Seward Shut Down by Busters
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Garden City Community College (16-5, 8-3) | 19 | 13 | 22 | 23 | 77 |
|
Seward County Community College (15-7, 9-2) | 16 | 11 | 15 | 24 | 66 |
Going into their Wednesday night showdown with the Garden City Broncbusters, the #21 Seward County Lady Saints were supposed to be the team with the lock down defense and the strong inside game. However, the Busters decided that they would fill that role on this night, holding Seward to a dismal 33% shooting on the night while outrebounding the Lady Saints by seven to come away with a stunning 77-66 win over Seward in the Greenhouse to move into a tie atop the Jayhawk Conference standings at 10-1.
Things didn't start well for the Lady Saints in their marquee matchup with the Busters Wednesday night in the Greenhouse as Garden City jumped out to a 7-2 lead, holding Seward to just the two points through the first 4:09 of the game. After a Seward bucket made it a three point game, Garden went on a 9-0 run, aided by five free throws to open up a 16-4 lead with 4:00 remaining in the quarter. Then it was the Lady Saints turn to flip the switch on as they answered the Busters run with a 12-0 run of their own, capped by back to back three pointers from Tiani White and Erin Richardson to tie the game up at 16 with under a minute remaining in the quarter. Garden City finally broke a 3:24 scoring drought with a three of their own and after one it was 19-16 in favor of the visiting Broncbusters.
It remained a three point game in favor of Garden to the midway point of the second quarter, when the Lady Saints went ice cold. Seward held the Busters at bay, but the Lady Saints managed just one field goal over the final 5:51 of the half, finishing the period 1-12 to go into the break at half down by five 32-27.
Following some halftime adjustments, the Lady Saints found a way to remain close as the third quarter got underway. A three point play by Axelle Bernard got them to within two and they remained down by a pair to the midway point of the period when again, someone turned off their offensive faucet. Clitan de Sousa was the only Seward player to find the hoop over the next 3:45 as the Lady Saints watched their deficit balloon to double digits at 50-40 with just over a minute left in the quarter. White finally broke the Lady Saints dry spell with a bucket, but Garden answered with four more to end the quarter and after three the Busters were in control 54-42.
The first four minutes of the fourth quarter was Seward's best stretch of the night offensively. The Lady Saints cut into the Garden City lead, getting a three from Neidy Ocuane to make it a seven point game at 59-52, but they couldn't sustain the momentum as the Busters scored seven of the next nine to quickly push their lead back to a dozen at 66-54 with just over four minutes to go. The Lady Saints never threatened again as Garden City paraded to the free throw line in the closing minutes and Seward missed a number of key shots before finally the Busters finished the Lady Saints off 77-66.
Seward shot just 33% on the night, their second poorest shooting performance of the season. The Lady Saints also went just 7 for 30 from the three point line in the loss. Garden City didn't shoot the ball particularly well themselves, finishing at just 35%, but the Busters hit 45% from the three point line and outscored Seward 24-7 at the free throw line in the win.
Bernard led Seward with an 18 point, 13 rebound double-double in the loss while de Sousa scored a career high 17. White also finished with 17 but was just 7 for 24 shooting on the night. The Lady Saints bench struggled to contribute all night, combining to go 2-15 (13%) from the field while being outscored 19-5 by the Buster reserves.
The loss drops Seward back to the pack in the conference standings where they now sit 15-6 overall and 7-4 in league play, good for 5th place at the moment, but now just one game separates the Lady Saints from the 8th spot in the standings. Garden City remains red hot, winning their seventh straight to improve to 16-6 overall and 10-1 in Jayhawk Conference play to move them into a first place tie with Hutchinson at nights end.
The Lady Saints will try to get things going back in the right direction on Saturday when they host Dodge City at 6:00 in the Greenhouse. Free tickets are available courtesy of our buyout sponsors Holiday Inn and Flooring America, at their Liberal locations.