BY JIM MISUNAS
jmisunas@gbtribune.com

HUTCHINSON – Great Bend girls basketball coach Cindy Beck cooked up a special defense for the Hutchinson Salthawks. Her game plan nearly pulled a huge surprise.

Beck’s triangle-and-2 recipe threw the Salthawks’ offense off rhythm.

But Hutchinson reserve Kaia Smith spoiled the Panthers’ upset bid with a career high 13 points as the Salthawks survived the pesky Panthers 32-24 in Tuesday’s 5A substate semifinal basketball game. Smith prevented the upset bid with a trio of 3-pointers and 11 third-quarter points. The Salthawks outscored the Panthers 12-3 from 3-point range.

“We changed things up and gambled,” said Great Bend coach Cindy Beck. “We took chances. But someone stepped up and came through for them. Kaia Smith knocked down a few shots.”

Great Bend (7-14) gave Hutchinson trouble with a scrappy zone defense that induced leading scorer Aliyah Green to commit three first-half fouls. Great Bend switched gears with Sadie Spray defending Hutchinson point guard Grace Posch in a gimmick defense.

Makenzie Premer, Kara Feist and Hall scored baskets to get the Panthers within 12-11 when Smith started rolling.

But Smith’s scoring led to a 25-17 lead after three quarters. Great Bend rallied within 28-22 and 30-24 in the fourth quarter as Paige Thexton scored two baskets and Emilee Hall converted a 3-point play with a nifty assist to Thexton.

But the Panthers committed four turnovers in the late going when a 3-pointer would’ve made things very interesting.

“We were right there,” Beck said. “We’ve got to value the basketball. Late in the game, we turned the basketball over.”

Hall led the Panthers with nine points and Spray added six points and terrific defense defending different Salthawks all night. The Panthers made 10 of34 shots with 15 turnovers.

“It was a frustrating night,” Beck said. “We had good looks, but they didn’t fall.”

Great Bend 4 5 8 7 – 24

Hutchinson 9 3 13 7 – 32

GREAT BEND (7-14)—Hall 4-7 1-1 9, Spray 2-10 2-4 6, Thexton 2-4 0-0 4, Feist 1-8 0-0 3, Premer 1-4 0-0 2, Ellegood 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 10-34 3-5 24

HUTCHINSON (16-5)—Smith 4-7 2-3 13, Aliyah Green 3-6 1-3 8, Posch 3-7 0-1 6, Thompson 0-1 3-4 3, Ames 1-2 0-0 2, Jackson 0-2 0-0 0, Rodriguez 0-4 0-0 0, Aiyana Green 0-1 0-0 0, Totals 11-30 6-12 32

3-pointers—GB 1-6 (Feist 1-5, Spray 0-1); H 4-13 (Smith 3-5, Aliyah Green 1-2, Rodriguez 0-3, Posch 0-2, Jackson 0-1)

 5A WEST GIRLS

1—Wichita Carroll 59, Goddard 32; Hays High 53, Wichita Kapaun Mt. Carmel 52; 3-3—Wichita Carroll 19-2 vs. Hays High 14-7 

2—Andover High 54,, Topeka West 41; Salina Central 40, Goddard Eisenhower 37; 3-3—Andover High 19-2 vs. Salina Central 11-10

3—Emporia 56, Newton 37; Maize South 49, Salina South 30; 3-3—Emporia 17-3 vs. Maize South 16-5

4—Andover Central 49, Valley Center 31; Hutchinson High 32, Great Bend 24; 3-3—Andover Central 16-5 vs. Hutchinson High 16-5