BY BUDDY TABLER
Special to the Tribune
LYONS — The Lyons’ girls are winless no more as they upset Larned 49-46 Tuesday to improve to 1-4.
Lyons jumped out to a 16-11 first-quarter lead behind the strong play of Bailey Hollinger who scored eight early points. Meanwhile Larned was struggling with turnovers and an inability to penetrate the Lions’ zone defense. Lyons would go on to post a 12-point halftime lead 32-20.
Larned came out of the halftime break with renewed enthusiasm and a full-court pressure defense that led to 18 second-half turnovers by Lyons that enabled the Indians to outscore Lyons 13-8 in the third quarter, narrowing the deficit to 40-33. The Indians narrowed the gap to one point but could never get the lead.
“We started the game with low energy, for whatever reason,” said Larned coach Ashley Crosby. “Credit our girls — they got with it in the second half and. We made a run that almost got us a road win.”
Free throw shooting was a key. Lyons converted 11 of 19 attempts while Larned converted seven of 13 free throws in the turnover-filled contest. Lyons had 23 turnovers and Larned committed 28 turnovers.
Bailey Hollinger’s 22 points. Ruth Pineda, behind a strong floor game, added 13 and Kristina Head contributed 10. Larned got strong play from Haley Skelton with 20 points while Baylea Perez added eight points and Ivory Muldrow seven points.
Larned (2-3) travels to Central Plains (5-0) Friday to take on the top-ranked 2A girls who defeated St. John 87-41 Tuesday.
LARNED 59, LYONS 43
Larned 11 9 13 13 – 46
Lyons 16 16 8 9 – 49
LARNED—Haley Skelton 8 3-4 20; Ivory Muldrow 3 1-3 7; Erin Smith 3 0-0 6; Baylea Perez 3 0-0 8; Jillian Edgin 0 1-2 1; Alyssa Clark 0 1-2 1; Bailey Ritchie 1 1-2 3; Totals 18 7-13 46.
LYONS—Hollinger 7 4-4 22; Ruth Pineda 4 5-9 13; Head 4 2-4 10; Link 2 0-0 4; Fierrio 0 0-2 0; Totals 17 11-19 49.
CENTRAL KANSAS LEAGUE GIRLS
Kingman 0-0 5-0
Hesston 0-0 4-1
Halstead 0-0 3-1
Hillsboro 0-0 2-2
Haven 0-0 2-2
Larned 0-0 2-3
Nickerson 0-0 1-3
Pratt 0-0 1-3
Smoky Valley 0-0 1-3
Hoisington 0-0 1-3
Lyons 0-0 1-3
TUESDAY’S GAMES
Lyons 49, Larned 46
Kingman 56, Pratt 15
Hesston 42, Smoky Valley 25
Sterling 57, Nickerson 28
THURSDAY’S GAME
Hoisington at Pratt
FRIDAY’S GAMES
Larned at Central Plains
Haven at Lyons
Smoky Valley at Halstead
Hesston at Kingman
