BY JIM MISUNAS

jmisunas@gbtribune.com

The Great Bend girls played hard and determined as usual.

But No. 2 ranked 6A Liberal kept rolling on a historic 19-0 campaign with a dominating 51-21 Western Athletic Conference basketball victory. The Redskins' matchup zone had too much talent and athleticism for the Panthers to handle.

"It was extremely physical," said Great bend coach Carrie Minton. "When Liberal stepped it up a notch, it was frustrating for our girls. Liberal's height, size and athleticism is really tough to match up against. They have height and athleticism. We had lapses that doomed us." 

Great Bend (5-15, 1-7 WAC) finishes the season with the 16th-best record in 5A. The Panthers are targeted to travel to No. 1 McPherson (18-1) for 5A postseason play.

Sparkplug Sydney Unruh paced the Panthers with 10 points and Ashlyn Harbaugh added four points. The Panthers converted 8 of 27 field goals and committed 16 turnovers. Unruh's 3-pointer kept the Panthers within 8-5, but the Rdeskins closed with a 13-2 run for a 21-7 halftime lead.

The balanced Redskins featured leading scorer Katie Hornya with 11 points. Bree Hornya added 10 points. Aubrey Warden and Machia Mullins each chipped in nine points. Liberal outscored the Panthers 15-6 from 3-point range.

Liberal 7 14 13 17 – 51

Great Bend 2 5 6 8 – 21

LIBERAL (19-0, 7-0)–Katie Hornya 4 2-2 11, Bree Hornya 4 0-0 10, Warden 3 3-3 9, Mullins 2 4-6 9, Carrillo 3 1-2 7, Payton 1 0-0 3, Watt 1 0-0 2, Totals 18-39 10-13 51.

GREAT BEND (5-15, 1-7)–Mauler 1 0-0 3, Warren 1 0-0 2,  Sydney Unruh 4 1-1 10, Harbaugh 1 2-2 4, Latham 1 0-0 2, Totals 8-27 3-3 21.

3-pointers–L 5 (B. Hornya 2, K. Hornya 1, Mullins 1, Payton 1); GB 2-7 (Mauler 1, Unruh 1).