EMPORIA — This has been a trying season for the Great Bend High School Lady Panthers, who had the titanic task of taking on Olathe South Thursday evening at the Glacier’s Edge Girls Basketball Tournament.
Olathe South, ranked No. 2 in Class 6A behind defending state champion Wichita Heights in the latest Kansas Basketball Coaches Association poll, flexed its muscle in an opening-round game. The Falcons soared past the Lady Panthers 68-32.
“In Class 6A, that’s the best basketball that’s played in Kansas,” Great Bend head coach Jason Tatkenhorst said. “We know we were in for a tough game, and we talked to our girls about that.”
Great Bend drops into a losers’ bracket game today at 4:45 against host Emporia, which lost to Hutchinson 66-57.
Olathe South (10-0), which plays Hutch in the semifinals tonight at 7:45, has advanced to the state tournament in each of the past seven seasons, winning it all in 2010 and placing third two other times.
So it didn’t come as much of a surprise when the Falcons built a 24-9 lead after one quarter and 44-19 at halftime in never looking back.
After all, Olathe South is one of the elite all-class programs.
“You never go in feeling bad or feeling sorry for yourself,” Tatkenhorst said of his team’s Herculean task. “It’s all about going in to a game or a test and having confidence in yourself.
“Sure, we made mistakes, but our girls battled.”
Guard Alex Hugo, a 5-foot-8 senior, led Olathe South with 21 points. Bailey Rhinehart, a 5-9 sophomore, and Kylee Kopatich, a 5-10 freshman, added 12 points apiece for the Falcons.
“It’s a work in progress,” Olathe South head coach Steve Ingram said of his team building for another state tourney run. “There are some things that we can get better at.
“We’re on our way, but we will have a tough February. Our league schedule is loaded. Olathe Northwest, Olathe East … a lot of really good teams. We played the bottom half of the league in January. Now we will be playing the top half of our league.”
Hugo scored 16 of her points in the first half, including 10 in the first quarter, where Great Bend turned the ball over on seven of its first 10 trips in falling behind 15-4 at the three-minute mark.
Emily Cruse, a 5-6 senior guard, totaled a career-high nine points for the Lady Panthers. Morgan Harwood, a 5-10 sophomore post player, added all five of her points during the opening quarter.
Things started slipping away shortly thereafter.
“The girls understand that they need to handle the ball and move better without the basketball,” Tatkenhorst said. “They know they can do it better and they get frustrated when they’re not doing that.
“We don’t have a 6-2 girl that can jump in there and get rebounds. That means we have to do things the right way and box-out better. When we leave Emporia, we want to be a better basketball team. It’s all about basketball for these three days, and we plan on winning a game (today).”
HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Glacier’s Edge Tournament
At Emporia
Emporia High School
Thursday
GIRLS
Olathe South 68, Great Bend 32
OLATHE SOUTH (10-0)
Sarah Finks 0 0-0 0, Vickie Dolan 2 0-0 4, Megan Balcom 2 1-2 5, Brittany Luton 0 1-2 1, Riley White 2 0-0 4, Alex Hugo 9 3-8 21, Bailey Wilkes 0 1-2 1, Kylee Kopatich 5 1-2 12, Samantha Samskey 1 1-2 3, Bailey Rinehart 4 4-5 12, Jordan Morton 2 1-2 5. Totals 27 13-25 68.
GREAT BEND (1-10)
Brandi Schneider 1 0-0 3, Emily Cruse 4 1-2 9, Olivia Basye 0 0-0 0, Katelyn Henning 1 1-3 3, Hannah Hildebrand 0 0-2 0, Elizabeth Kutina 1 1-2 3, Regan Unruh 0 0-0 0, Kaylie Doll 0 1-2 1, McKenna Mauler 1 1-2 4, Tarynn Stueder 0 0-2 0, Morgan Harwood 2 1-3 5, Kelsey Crosby 2 0-3 4. Totals 12 6-23 32.
Great Bend 9 10 4 9 — 32
Olathe South 24 20 20 4 — 68
Three-point goals — Great Bend 2 (Schneider, Mauler); Olathe South 1 (Kopatich). Total fouls — Olathe South 19, Great Bend 19. Fouled out — None.
Glacier’s Edge Girls
Basketball Tournament
At Emporia
Emporia High School
Thursday
Opening round
Maize 60, Wichita Northwest 31
Highland Park 38, Shawnee Heights 34
Olathe South 68, Great Bend 32
Hutchinson 66, Emporia 57
