BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
Great Bend’s basketball teams will celebrate the New Year with a Western Athletic Conference home opener that starts a league double round-robin.
The No. 9 6A Garden City boys (7-0) will challenge the Great Bend boys (3-3), who are coming off a thrilling 66-65 upset over previously unbeaten Emporia before a wild crowd. Standout freshman sensation Ian Premer led the victory with a 22-point second half.
Great Bend features a veteran corp of Tyler Stuhlsatz, Cayden Scheuerman, Maddox Spray, Braylon Council and Carter Coombs. Stuhlsatz and Scheuerman also delivered clutch plays against Emporia.
“We’ll be ready to roll. We want to be competive in the WAC,” said Great Bend coach Kyle Kriegh. “You don’t want to lose to the league teams. You’ve got to take it one game at a time.”
Great Bend and Garden City both won WAC road games last year.
The Buffaloes have beaten four Colorado teams, Wichita East, Scott City and Wichita Word of Life with one of the best starts in school history. The Buffaloes have used effective fullcourt pressure and showed off a 1-3-1 defense against Wichita East.
On paper, Garden City will appear poised to challenge perennial WAC champion Hays High for the title with a fast-paced aggressive defensive style. The Buffaloes feature a trio of talented players — 6-3 Jace Steinmetz (22 ppg, 4 assists); 6-4 Caleb Wiese (12 ppg, 6 rpg) and 6-4 Jace Underwood (9 ppg, 10 rpg) along with point guard Iziah Salinas (4 assists).
“Steinmetz is a shooter with range who’s tough to defend,” Kriegh said. “We’ve got to pressure him and don;t give him any space. They run a high-low offense and their post guys do a good job. We’ve got to play good team defense. They’ve got some lights-out shooters. They do a variety of things defensively.”
GREAT BEND GIRLS — Great Bend’s girls (4-2) lost 45-39 to state-ranked Emporia in December. The Panthers feature versatile standout Sadie Spray (18 ppg, 6 steals) and Emilee Hall (8 ppg, 5 rpg) on a team that’s played effective defense. Turnovers have been an issue at times.
“A lot of our offense will go through those two young ladies,” said Great Bend coach Cindy Beck. “Teams know what we’re trying to do. We have to adjust. Sadie and Emilee will see different matchups and defenses. We need a few others to step up and be threats. We have to develop confidence to hit a shot.”
Garden City’s girls (3-4) feature Aileen Becerril and Amaya Gallegos scoring in double figures. Both players gave the Panthers trouble last year.
“We want to play our game and make the other team uncomfortable,” Beck said. “We want to come out strong and compete for the WAC title. We want to play consistent game-in and game-out. Garden City is a good athletic team.”
Liberal and Hays High are pegged as the preseason WAC favorites.
