BY JIM MISUNAS
HAYS – Great Bend’s Camryn Dunekack scored the first basket for a 2-0 lead against No. 1 ranked 6A Manhattan High School. That proved to be one of the highlights for Great Bend.
Defending 6A state champion Manhattan converted 30 turnovers into a dominating 65-41 victory over Great Bend’s girls in Saturday’s third-place game in the Gerald Mitchell Hays City Shootout.
Panthers Camyn Dunekack and Carley Brack each scored eight points and Shailey Clark added seven points. The Panthers made 5 of 20 first-half field goals to go with 21 turnovers.
The tall and athletic Manhattan team had too much talent for the Panthers. Kansas State signee Christianna Carr scored 20 points and Kia Wilson added 14 points.
The Indians (2-1) forced 21 first-half Great Bend turnovers to roll to a 37-18 halftime lead, keyed by the extra possessions and easy transition scores. Manhattan converted eight second-chance points in the first half. The Indians captured last year’s 6A state basketball title with a 55-54 victory over Derby.
“We had a hard time keeping them off the boards,” said Great Bend coach Carrie Minton. “That was the dagger in the foot, especially in the first half.”
Many of the Panther turnovers were self inflicted mental errors after breaking initial full-court pressure.
“I was pleased how we handled the pressure. We beat the press,” Minton said. “But we turned the ball over on 3-on-2 attempts. We turned down layups to pass it to someone else. There’s times to be selfish and take it up strong.”
Minton said the most pleasing aspect was several girls contributed with positive minutes off the bench.
“It was good to see the girls come off the bench and play hard,” she said. “We’re going up against the 6A title game. There’s some intimidation factor there. Today was probably our best effort.”
GB 9 9 12 11 – 41
MHS 19 18 16 12 – 65
GREAT BEND—Dunekack 2 4-4 8, Brack 1 5-9 8, Clark 3 0-0 7, Herter 2 0-0 6, Sydney Unruh 2 0-1 4, Schroeder 1 0-0 3, Kaylee Unruh 1 0-0 2, Urban 1 0-0 2, Mills 0 1-3 1, Mauler 0 0-2 0; Totals 13 10-19 41--
MANHATTAN—Carr 8 2-3 20, Wilson 7 0-0 14, Williams 3 0-0 6, Worthington 3 0-0 6, Harper 2 1-2 6, Johnson 2 0-0 4, Ostermann 1 0-0 3, Hilgers 1 0-0 2, Morgan 1 0-0 2, Colston 1 0-0 2; Totals 29 3-5 65.
HAYS CITY SHOOTOUT FINALS
1ST—St. Thomas Aquinas 63, Hays High 36
3RD—Manhattan 65, Great Bend 41
4TH—Hays Thomas More Prep 66, Olathe North 29
7THH—William Chrisman, Mo. 54, Wichita Life Prep 38
HAYS CITY SHOOTOUT SECOND ROUND
St. Thomas Aquinas 36, Manhattan 24
Hays High 57, Great Bend 36
Olathe North 56, Wichita Life Prep 40
Hays-TMP 40, William Chrisman 38
HAYS CITY SHOOTOUT FIRST ROUND
Hays High 51, Olathe North 30
Great Bend 51, Wichita Life Prep 47 (OT)
St. Thomas Aquinas 43, Hays-TMP 30
Manhattan 59, William Chrisman 37
