Panther lose to Indians

BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

The Hays High Indians started hot and never stopped firing. 

The Indian girls roared to a 38-19 halftime behind 55 percent shooting and fought off Great Bend's challenge 63-45 in Tuesday's Western Athletic Conference basketball game.

Hays High showed off crisp offensive execution behind 16 of 29 first-half shooting. Katie Linenberger (16), Molly Martin (16) and Carly Lang (14) delivered double figure scoring to spark the Indians (5-3, 1-1 WAC).

Great Bend (4-4, 0-2 WAC) was paced by Emilee Hall with a career high 17 points. Sadie Spray scored 12 points and Kara Feist converted a trio of 3-pointers.

“Emilee Hall stepped up and played her best basketball game,’ said Great Bend coach Cindy Beck. “She found her spot and was confident tonight with her shooting. That was nice to see. Kara Feist stepped up and hit some big 3-pointers tonight.”

The Indians had too many offensive threats for the Panthers. Hays ran the ball up the court effectively and ran a strong halfcourt offense. Hays High’s Carly Lang did a solid defensive job on Spray, averaging 18 points.

“Hays is a tough matchup. They jumped on us early in the game,” Beck said. “They did a nice job passing to break down our defense inside. We made adjustments and came out much stronger defensively that third quarter. I liked the effort we played with. The girls kept hustling and kept playing as hard as they could.”   

Hays High 16 22 6 19 – 63 

Great Bend 9 10 1 1 – 45

HAYS HIGH (5-3, 1-1)—Linenberger 8-14 0-0 16, Martin 5-10 5-7 16, Lang 5-7 4-5 14, Humphrey 3-5 0-0 8, Melvin 0-4 0-0 0, Dreher 0-2 0-0 0, Sheldon 4-9 0-0 8, Winter 0-2 1-2 1, Totals 25-53 10-14 63

GREAT BEND (4-4, 0-2)—Spray 4-13 4-7 12, Hall 7-15 1-1 17, Thexton 1-3 0-0 2, Reimer 0-0 1-2 1, Kara Feist 3-7 0-1 9, Premer 2-4 0-1 4, Totals 17-42 6-12 45

3-pointers—H 3-11 (Martin 1-4, Humphrey 2-3, Dreher 0-2, Melvin 0-2); GB 3-11 (Kara Feist 3-4, Spray 0-4, Thexton 0-1, Premer 0-2)