Eighth-grade Panthers escape with win

Squaring off against Hutchinson Middle School, the Great Bend Middle School 8th-grade basketball teams knew it was going to be a battle.  

When it was crunch time, Alyssa McCauley could not be stopped as the Panthers escaped with a hard-fought 23-21 victory.  McCaulyy and Hutchinson’s Kolbie Craft battled back-and-forth.  Craft scored 14 of Hutchinson’s 21 points.

McCauley tallied 11 points followed by Miya Nachtigal and Kimmy Hofflinger with three each. Tatum Anderson, Denver Ringo and Katherine Mazouch added two points each.  

“Hopefully that is the biggest and lengthiest team we see,” said Great Bend coach Kyle Jeffrey.  “I didn’t think we’d see a team with more overall better size, but we did in the second game of the season. They were very physical. I’m proud of my girls for not backing down. We battled, and did enough to come out on top.”

Great defense set the tone as the Panthers led 7-5 after one quarter. Those points would prove vital as the teams tied 2-2 in the second quarter, 6-6 in the third quarter and 8-8 in the fourth quarter.