BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
Bless their hearts!
Great Bend's girls went down battling, contesting every shot and outrebounding the Liberal Redskins.
Great Bend's Ashlyn Harbaugh scored eight points in an inspired effort. Point guard Sydney Unruh passed to Candice Smith, Sadie Spray and twice to Halle Latham for baskets in a strong floor game with five points. Smith celebrated her Homecoming Queen honor with six points.
"Outrebounding the other team is a focus," said Great Bend coach Cindy Beck. "It's good whenever you achieve some goals. Sydney sees the floor and attacks the basket. Sydney did a nice job."
But the defending Western Athletic champions wore down the Panthers 62-39 in Friday's WAC basketball showdown. Liberal guard Ashley Carrillo was everywhere with 20 points, steals and assists. Bree Hornya powered over and through Panther defenders for 14 points.
Liberal outscored the Panthers 15-13 on 3-pointers and 13-8 from the free throw line. Carrillo scored 14 first-half points in a dominating 16 minutes. Liberal led 30-18 by holding the Panthers to 7 of 30 first-half shooting.
In brief stretches, the Panthers outplayed the Redskins. Harbaugh, Latham and Smith scored for a 6-2 second-quarter scoring run. Smith scored twice and Spray converted for six points to start the second half.
"We had spurts of really good basketball," Beck said. "We had defensive stops. We have to put those pieces together. We have to play that way more consistently, closer to a full game."
The Panthers kept firing with 15 of 54 field goal shooting, 1 of 16 from 3-point range. Latham converted the Panthers' 3-pointer.
Liberal's aggressive full-court and half-court defense created scoring issues for the Panthers.
The Panthers (5-8, 0-4 WAC) journey to Buhler (3-11) Tuesday. The Panthers own the fourth-best record in the 5A Salina basketball substate.
"They're a determined group of girls," Beck said. "We've got to keep our heads up. We need to finish strong. We'll get there."
Liberal 21 9 16 16 — 62
Great Bend 6 12 14 5 — 39
LIBERAL (11-3, 3-2)—Carrillo 7-15 4-6 20, Hornya 4-11 5-7 14, Warden 3-10 2-2 8, Hallman 2-4 2-2 6, Payton 2-3 0-0 5, Hatcher 3-6 0-0 7, Dodge 1-5 0-0 2, Contreras 1-5 0-0 2, Hay 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 22-55 13-17 62
GREAT BEND (5-8, 0-4)—Harbaugh 3-10 2-5 8, Smith 3-7 0-0 6, Latham 2-8 0-0 5, Sydney Unruh 2-9 1-4 5, Warren 1-3 2-4 4, Kaiser 1-2 0-0 2, Emilee Hall 1-3 0-0 2, Spray 1-3 0-0 2, Hannah Loomis 0-0 1-2 1, Elliott 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 15-54 8-17 39
3-pointers—L 5-19 (Carrillo 2-6, Payton 1-2, Hornya 1-3, Dodge 1-3, Hay 0-1, Hallman 0-1, Contreras 0-3); GB 1-16 (Latham 1-6, Hall 0-1, Elliott 0-1, Harbaugh 0-1, Kaiser 0-1, Unruh 0-6)
