WICHITA — One game after a career highlight, Great Bend’s Carly Dreiling departed with a knee injury and the Panthers’ upset hopes left with her.
No. 5 ranked Wichita Bishop Carroll stormed past the Great Bend Panthers 61-33 in Wednesday’s Class 5A basketball substate semifinal. The Eagles (17-4) will travel 211 miles to Liberal (17-4) for Friday’s substate championship.
Dreiling converted a 3-pointer one game after a career best 28-point game against Hays High. A minute later, she collapsed to the floor holding her left knee as the Eagles scored on uncontested basket for a 19-9 lead.
The Eagles finished the half on a 15-4 run for a 34-15 lead. Wichita Carroll launched 60 field goal attempts while Great Bend managed 29 field goal attempts with extra possessions off turnovers and offensive rebounds.
Great Bend coach Carrie Minton spoke emotionally when discussing Dreiling’s value.
“She has been our rock and it was extremely unfortunate,” Minton said. “We had to compete without our best competitor. It made for a rough go. We struggled to find our identity.”
Brynn Maul sparked the Eagles with a trio of 3-pointers for a 17-6 lead despite seven of 19 first-quarter shooting. Maul led the Eagles with 18 points and Whitney Bockover added 14 points off 7 of 11 shooting.
Carroll knocked down 4 of 21 3-pointers, but the Eagles complimented that with an effective fast break fueled by 26 Panther turnovers.
Time-after-time, the Eagles scored easy points in transition by converting turnovers off effective half-court and full-court pressure defense.
“Once they got the lead, they got comfortable,” Minton said.
The Panthers played effective half-court defense, but faced a challenge collecting the long rebounds off the 3-point attempts.
“We wanted them to take shots outside the paint, but what hurt us was the offensive boards and the putback points,” Minton said.
The Panthers (11-10) had their highlights with an energetic effort. Carley Brack fed assists to Brooklyn Burkhart and Camryn Dunekack for scores. Brack swatted a Carroll shot out of bounds. Keely Ireland and Brack also converted 3-pointers. The Panthers lost in the first round of substate for the third straight year.
Dunekack made a return from her own knee injury with a solid eight-point night. Carley Brack added seven points in addition to a solid floor game. The Panthers converted 5 of 15 from 3-point range.
Carroll’s defensive quickness proved too much to handle. Eight Eagles scored points.
The Eagles’ strong play left no doubt in Minton’s mind that Carroll will beat Liberal. The Panthers split two games with Liberal.
“If Carroll plays like that, they’ll have a great chance to beat Liberal,” Minton said.
GB 6 9 12 6 — 33
Carroll 17 17 19 8 — 61
GREAT BEND—Camryn Dunekack 3-7 0-3 8; Carly Dreiling 1-3 0-0 3; Carley Brack 2-6 2-2 7; Kate Warren 2-5 0-0 4; Brooklyn Burkhart 1-1 3-4 5; Shailey Clark 1-3 1-2 3; Keely Ireland 1-3 0-0 3; Allison Neeland 0-1 0-0 0; Totals 11-29 6-11 33.
CARROLL—Maul 5-10 5-5 18; Bockover 7-11 0-0 14; Schuckman 3-7 0-0 6; McFarren 2-8 0-0 4; McCorry 4-7 0-0 8; Landwer 3-7 0-0 7; Ho 1-5 0-0 2; Hageman 1-3 0-0 0; Kerschen 0-2 0-0 0; 26-60 5-5 61.
3-point goals—GB 5-15 (Dunekack 2-5, Dreiling 1-2, Ireland 1-3, Brack 1-4, Neeland 0-1). Carroll 4-21 (Maul 3-5, Landwehr 1-5, Schuckman 0-1, McCorry 0-1, Bockover 0-4, McFarren 0-5).
5A SUBSTATE
SEMIFINAL--Wichita Carroll 61, Great Bend 33; Liberal 36, Arkansas City 28
FRIDAY'S CHAMPIONSHIP--Wichita Carroll (17-4) at Liberal (17-4)
