morning when she won the Mid America Classic free-throw contest by making 32 of 35.

Then in the Classic's championship game against Hesston, Sweat was unstoppable inside with 25 points to lead the Bullpups to their eighth title in a row, 66-55. She put her early morning free-throw practice to good use, making all 10 of her attempts. She wound up as the tournament's leading scorer with 64 points and was named to the All-Tournament team.

During the second half, Sweat broke the MHS career scoring record when she surpassed Stacey Becker. Sweat now has 1,385 points, with Becker's old mark being 1,379.

“I didn't know (about breaking the record), but I had talked to Marlies (Gipson, former MHS teammate now at Kansas State) and she said, ‘my mom told me that you're close to breaking the scoring record,” Sweat said. “And I was, like, really? I thought I had to be close. It's pretty cool. My name is going to be up there until somebody comes along and scores a lot of points.”

The Bullpups were never seriously threatened, though Hesston had to be given an “A” for effort. Down 31-9 at one point and 39-21 at the half, the Swathers played lights-out in the second half to actually get as close as 55-48, but time and energy simply ran out on them, as they lost in the finals to MHS for the third year in a row and fifth time in the last six years. It was Hesston's final appearance in the tournament after 11 years, as it exits along with Moundridge.

“They sure didn't quit,” said MHS coach Chris Strathman, whose team is now 10-3 on the year. “Liz Wray is a little jitterbug, she's a fireball who got them going. They hit some shots from outside and had a big run on us. But I'm proud of our kids for the way they ended the game, taking care of the ball and hitting some free throws.”

The Swathers didn't have an answer for Sweat, Jordi James and Brette Ulsaker. James, who could easily have joined Sweat and Ulsaker on the All-Tournament Team, finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while Ulsaker canned 6 of 7 free throws on her way to 13 points and again sparkled with 6 assists and 6 steals. The Bullpups as a team made 26 of 35 at the line and committed only 10 turnovers.

“That was good for us tonight to have to withstand a rally like that,” Strathman said. “The kids did a nice job and hopefully this will give us momentum for the rest of the season.”

Julia Carlton led Hesston with 15 points and Wray, another all-tourney pick, added 13. After shooting just 32 percent in the first half, the Swathers picked it up to finish the game at 39, and actually outscored MHS 34-27 in the second half. Lauren Raleigh, a pre-game focal point by Strathman, was held to 6 by James, who in the semifinals had silenced Goddard's Elizabeth Friesen to 10 points after she had scored 32 in the previous game.

“We just kept chipping away, chipping away and chipping away,” said Hesston coach Matt Richardson, whose team is now 10-3. “We were finally able to get away from that McPherson trap and be able to attack the basket and get some better shots. We just didn't have any legs. Thursday night really took a lot out of us and took a toll on us.”

The victory was MHS' 24th straight in the Classic.