HAYS — The Great Bend High School girls’ basketball team played just how you’d expect the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association’s No. 8 team in Class 5A would play on Tuesday night against Hays.
The Lady Panthers strutted to a 70-43 victory over their Western Athletic Conference rivals.
Great Bend improves to 6-1 overall, 2-0 in WAC action.
“We know every year that the WAC is going to be tough,” GBHS head coach Carrie Minton said. “It’s always nice to get a conference victory on the road.
“Hays is always going to battle hard because of the rivalry between these two teams. I was real proud of our girls playing hard for 32 minutes.”
It started quick for the Lady Panthers.
Great Bend opened things with a 5-0 run and ended the first quarter on a 9-1 run to hold a overwhelming 21-8 lead after eight minutes.
The Lady Panthers opened that up to a 44-20 lead at halftime after Lauren Welsch put in a 3-pointer at the buzzer.
Welsch scored a season-high 14 points in the first half alone, though didn’t add to the total in the second half.
Morgan Harwood finished with 13 points, scoring eight in the first half.
Great Bend was aided by eight Lady Indians turnovers in the first quarter alone.
“We knew coming out that we wanted to  put pressure on them,” Minton said, “and that starts with our defense being aggressive. They did that, and we were able to get those turnovers.
“Lauren Welsch came off the bench and took care of a lot of the scoring for us.”
The Lady Panthers finished with eight 3-pointers, something Minton said she was pleased to see.
“We had eight 3s, which is good,” Minton said. “We’ve kind of struggled trying to pull people out of zones this season, and we were able to really open things up and get the ball inside to Morgan.”
Great Bend returns home for another WAC battle, hosting Dodge City for Homecoming.

                                                               — Kevin Price

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Western Athletic Conference

GIRLS

Tuesday

At Hays

Great Bend 70, Hays 43
GREAT BEND (6-1, 2-0)
     Kacee Kasselman 1 0-0 3, Lauren Welsch 4 4-4 14, Hannah Hildebrand 1 0-0 2, Kelsie Doll 2 0-0 4, Peyton Burkhart 1 0-2 3, Kylee Spray 1 2-4 5, Regan Unruh 2 2-3 7, Kaylie Doll 3 2-3 8, Maddie Vesta 1 0-0 2, McKenna Mauler 1 0-0 2, Tarynn Stueder 0 1-2 1, Hannah Mauler 2 0-0 6, Morgan Harwood 6 1-2 13. Totals 25 12-20 70.
HAYS
     Summer Smith 1 0-0 2, Mattie Schlaefli 2 1-2 5, Haleys Wells 1 0-0 3, Haley George 1 0-0 2, Brooke Russell 2 0-0 5, Nicole Dinkel 0 7-8 7, Tresa Becker 0 1-2 1, Emily Peckham 1 1-2 3, Audra Schmeidler 06 0-2 15. Totals 14 10-16 43.
Great Bend                    21   23   12   14  —  70
Hays                               8    12    9    14  —  43
      Three-point goals — Great Bend 8 (Welsch 2, H. Mauler 2, Kasselman, Burkhart, Spray, Unruh); Hays 5 (Schmeidler 3, Wells, Russell).