By JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com
Great Bend’s good-luck charm Carley Brack delivered the game-winning shot for the second time this season for a 65-64 girls basketball victory Friday over Junction City.
Brack missed the game-tying free throw, but she somehow grabbed the rebound and converted the clinching 12-foot jumper field goal over Blue Jay Ally McKenzie as time expired.
“I didn’t ever think that shot would go in,” said Brack, who was mobbed by teammates. “It was great I could help my team win.”
The Panthers outscored the Blue Jays 11-1 after trailing 63-54 with two minutes left. Carly Dreiling made four free throws and Brack converted a 3-pointer for a 63-61 score with 21 seconds left in regulation. The Blue Jays missed four free throws.
Brack made a free throw and Blue Jay Da’Shawn Battiste made a free throw for a 64-62 lead when Brack was fouled with 3.9 seconds left 80 feet from the Panther basket. Brack converted two free throws in the final seconds to beat Hays High 57-56 last week.
“That was an amazing win. These young ladies are very resilient. They maintain their composure and they never get rattled,” said Great Bend coach Carrie Minton. “Once we gain the momentum, they really build off that. But that ending tonight is something you can’t draw up. We could’ve made things a lot easier had we made more free throws.”
The Panthers converted 29 of 52 free throws. Brack scored 26 points and Dreiling scored 24 points. The Panthers improve to 3-1.
“We wanted to block out on the free throw, but that’s one of those funny bounces that happens,” said Junction City coach Derek Petty. “They shot it in and that was it.”
The Blue Jays swung the momentum by forcing 10 third-quarter turnovers in an 18-4 run to build a 47-38 lead. The Blue Jays trapped the basketball and used their quickness to force 21 Panther turnovers.
“Junction City is a very physical and athletic team and our girls started to get frustrated,” Minton said. “We do drills all the time in practice to simulate that style. Eventually, our girls adjusted. We knew we had to battle out there. But there are definitely a lot of things we need work on.”
McKenzie led the Blue Jays with 13 points and Kealee Rains (12) and A’Kai Fains (11) also scored in double figures. The Blue Jays played with great teamwork and determination, but came up short. The Blue Jays made 13 of 29 free throws.
“That was our best basketball game and we can build on that,” Petty said. “That’s a good basketball team we played that plays to their strengths. We’ll work on our free throws when we practice this week.”
The Panthers committed 10 turnovers in the third period. A’Kia Fains led the Blue Jays’ spurt with back-to-back 3-pointers for a 39-36 lead. The Panthers led by nine points before settling for a 34-31 halftime lead in a fast-paced first half.
The Panthers showed good offensive balance and teamwork while sprinting to a 21-12 lead. But the Blue Jays responded with a 10-1 run for a 22-22 tie by converting several turnovers into easy scores.
• JUNCTION CITY BOYS 65, GREAT BEND 45 – Tyrone Poole led a quick and talented Junction City basketball team past Great Bend with a 23-point effort. Ricardo Erans led the perimeter game with 14 points and big man Nick Arneson added 10 points off the bench. The Blue Jays improve to 2-1.
“Tyrone Poole is capable of playing that type of basketball,” said Junction City coach Pat Battle. “He played really well, but gave us strong leadership and helped us keep organized on offense.”
The Blue Jays rolled to a 20-5 first-quarter lead behind 8 of 14 shooting. Junction City converted a trio of 3-pointers and shot 56 percent the first half. The Great Bend Panthers hung tough the rest of the way, but could never get closer than 11 points at 49-38.
“We did a good job defending because Great Bend has a lot of potential on offense,” Battle said. “Holding them to 45 points was a really good job.”
Great Bend’s Trey Ibarra scored 14 second-half points and leading scorer Cody Crosby scored 13 points. The Panthers trailed 36-20 at halftime behind 5 of 16 field-goal shooting. The Panthers drop to 1-3.
“We had an excellent effort the second half, but we’ve got to start better and defend better at the start of the game,” said Great Bend coach Chris Battin. “We settled for too many jumpers that first half. Once we worked the ball better inside, we played better offense. But we’ve got to get some defensive stops to start the game too. We had a hard time stopping them that first quarter.”
Battin said Junction City is a physically talented team with good balance.
“That’s a good basketball team we lost to tonight,” Battin said. “They started the game hitting shots and never lost the lead.”
GREAT BEND 65, JUNCTION CITY 64
Non league
Junction City 9 22 17 16 — 64
Great Bend 14 20 9 22 — 65
JC – Williams 1-9 0-3 2; Battistke 0-0 1-2 1; Zimmerman 1-1 0-2 2; Kramer 3-6 1-6 7; Wilson 0-2 0-0 0; Jensen 2-4 1-2 5; Alono 2-2 0-0 4; Patty 2-6 0-0 4; McKenzie 4-11 5-8 13; Rains 5-9 1-2 12; Fains 2-3 4-4 10; Bell 2-4 0-0 4; Totals 24-54 13-29 64.
GB — Carley Brack 6-15 11-20 26; Carly Dreiling 4-13 15-19 24; Dunekack 2-15 1-2 5; Unruh 0-0 0-2 0; Kottas 0-1 0-2 0; Burkhart 3-4 0-2 6; Warren 1-7 2-5 4; Totals 16-55 29-50 65.
3-point goals—JC 3-12 (Fains 2-3, Rains 1-3, Bell 0-1, Jensen 0-1, Patty 0-2, Wilson 0-2); GB 3-12 (Brack 2-5, Dreiling 1-4, Kottas 0-1, Dunekack 0-2)
JUNCTION CITY 65, GREAT BEND 45
Non league
Junction City 20 16 10 19 — 65
Great Bend 5 15 14 11 — 45
JC — Poole 7-11 6-9 23; Hall 4-7 0-1 8; Bell 0-3 2-2 2; Baldwin 1-4 1-2 4; Autry 0-1 0-0 0; Erans 6-9 1-2 14; Range 1-1 0-0 2; Orores 0-1 0-0 0; Scott 0-1 0-0 0; Cason 1-3 0-0 2; Arneson 5-7 0-1 10; Totals 25-48 10-17 65.
GB — Trey Ibarra 4-11 5-5 14; Kody Crosby 4-10 5-5 13; Quinton Elliott 1-1 0-0 2; Konner Ireland 0-1 0-0 0; Brayden Smith 2-4 3-6 7; Takota Esfeld 2-3 0-0 6; Jacob Murray 0-4 3-4 3; Totals 13-35 16-20 45.
3-point goals—JC 4-11 (Poole 3-6, Erans 1-3, Baldwin 0-1. Autry 0-1); GB 3-13 (Esfeld 2-3, Ibarra 1-5, Murray 0-1, Ireland 0-1, Crosby 0-3).
