LARNED — Larned fans agreed Friday that All-stater Emily Ryan and her Central Plains teammates were better than advertised as the Oilers crushed the Lady Indians 79-13.
Larned scored first on a pair of free throws but then the full-court pressure defense of Central Plains went into full fury and as the Larned turnovers mounted, so did the deficit on the scoreboard. The Oilers’ frenetic defense turned Larned over 20 times in the first half, enabling them to build a 52-9 halftime lead behind Emily Ryan’s 32 points. Ryan converted 14 of 17 first-half shots. The versatile forward scored in every way imaginable – layups, jump shots and 3-pointers as well as making a number of terrific passes to set up her teammates for easy scores.
“Obviously Central Plains is a very good team and Ryan is just outstanding,” said Larned coach Ashley Crosby. “We didn’t play well but credit that to the Central Plains team. We’ve got to get healthy over the Christmas break. We’ve got too many out with injuries.”
The No. 2-ranked 2A Oilers (6-0), who converted 34 of 61 field goal attempts and 8 of 9 free throws, were led in scoring by Emily Ryan’s 45 points. Delaney Rugan scored nine and Avery Hurley eight. Central Plains improved to 6-0 for coach Pat Stiles.
Larned converted 11 of 16 free throw attempts but made 1 of 33 field goals. The Central Plains defense harassed the Indian ball handlers all night and, even when Larned got the ball into scoring positions, their shots were hurried and off the mark.
Brooke Butler scored 6 points to lead the Indians. The Indians record falls to 1-5 as they enter the Christmas break.

CP 23 29 22 5 – 79
Larned 7 2 2 2 – 13
CP—Ryan 19-27 5-5 45, Lamatsch 2-7 1-1 5, Rugan 4-10 1-2 9, Donecker 2-2 1-1 5, Rylee Cunningham 1-3 0-0 2, Stratmann 1-1 0-0 2, Potter 0-1 0-0 0, Crites 1-1 0-0 3, Avery Hurley 1-1 0-0 3, Totals 34-61 8-979.
LARNED—Mead 0 2-2 2, Sanger 0 2-2 2, Fischer 0 2-2 2, Butler 1 4-4 6, Perez 0 1-3 1, Totals 1 11-16 13.