BY JIM MISUNAS

jmisunas@gbtribune.com

SALINA — Defending Salina Invitational champion Great Bend breezed past Wamego 54-28 Thursday to move into Friday's 12:30 semifinal against Buhler at Kansas Wesleyan.

Great Bend beat Andover High 61-45 for last year's Salina Invitational championship.

Veteran Jacob Hall led the way with 18 points off a nice mix of inside and outside scoring. Jaxon Wondra played superbly scoring a career high 11 points and Daxton Minton added eight points in addition to his stylish ballhandling and passing.

Wamego scored the first basket when Minton tossed in a 3-pointer as the Panthers never lost control.

"When Daxton hit that first 3-pointer, it's a good feeling," said Great Bend coach Kyle Kriegh. "Daxton is a competitor." 

Great Bend (6-5) held Wamego to 9-41 shooting (22%) and 3-21 (14%) on 3-pointers to allow the Panthers to play the reserves in the fourth quarter.

"Cooper Ohnmacht and Daxton played good defense on the ball that set the tone," Kriegh said. "Jaxon played well. Jaxon never has a bad day. He goes to work every day. He's unselfish, a fun player to coach."

On offense, the Panthers played at a steady pace and earned quality shots from the paint all the way past the 3-point stripe.

Defensively, Great Bend shut down Wamego's inside scorers and held the Red Raiders to 14% perimeter shooting.

Reed McDiffett led Wamego (3-10) with 12 points and Joel Schiel added seven points.

Wamego 5 9 5 9 — 28

Great Bend 17 14 17 6 — 54

WAMEGO (3-10)—McDiffett 4-10 (2-5) 2-2 12; Schiel 1-6 (1-5) 4-4 7; Winter 0-7 (0-6) 0-0 0; Tupps 0-5 (0-4) 1-2 1; Kueker 3-7 (0-1) 0-0 6; Doll 1-3 0-0 2; Linn 0-3 0-2 0; Totals 9-41 (3-21) 8-10 28

GREAT BEND (6-5)—Jacob Hall 8-13 (1-3) 1-1 18; Wondra 4-6 (0-1) 3-4 11; Minton 3-4 (1-2) 1-1 8; Alec Premer 2-6 (1-4) 1-1 6; Price 2-3 0-0 4; Ohnmacht 1-6 (1-5) 0-0 3; Stroup 1-5 (0-1); Fanshier 1-1 0-0 2; Contreras (0-1) 0-0 0; Totals 22-45 (4-18) 6-7 54

SALINA INVITATIONAL BOYS

1-26—1ST—Great Bend 7-5 vs. Salina South 9-4, 7:30; 3RD—Buhler 8-5 vs. Salina Central 7-7 4:30; 5TH—Wamego 4-10 vs. DeSoto, 7:30; 7TH—Abilene vs. Wichita South, 4:30

SECOND ROUND—Great Bend 58, Buhler 49; Salina South 58, Salina Central 53; Wamego 57, Abilene 43; DeSoto 56, Wichita South 51

FIRST ROUND—Salina South 64, Wichita South 53; Salina Central 61, DeSoto 57; Buhler 63, Abilene 47; Great Bend 54, Wamego 28

SALINA SOUTH GIRLS 54, GREAT BEND 48 — Even though Great Bend's girls trailed by double digits all night against Salina South, the Panthers played with a 4-quarter intensity for the first time all season in a 54-48 setback Thursday.

The Panthers played with an underdog mentality that surprised the Cougars, which routed Great Bend 47-18 on Jan. 6.

Three weeks later, Great Bend kept battling, pushing the final deficit to six points.

Alex Mayers scored 18 points with four 3-pointers playing with the confidence of a veteran, Chayla Prendergast celebrated her birthday by scoring 11 points, including four points on offensive rebounds.

Prendergast's aggressive defense frustrated South 6-3 standout Paityn Fritz, who scored 23 points off 6 of 18 field goals. Fritz made 11 of 18 free throws thanks to friendly officiating that rewarded her for initiating contact to draw fouls. One time, Fritz made a free throw after a shot-clock violation was apparently missed.

"Chayla was a rock star tonight," said Great Bend coach Jade Winter. "It was Chayla's goal to give her a run for her money. Paityn was pouting a little bit tonight."

The Cougars outscored the Panthers 11-2 on free throws and converted a few transition scores off open-court Panther turnovers.

"Take away their fast-break points, and that's a win," said Winter. "We put four quarters together tonight and played well."

Great Bend launched a season high 63 field goals, making 20 (32%) by taking shots that were available. The Panthers shot 6 of 25 on 3-pointers (24%) to outscore the Cougars 18-15.

South's Kyla Hamel scored 15 points with a trio of 3-pointers.

Great Bend 12 7 10 19 — 48

Salina South 19 10 10 9 — 54

GREAT BEND (2-9)—Alex Mayers 7-15 (4-10) 0-1 18; Chayla Prendergast 5-7 1-2 11; McCauley 3-13 (2-8) 0-2 8; Meredith Mazouch 2-9 (0-2) 1-2 5; Hogan 2-8 (0-3) 0-0 4; Katherine Mazouch1-3 0-0 2; Stevie Mayers 0-3 0-0 0; Ringo 0-5 (0-2) 0-0 0; Totals 20-63 (6-25) 2-7 48

SALINA SOUTH (10-3)—Fritz 6-18 11-18 (0-3) 23; Hamel 6-9 (3-4) 0-0 15; Barth 1-7 0-0 2; Jordan 1-5 (0-1) 0-2 2; Moss 2-7 (1-6) 0-0 5; Dailey 2-2 (1-1) 0-0 5; Crow 1-6 (0-2) 0-0 2; Totals 19-54 (5-19) 11-20 54

SALINA GIRLS INVITATIONAL

1-26—1ST—Wichita East 10-3 vs. Wamego 12-1, 5; 3RD—Salina South 10-4 vs. Salina Central 7-7, 3; 5TH—Great Bend 3-9 vs. Buhler 6-7, 5; 7TH—Abilene 3-9 vs. Junction City 1-11, 3

SECOND ROUND—Wichita East 59, Salina South 22; Wamego 43, Salina Central 34; Great Bend 60, Abilene 36; Buhler 46, Junction City 39

FIRST ROUND—Wamego 58, Junction City 20; Salina Central 56, Buhler 24; Salina South 54, Great Bend 48; Wichita East 76, Abilene 23