HAYS — Great Bend High School’s girls’ basketball team led throughout the first half against Colby on Thursday afternoon during the Hays City Shoot-out.
That didn’t stop Colby from outscoring the Lady Panthers 10-5 in the third quarter to enter the final eight minutes tied at 35.
Great Bend’s McKenna Mauler responded by scoring 12 of her game-high 14 points in the fourth quarter to bury Colby 58-48.
“Obviously, we were happy to walk away with a win,” GBHS head coach Carrie Minton said. “There were a lot of things that you’d expect to see from a team that’s playing their first game.
“Overall, we were really happy with the girls and how they performed.”
The Lady Panthers advance to a semifinal game today at 3 p.m. against the winner of the Garden City-Thomas More Prep Marian game.
Great Bend took several opportunities to shoot free throws in the game.
The Lady Panthers were 23-for-38 from the line.
Mauler went 6-for-6 from the free-throw line, and Regan Unruh, who finished with 10 points, went 6-for-7 from the charity stripe.
Colby wasn’t the only team to foul. Minton said that their opponent got back into the game while several of her players were on the bench due to foul trouble.
“We had to make some adjustments,” Minton said. “We played aggressive on defense and we got into foul trouble. In the fourth quarter, we went back to being aggressive. We made a few 3s and opened things up for our offense to get inside and draw fouls.”

                                                — Kevin Price

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Hays City Shootout

GIRLS

Thursday

At Hays
Hays Middle School

Great Bend 58, Colby 48
GREAT BEND (1-0)
     Kacee Kasselman 0 0-0 0, Lauren Welsch 1 0-3 2, Hannah Hildebrand 1 1-4 3, Kylee Spray 2 1-3 6, Regan Unruh 2 6-7 10, Mariah Stein 0 0-0 0, Kaylie Doll 1 2-4 4, McKenna Mauler 3 6-6 14, Tarynn Stueder 2 4-7 8, Hannah Mauler 1 2-2 4, Morgan Harwood 3 1-2 7. Totals 16 23-38 58.
COLBY
     Brenly Terrell 2 4-6 8, Haileigh Shull 3 5-9 11, Brooklyn Bange 1 2-2 4, Lana Stephens 2 1-2 5, Brielle McKee 2 0-0 4, Hannah Strange 2 2-5 6, Shaila Giebler 4 0-0 8, Abby Friesen 0 0-0 0, Hailey Schinder 0 0-0 0, Kelly Sloan 1 0-0 2. Totals 17 14-24 48.
Great Bend    16    14     5    23  —  58
Colby    12    13    10    13  —  48
     Three-point goals — Great Bend 3 (M. Mauler 2, Spray); Colby (none).