The Larned girls parlayed a considerable size advantage into a big rebounding edge and raced past the Wichita North Redskins here Thursday evening, 57-40. Larned grabbed a 14-10 first-quarter advantage behind the inside scoring of Katie Fischer and Erin Smith.
The second quarter turned into a battle of turnovers as both clubs had difficulty taking care of the ball. Both North and Larned finished the first half with 11 turnovers as the Indians grabbed a 24-19 halftime lead.
Larned seized control of the game in the third quarter as they held the Redskins to only four points while putting 16 on the board themselves, resulting in a commanding 40-23 lead after the third stanza.
The fourth quarter turned into a free throw shooting contest that was interrupted by turnovers as neither club was very efficient.
Larned coach Ashley Crosby said, “I am pleased with the win and pleased with the effort. Our girls have that ‘never give up’ attitude but we’ve got to take better care of the basketball.” Both ball clubs finished the game with 21 turnovers but Larned enjoyed a big 34-19 rebounding advantage which led to a lot of easy putbacks.
North, which fell to 0-11 on the season, was led in scoring by Sataizha Buckner-White with 17 and DaNisha Brown with 14. The Redskins will face Ulysses at 6pm Friday in the second round of the Tournament of Champions.
Larned improved to 5-6 on the season. The Indians enjoyed a balanced scoring attack, led by Katie Fischer’s 15 points. Erin Smith contributed 12 and Ivory Muldrow 8. Larned will meet Pratt in the 8 p.m. Friday evening contest.

LARNED 57, NORTH 40
North 10 9 4 17 – 40
Larned 14 10 16 17 – 57
NORTH—Bucker-White 3 11-15 17; Brown 5 1-4 14; Agnew 2 0-1 4; Sullivan 2 1-3 5; Totals 12 13-22 40.
LARNED—Fischer 7 1-1 15; Butler 1 0-0 2; Clark 1 0-0 2; Nesby 1 0-2 2; Smith 4 4-5 12; Muldrow 4 0-2 8; Skelton 2 2-2 6; Edgin 1 2-2 4; Parr 2 0-0 6; Totals 23 9-15 57.