Lady Saints Slam Colby to Finish Jayhawk Runners-Up
| Final | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | T | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
|
Colby Community College (5-25, 1-18) | 6 | 14 | 9 | 18 | 47 |
|
Seward County Community College (22-7, 14-5) | 30 | 24 | 29 | 27 | 110 |
The Seward County Lady Saints put on a show for their home crowd in their final regular season home game of the 2016 season, blasting visiting Colby 110-47 to finish as the Jayhawk Conference runners-up for the third consecutive season.
Starting all four of their sophomores on sophomore recognition night, Seward got off to a red hot start against the Colby Lady Trojans, opening up an 8-0 lead to start the game behind threes from Daniela Galindo and Shania Liggett and an easy bucket on the inside from Axelle Bernard two minutes in. Seward continued to push, taking a 17-2 lead on a drive and score from Neidy Ocuane and holding a 30-6 lead after one quarter of action after five straight from Samm Ashida to close the period.
With their starters nestled in comfortably on the bench, the Seward reserves continued to cushion their lead in the second. An 8-0 run midway through the second spurred by Manuela Fungate and Joanna Grymek stretched the Seward lead to 47-18 and at the break it was all Lady Saints, on top 54-20.
Seward shot 57% in the half while holding Colby to just 7 field goals and 21% shooting. The Lady Saints got 13 first half points from Ashida off the bench and 10 more from Grymek who was a reserve for the first time in 27 games Monday.
Nothing changed as the sides of the floor did in the second half as Seward quickly ballooned their lead to 58-20 with two quick baskets to begin the half. A pair of Alex Tyson free throws late in the quarter made it a 79-26 game in favor of the Lady Saints and after three quarters of action it was Seward 83 and Colby 29.
It wasn't a matter of if, but when the Lady Saints were going to hit the century mark, and that came at the 3:15 mark when Tyson scored in the paint to make it 101-45. The Lady Saints didn't stop there, getting late threes from Ashida and Liggett to put a cherry on top of the monster night as Seward came away with a 110-47 victory in their highest scoring Jayhawk Conference game since the 2002 season.
Seward finished the game shooting 54% from the field and cashed in on 29 of a season high 41 free throw attempts on the night. Colby shot just 25% in the loss and saw Seward end the night with a commanding 63-28 advantage on the glass. A number of Seward players had career highs in the win as Ashida led all scorers with a career high 21 points Liggett ended the night with a career high 14 points, Tyson with a career best 7, and Fungate hauled in a career best 15 rebounds in the win. Seward put up the 110 points despite leading scorer Daniela Galindo playing less than a minute, second leading scorer Joanna Grymek playing just 10 minutes, third leading scorer Axelle Bernard playing 5 minutes, and point guard Tiani White logging just 10 minutes of court time.
The Lady Saints improve to 22-7 overall on the season with the win and with Garden City and Cowley losses Monday night, Seward claims Jayhawk Conference runner-up status with a 14-5 league mark to end the regular season. Colby ends a miserable regular season 5-25 overall and 1-18 in conference play where they are the #15 seed out of 15 for the upcoming Region VI Tournament.
Seward loses a three way tie to Garden and Cowley for the #2 and #3 seeds, but grabs the #4 seed for the Region VI Tournament which begins Thursday across the Sunflower State. The Lady Saints will take on the Pratt Lady Beavers Thursday with a 6:00 tip in the Greenhouse with free tickets available courtesy of our buyout sponsor Community Bank at their Liberal location.