BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

HUTCHINSON — Great Bend Panther Emilee Hall battled her heart out against a taller and more physical Hutchinson High lineup. In the end, Hall's defensive heroics and 13-point effort wasn't enough. 

Hutchinson High outscored the Panthers 22-10 in the fourth quarter for a 58-43 victory. The Panthers trailed 36-33 after three quarters. The Panthers (2-7, 0-2 WAC) play Dodge City (8-2) at home Tuesday.

"We battled," said Great Bend coach Cindy Beck. "We had 5-8 Emilee Hall battling against 6-0 girls. We've got nothing to lose at this point. We've got to give it everything we have." 

The Salthawks' defense tightened in the fourth quarter, forcing five turnovers and 3 of 10 Panther shooting. The Salthawks converted seven field goals and seven free throws in the final quarter. 

"It's a team effort," Hall said. "We've worked in practice on holding each other accountable.  Putting that together from one practice to the next is crucial. It showed tonight. Hopefully, we continue to make those connections."

The Panthers adjusted to the physical style of play after initially getting pushed around by the more aggressive Salthawks. It was a 360-degree shift from Tuesday when the Panthers didn't draw a foul for 12 minutes against Hays.

Great Bend showed excellent ball movement and players inside the paint showed off crafty ball-fakes to keep the defense guessing. Allyson Kaiser and Sadie Spray each added nine points.

Beck was pleased with the gradual progress.

"We've challenged each other to bring up our level. We can reach another level and play at a better speed," Beck said. "It showed tonight. We've talked about having the same mentality in practice as we do in the games. We got great looks tonight and attacked fairly well. We turned it over more in the half-court than we do in the full-court." 

Hutchinson's Grace Posch converted a trio of 3-pointers and scored 15 points and Mya Thompson worked inside fore 11 points. Grayci Keeler added 10 points. Hutchinson outscored the Panthers 10-5 in free throws by working inside for quality shots.

Great Bend 8 10 15 10 – 43

Hutchinson 14 12 10 22 – 58

GREAT BEND (2-7)—Hall 5-15 3-8 13, Kaiser 4-6 0-0 9, Spray 3-9 2-3 9, Premer 3-5 0-0 6, Feist 1-3 0-0 2, Fletchall 1-3 0-0 2, Reyes 1-2 0-0 2, Emma Loomis 0-2 0-0 0, Totals 18-46 5-11 43.

HUTCHINSON (7-1)—Posch 5-10 2-2 15, Thompson 3-7 5-7 11, Keeler 5-7 0-1 10, Moriasi 4-9 0-4 9, Wilson 2-7 2-2 6, Aliyah Green 2-8 1-2 5, Ames 1-1 0-0 2, Jackson 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 22-50 10-20 58.

3-pointers—GB 2-3 (Spray 1-1, Kaiser 1-1, Fletchall 0-1), H 4-9 (Posch 3-6, Moriasa 1-1, Keeler 0-1, Wilson 0-1).