The Great Bend High School girls’ basketball team got things got out of hand quick for Garden City.
The Lady Panthers jumped ahead early and coasted to a 69-50 win on Friday night at Panther Fieldhouse.
“Overall, we were really pleased with how the girls came out,” GBHS head coach Carrie Minton said. “We started out the game being really focused. We had defensive pressure. We were shooting the ball real well from the outside, which brought them out of the zone.
“In the second half, we knew we just needed to take care of the ball. We worked things around, and we tried to take it at them.”
The Lady Panthers improve to 14-2 overall, 5-0 in Western Athletic Conference play.
An 11-0 run late in the first quarter set the Lady Panthers apart early on.
A 3-pointer from Kelsie Doll, Kaylie Doll and Lauren Welsch, along with a putback from Morgan Harwood gave Great Bend a 26-12 lead after eight minutes.
The 3s kept raining for Great Bend, and not just from one or two players. The Lady Panthers had eight 3-pointers in the game from seven different players.
“When they’re confident, we can hit those shots,” Minton said. “It’s a great thing our entire team, we’ve said it from the beginning of the year, that as an opposing coach it would be tough to scout our team and determine who you need to stop. When you have seven girls who are confident enough to step up and shoot some 3s and put them down when it matters, that’s what’s important.”
Great Bend road the successful long-distance shooting to a 40-20 lead at halftime.
Garden City started to close the gap in the second half, thanks in part to several trips to the free-throw line, but never got within 11 points of the Lady Panthers.
Unfortunately for the Lady Buffaloes, they dug themselves too large a hole to unearth themselves in the final 16 minutes.
 Morgan Harwood led Great Bend with 19 points.
“Morgan did a great job working inside,” Minton said. “We knew it was going to be a tough night working against their other big girl. Fundamentally, she knew she was going to need to take it to them strong, and she was able to do that.”
Minton is looking ahead toward the Class 5A sub-state tournament.
“Right now, we’re currently holding the No. 1 seed,” Minton said. “Every game is important. Goddard-Eisenhower is sitting at 12-3 going into tonight. They have one more loss than what we had, so we just need to focus on what we can control. We control our own destiny at this point.”

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Western Athletic Conference

GIRLS

Friday

At Great Bend
Panther Fieldhouse

Great Bend 69, Garden City 50
GARDEN CITY (10-6, 3-2)
     Abbie Dart 2 1-2 3, Jacksenie Ternero 2 0-2 4, Taryn Tempel 1 2-4 4, Tionnia McKee 4 3-4 12, Breece Dreiling 2 1-2 5, Jaymie Bernbeck 7 2-4 16, Jessica Carrillo 3 0-0 6. Totals 21 9-18 50.
GREAT BEND (14-2, 5-0)
     Lauren Welsch 2 2-4 7, Hannah Hildebrand 0 2-2 2, Kelsie Doll 1 3-4 6, Kylee Spray 1 1-2 4, Regan Unruh 1 2-4 5, Kaylie Doll 1 4-4 7, McKenna Mauler 2 3-6 9, Tarynn Stueder 3 3-4 8, Morgan Harwood 8 1-4 19, Madison Unruh 1 0-0 2. Totals 20 21-34 69
Garden City    12     8     19    11  —  50
Great Bend     26    14    15    14  —  69
     Three-point goals — Garden City 1 (McKee); Great Bend 8 (M. Mauler 2, Welsch, Ke. Doll, Spray, Unruh, Ka. Doll, Stueder).