BY MACK McCLURE
mmcclure@gbtribune.com
EMPORIA — Playing in the consolation bracket can be a hollow thing, especially an 11 a.m. game on Saturday in a midseason tournament a couple hours away from home.
Yet Great Bend High School and Hutchinson brought some intensity to the consolation championship game, giving the Glacier’s Edge Girls Basketball Tournament a different feel other than most matchups for fifth and sixth place.
“Our girls, they actually surprised me,” Great Bend head coach Jason Tatkenhorst said. “They were fired up in the hallway and they wanted that clock to wind down and get this tipoff going, and that’s exciting to see.
“This is kind of the game where a lot of teams kind of just go through the motions. That’s the kind of girls we’ve got. They enjoy being around each other and they enjoy playing basketball together.”
The Lady Panthers and Hutch are definitely the exception. They were ready to get it on, and it was anyone’s game through three quarters, with the Salt Hawks clinging to 38-32. Unfortunately for GBHS, it picked an inopportune time to struggle during the final eight minutes of regulation after Cassidy Tutak connected for a basket from the right wing at the 7:04 mark, closing the gap to 38-34.
It turned out to be the Lady Panthers’ only points for the next six-plus minutes as Hutch went on a 12-0 run to pull away for a 52-37 win.
“Give credit to Hutch,” Tatkenhorst said. “They played a great game, but we went through the whole process of telling the girls, ‘You’ve got to get ready. Don’t take any game for granted, or in March you’re going to regret it. I don’t care if it’s an 11 o’clock game or if we’ve played three games in a row.’
“We’re going to keep fighting and fighting, and we’re going to get to .500, no matter what it takes. There’s so many positives that came out of this tournament and it’s got to help us in February basketball.”
Through the first three quarters, GBHS went toe-to-toe with the Salt Hawks, with the two teams forcing each other into turnovers in a defensive-minded game. Great Bend finished with 19 turnovers and Hutch had 15.
The Lady Panthers, who trailed 25-20 at halftime after Hutch scored the final five points of the first half, got as close as four points on three occasions in the second half.
But the scoreless stretch in the final eight minutes contributed to Great Bend’s downfall.
“The game played to their way,” Tatkenhorst said. “They were able to get the ball into the posts sometimes and they made tough shots.
“We knew we were in trouble in the fourth quarter, when they were already in the one-and-one (bonus). That takes away from our defense a lot.”
Kalie LeShore led the Lady Panthers with 10 points, Lexie Brack scored nine points and Cassidy Tutak finished with six.
“I feel like we’re going to keep working hard, no matter what,” LeShore said. “We’re going to take seriously because that’s how we progress and that’s how we get better.
“Our motto this year is to never give up. We’re not going let anything get us down. We take pride in our defense and work hard all of the time. We do a lot of drills to get us stops.”
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
At Emporia
Glacier’s Edge
Basketball Tournament
Consolation Championship
Game
GIRLS
Saturday
Hutchinson 52, Great Bend 37
GREAT BEND (5-7)
Alexis Brack 4 0-0 9, Kelsey Crosby 0 0-0 0, Katelyn Henning 0 0-0 0, Olivia Basye 1 0-0 3, McKenna Mauler 0 0-0 0, Liz Kutina 0 2-6 2, Kaitlee Spray 0 0-0 0, Jennifer Allende 0 0-0 0, Taycee Bunn 1 0-0 2, Cassidy Tutak 2 2-2 6, Kalie LeShore 3 4-4 10, Jordan Haney 2 1-2 5. Totals 13-45 9-14 37.
HUTCHINSON (3-8)
Brie Zerger 2 0-3 5, Shelby Morford 5 5-6 16, Halie Wilkens 0 0-0 0, Jordan Clark 0 2-2 2, Haley McCue 3 1-1 7, Taylor Mayes 4 0-1 9, Brie Starks 4 5-8 13. Totals 18-38 13-21 52.
Great Bend 11 9 12 5 — 37
Hutchinson 9 15 14 14 — 52
Three-point goals — Great Bend 2 (Brack 1, Basye); Hutch 3 (Mayes, Morford, Zerger).
