HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
At Hays
Hays City Shoot-Out
First round
Felten Middle School
GIRLS
Thursday’s game
Colby 35, Great Bend 21
GREAT BEND (0-1)
Brandi Schneider 1 0-0 2, Lexie Brack 2 0-0 4, Kelsey Crosby 0 0-0 0, Katelyn Henning 0 0-0 0, Olivia Basye 0 0-0 0, Liz Kutina 1-1 0-0 2, Kaitlee Spray 0 0-0 0, Jennifer Allende 0 0-2 0, Taycee Bunn 0 0-0 0, Cassidy Tutak 2 1-2 5, Kalie LeShore 1 0-0 2, Morgan Harwood 0 0-0 0, Jordan Haney 2 2-2 6. Totals 9 3-6 21.
COLBY (1-0)
Kayla Hockersmith 3-5 0-1 6, Kelsey Shields 3 0-0 6, Kat. Kaus 1 5-8 7, Kath. 2 4-6 9, Kenzie Curry 0 0-0 0, Morgan Bell 0 1-2 1, Emilea Finley 1 0-0 2, Lauren Bell 1 2-2 4. Totals 11 12-19 35.
Colby 4 7 8 16 — 35
Great Bend 4 5 8 4 — 21
Three-point goals — Colby 1 (Kath. Kaus); Great Bend (none). Total fouls — Great Bend 18, Colby 10. Fouled out — None.
HAYS — Points were at a premium, and Great Bend High School and Colby spent much of Thursday’s opener getting floor burns in the rough-and-tumble opening-round girls game of the Hays City Shoot-Out.
In a matchup where both teams struggled mightily shooting the basketball, Colby finally hit its stride early in the fourth quarter at the Felten Middle School gymnasium.
Katherine Kaus of the Lady Eagles drained a 3-pointer from the right wing with 5:40 remaining, giving Colby a 28-21 lead, the initial points of a 10-0 game-ending run in a 35-21 victory over Great Bend.
“I kept thinking that one of us was going to hit a 3, and it was a dagger for us,” Great Bend head coach Jason Tatkenhorst said of Kaus’ trey, the only one in the game by either team.
Great Bend made only 9 of 33 field goals in the game (27.3 percent) and was outrebounded 26-18. The loss sends the Lady Panthers into the consolation bracket today at 4 against Thomas More-Prep Marian. Those two teams played in Thursday’s 9:15 game.
“It was a struggle to get a good shot and when we did, we didn’t convert,” Tatkenhorst deadpanned. “We were hoping to hit some shots late and we didn’t.
“We’ve got to find a way to get to the rim and get some baskets.”
Great Bend scored the first four points of the game, with Cassidy Tutak hitting a basket from the left wing and Jordan Haney scoring at the 6:51 mark.
But the Lady Panthers went scoreless the remainder of the quarter as Colby tied the game at 4.
It was 11-9 at halftime, with Lauren Bell scoring four first-half points and Tutak, Great Bend’s top returning scorer, sitting on the bench with two fouls.
Still, GBHS was right there.
“In the first half, our defense was excellent,” Tatkenhorst said. “In the second half, our defense was very good.”
Still, it came down to not being able to put the ball in the hole.
But not before Lexie Brack hit a breakaway layup, giving GBHS a 13-11 lead with 4:55 left in the third quarter.
Colby’s Kayla Hockersmith knotted the score at 13 with a basket from the left wing.
Shortly thereafter, Haney’s basket with 1:42 left in the quarter tied the game at 15 before teammate Kalie LeShore hit a breakaway layup with 48.2 seconds left in the period, giving Great Bend its last lead at 17-15.
But Colby scored the final four points of the quarter, including a breakaway layup by Emilea Finley, who emerged from a scramble and beat the buzzer, hitting the shot with 0.8 seconds showing on the clock, making it 19-17.
The Lady Eagles then cut loose for a 16-4 burst in the final eight minutes to pull away.
