BY BUDDY TABLER
NICKERSON — The Larned girls recorded their fifth straight victory Tuesday as they edged the Nickerson Panthers 43-36 in a Central Kansas League game.
Larned’s Haley Skelton scored 13 points and Kelsey Parr added 10 points. The Indians made 8 of 19 free throws, but converted three straight in the last two minutes to secure the victory.
Larned (8-6, 3-2 CKL) travels to Halstead Friday for a CKL game. The victory pushes Larned’s girls ahead of Haven (7-7) for the top spot in the Pratt Class 4A-Div. 2 substate.
The Indians sprinted to a 14-8 first quarter lead. Nickerson managed to hold a brief lead, but Larned’s Kelsey Parr regained the lead with 3-point shooting for a 34-28 lead after three quarters.
The Larned defense paved the way to the victory as they created 20 turnovers by the Panthers. Larned had a season low 11 turnovers.
“I was very pleased with our defense,” said Larned coach Ashley Crosby. “We created a lot of turnovers but we did not have many ourselves.”
Brylee Engelland scored 12 first-half points and Sophie Mader added 12 points for Nickerson (3-10, 2-3 CKL).