Great Bend High School matched McPherson during first-half basketball action on Tuesday night at Panther Fieldhouse.
In the Lady Panthers’ home opener, the first game back from the holiday break, GBHS trailed only 24-16 at halftime.
McPherson, the No. 2-ranked team in Class 4A in the latest Kansas Basketball Coaches Association poll, was able to pull away in the third quarter and registered a 52-33 non-conference victory.
“We’re down one point and you think if we finish the quarter well, we’re going into halftime with a real barn-burner,” Great Bend head coach Jason Tatkenhorst said. “But we allowed them to get on a 7-0 run and then we’re down eight (at halftime).”
To be sure, the GBHS  (0-6) had an added spring in their step against the Lady Bullpups (6-0), coming off a third-place finish in last year’s 5A state tournament.
Great Bend had early leads of 5-3 — after an Olivia Basye 3-pointer — and 7-5 — after Morgan Harwood’s power move for a basket midway through the first quarter.
McPherson, however, answered with a 10-4 run the rest of the opening period to go up 15-11. The Lady Panthers’ Brandi Schneider’s three-point play with 2.9 seconds to go in the period made it a four-point game.
In the second quarter, a pair of free throws by Emily Cruse and a bucket in the paint by Liz Kutina helped GBHS close the gap to 17-16 with 2:04 left before halftime.
But McPherson went on a 7-0 run to move out to a 24-16 halftime lead, an advantage they stretched to 36-18 in the third quarter after putting together a 12-2 run, capped by Moira Pyle’s 3-pointer.
“The third quarter, we didn’t have enough rebounds and too many turnovers,” Tatkenhorst said. “In December, often times, once a team got ahead like that, the game would just get worse for us.
“Even in the fourth quarter, we had good things happening and we continued to fight and kept it respectable and that type of thing.”
Ashton Bruner scored seven of her game-high 16 points in the first quarter for McPherson. Post player Katelyn Loecker added nine of her 13 points in the second half for the Lady Bullpups.
Cruse scored a season-high six points and Kutina scored five to lead GBHS.
Great Bend returns to action on Friday night, playing host to Garden City in the Western Athletic Conference opener.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
At Great Bend
Panther Fieldhouse

GIRLS

Tuesday

McPherson 52, Great Bend 33
McPHERSON  (6-0)
     Hailey Ruder 2 0-1 5, Moira Pyle 1 0-0 3, Brooke Bate 0 0-0 0, Tanner Hein 2 4-6 9, Abby Pedersen 3 0-0 6, Hannah Willems 0 0-0 0, Ashton Bruner 7 2-4 16, Janae Barnes 0 0-0 0,  Madison Lackey 0 0-0 0, Alisa Becker 0 0-0 0, Katelyn Loecker 5 3-6 13. Totals 20 9-17 52.
GREAT BEND (0-6)
     Brandi Schneider 1 1-1 3, Emily Cruse 2 2-2 6, Olivia Basye 1 1-2 4, Katelyn Henning 1 0-0 2, Hannah Hildebrand 0 0-0 0, Liz Kutina 2 1-2 5, Regan Unruh 1 0-0 2, McKenna Mauler 1 0-0 2, Tarynn Stueder 1 0-0 2, Morgan Harwood  1 1-3 3, Kelsey Crosby 0 0-0 0, Kelsie Doll 1 0-0 2, Kaylie Doll 1 0-0 2. Totals 13 6-10 33.
McPherson                     15   9   14   14  —  52
Great Bend                     11   5    4    13  —  33
    Three-point goals — Great Bend 1 (Basye); McPherson 3 (Ruder, Pyle, Hein). Fouled out — None. Technical foul — Great Bend bench.