NEWTON — In the first round of a Class 5A sub-state tournament game on Thursday night, the No. 6-seeded Great Bend High School Lady Panthers made sure that they wouldn’t have a 50-spot planted on them this time around.
Great Bend, which was annihilated by Newton 76-26 in the season-opening Hays City Shoot-Out back in December, came out and battled the third-seeded Lady Railers vigorously — especially in the first half where it trailed only 16-8 at halftime.
Newton used an 8-4 surge during the opening five minutes of the third quarter and pulled away for a 44-29 victory.
 “We had great defense,” GBHS head coach Jason Tatkenhorst said. “Also, it’s a sub-state game and we were counting on Newton coming out tight, and they did.
“That’s normal. That’s the way sub-state games go. We definitely hurried ourselves and had some turnovers and had some shots that we were open, but we hurried them. At the same time, our defense was great and it kept us in the game and gave us hope at halftime. That third quarter really doomed us.”
Back-to-back three-point plays gave Newton a 22-8 lead during the opening two minutes of the third quarter. It gave the Lady Railers some separation they maintained the remainder of the game.
Newton (13-8) advances to Saturday night’s 7:45 sub-state championship game against Hays, which defeated Liberal 51-31 Thursday night.
Great Bend, which closes its season at 3-18, closed within 36-24 with four minutes remaining after a 3-pointer by Brandi Schneider, but that’s as close as it would get.
 “We did miss some free throws,” Tatkenhorst said of his team sinking only 12 of 24 from the line. “It could have been a lot closer.
“The girls knew they were doing the right thing. They just weren’t completely executing it. All in all, what a great group of girls.
“The seniors have been unselfish all four years. It’s a group that had to work hard every single year. They had to fight hard all of the way to get playing time on the varsity level.”
Great Bend, despite committing 13 first-half turnovers, trailed by eight points at halftime as Newton missed 17 of its first 23 shots.
It was the Lady Railers of the Lost Arc, especially in the first quarter, where they missed their first nine shots from the floor, including six 3-pointers. Heck, they shot so poorly early on that they couldn’t throw it in the ocean if they were standing on beachfront property.

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Class 5A Sub-State Tournament

At Newton
Newton High School

GIRLS

Thursday

Newton 44, Great Bend 29
GREAT BEND (3-18)
     Brandi Schneider 2 1-2 6, Emily Cruse 0 4-8 4, Olivia Basye 1 4-4 7, Katelyn Henning 1 0-0 3, Hannah Hildebrand 0 0-0 0, Kelsie Doll 0 1-2 1, Liz Kutina 1 0-0 2, Regan Unruh 0 0-0 0, Kaylie Doll 0 1-2 1, McKenna Mauler 0 0-1 0, Tarynn Stueder 0 0-0 0, Morgan Harwood 2 2-5 6, Kelsey Crosby 0 0-0 0. Totals 7 12-24 29.
NEWTON (13-8)
     Logan Porter 1 0-0 2, Jacque Anderson 0 2-3 2, Alyssa Tolle 0 0-0 0, Maddie Pendry 2 0-0 4, Emily Hiebert 4 0-1 8, Taylor Stahly 1 0-0 3, Abbie Lehman 2 5-7 9, Kelsi Langley 1 2-2 4, Jocelyn Cochran 0 0-0 0, Kendra Scott 3 2-3 8, Hannah Carlgren 2 0-0 4, Erin Doerksen 0 0-2 0. Totals 16 9-14 44.
Great Bend     4    4    8   13  —  29
Newton           6   10  12  16  —  44
    Three-point goals — Great Bend (Schneider, Basye, Henning); Newton 1 (Stahly). Fouled out — None.