HAYS – The 32nd-annual Gerald Mitchell Hays City Shootout took place Thursday, Friday and Saturday at Hays High School and Hays Middle School. Great Bend High School basketball squads joined teams from Hays, Olathe North, Garden City, Newton, DeSoto, Colby and Thomas Moore Prep of Hays in taking part.
The GBHS Panther girls took third in the third-place game by defeating the Garden City Buffaloes 45-37 Saturday afternoon at HHS.
The boys claimed fourth, dropping their third-place game, also with Garden City Saturday afternoon at HHS.
Winning the tourney for the girls was DeSoto. For the boys, the Olathe North Eagles took home first place.
The third-place games
Saturday
For the Carrie Minton’s Great Bend High School Panther girls, they took the lead over Garden City and never looked back. They led at the end of each quarter 9-8, 26-17, 35-27 and finally, 45-37.
The leading scorer for GBHS was Regan Unruh with 15 points. Also contributing were: Lauren Welsh with 12; Hannah Mauler with five; Carly Boyd, Peyton Burkhart and Carly Dreiling with three each; and Morgan Kottas and Macy Moyers each with two.
In the boys game, Chris Battin’s Panthers fell to the Buffaloes 41-30. The stats were unavailable as of presstime.
The semi-finals
Friday night
On the girls’ side, the Panthers hung on the hip of the DeSoto High School Wildcats from the opening tip-off. However, with the occasional lead of a point or two, they were never able to take control of the game. They played Friday night at Hays High School.
The Cats led at the end of each quarter 9-6, 21-18, 33-29 and the final score 46-39. The Panthers made it close, but DeSoto pulled away in the closing minutes.
Scoring for the Panthers were Welsh with 13, Unruh with 10, Moyers with six, Burkhart with two and Kate Warren with 1.
For the boys, it was a real barn burner when GBHS Squared off with a tall, physical Hays High School Indian squad. Again, the Panthers played catch-up the entire game with arch rival Hays, only managing to capture a lead of a few points from time to time. This game was also at HHS.
Battin’s Panthers trailed at the close of each quarter 10-6, 23-17, 33-32 and, finally, 54-50 at the closing whistle.
Scoring for Great Bend were Trey Ibarra and Shade Wondra both with 13 points, and Kody Crosby and Blake Sullivan both with 12.
The losses send the girls and the boys to the third/fourth place games Saturday afternoon at HHS. Both played Garden City.
The opening round Thursday
The Great Bend girls held off the Colby Eagles 52-47 Thursday night at HHS. The boys trounced Colby 67-41.
the Colby Eagles 52-47 Thursday night at HHS. The boys trounced Colby 67-41.
