No better time than the present to play your best quarter of the season, right?
The coast-to-coast ways of Jai Chapman helped Liberal High School build a 25-22 halftime lead over Great Bend during Friday night’s Homecoming and Western Athletic Conference game at Panther Fieldhouse.
How would the Lady Panthers respond? By recording the highest-scoring output of the season in an impressive 73-41 victory, which included GBHS playing its finest eight minutes of the season during the third quarter. The 24-4 surge during that decisive stretch included half of the points coming in multiples of three, and Great Bend tacked on 27 points in the final eight minutes to win going away.
“We shot fairly poorly from the free-throw line, only about 30 percent in the first half,” said GBHS head coach Carrie Minton, whose team finished 16 for 43. “There really wasn’t anything else to fix, other than hitting some free throws and getting those easy buckets underneath.”
The Lady Redskins (3-12 overall, 0-4 WAC) wilted against Great Bend’s unrelenting full-court pressure, committing a whopping 35 turnovers. The trap press also included a wrinkle, with a rotation of two Lady Panthers defenders blanketing Chapman, a dash-in-a-flash guard, trying to deny her the basketball.
“It was a variation of a man-to-man (full-court press),” Minton said. “We always run some form of a man press, and it was just easy early on to recognize that the easiest way Liberal got the ball down the floor was to get the ball to Chapman.
“We asked our girls step up and allow that not to happen, and it made the rest of the game a lot easier. It wasn’t a set press. It was just kind of a matchup, depending on where their players were lined up.”
Tarynn Stueder, a junior forward, scored 11 of her game-high 15 points for the Lady Panthers (9-5, 3-1) during second-half action. Junior wing Kylee Spray added 11 of her 13 points and junior center Morgan Harwood scored 10 of her 13 after the break.
Chapman, the daughter of former Kansas State defensive back and kick returner Lamar Chapman, scored nine first-half points, but was held without a field goal in the second half and finished with 10 after the Lady Panthers’ concerted defensive effort.
Stueder gave the Lady Panthers a 27-25 lead in the third quarter, starting their flurry of three-point plays by converting one at the 6:37 mark.
Harwood added a second three-point play at the 5:57 mark for a 32-27 lead. It also started a 14-2 Lady Panthers streak to end the period.
Stueder then converted her second three-point play, at the 2:25 mark and, for good measure, Spray buried a 3-pointer from the right wing.
The Lady Panthers, leading 46-29 after three quarters, continued their onslaught during the final eight minutes.
Great Bend returns to action on Tuesday night, hosting Buhler in non-conference play.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL

Western Athletic Conference

GIRLS

Friday

At Great Bend

Panther Fieldhouse

Great Bend High School 73, Liberal 41

LIBERAL (3-12, 0-4)

     Kelly Ramirez 1 0-1 2, Jasmine Hernandez 0 4-4 4, Alicia Collins 1 0-1 2, Stephanie Sanchez 1 0-0 2, Jai Chapman 3 3-8 10, Mariela Nunez 3 0-0 8, Megan Larkin 2 0-0 4, Kambrie Long 2 0-0 4, Carley Shelton 0 0-0 0, Marisol Regalado 2 1-2 5. Totals 15 8-16 41.

GREAT BEND (9-5, 3-1)

     Lauren Welsch 1 1-4 3, Hannah Hildebrand 1 2-4 4, Kelsie Doll 2 1-4 5, Kylee Spray 5 2-5 13, Regan Unruh 2 1-3 5, Kaylie Doll 3 2-5 8, McKenna Mauler 0 0-0 0, Tarynn Stueder 6 2-7 15, Hannah Mauler 0 0-0 0, Kalee Maneth 1 0-0 3, Morgan Harwood 4 5-11 13, Madison Unruh 2 0-0 4. Totals 27 16-43 73. 

Liberal    11  14   4  12   —   41

GBHS      10 12  24  27   —   73

     Three-point goals — Great Bend 3 (Stueder, Spray, Maneth); Liberal 3 (Nunez 2, Chapman). Total fouls — Liberal 32, Great Bend 15. Fouled out — Liberal (Larkin, Shelton, Regalado).