Bad first quarter dooms Garden City

By Mike Pilosof

Photos by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-A nightmarish start on Saturday had Garden City in retreat all afternoon.

Jada Mickens finished with 19 points on 7-of-7 from the field, Dejanae Roebuck added 17 points and five boards, and No. 10 Hutchinson blew past the Broncbusters 95-53 at Conestoga Arena.

"We were embarrassed," Garden City Coach Charinee Mitchell said. "We got outplayed in every area."

The Broncbusters couldn't find the ocean in the opening 10 minutes. They were 3-of-14 from the field and were outscored 24-8 in the first stanza. Hutchinson closed the period on an 20-4 run.

"It just wasn't a good showing on our part," Mitchell said. "We have to be better."

The onslaught continued into the second quarter. Tijuana Kimbro, Sara Cramer and Abby Ogle all made layups, pushing the lead to 34-9 and forcing Mitchell to call a timeout. After the stoppage, Roebuck nailed two free throws; then got to the rim for a deuce, Ogle found an easy path to the rim, and the Blue Dragons were up by 28 with 4:20 left until halftime. They took a 46-23 into the locker room.

"We just didn't show up," Mitchell said.

Hutchinson dominated the game in the paint, outscoring the Broncbusters 62-22. They scored 19 points off of 20 Garden City miscues and had 25 assists on their 37 made baskets, building a 44-point lead when Cramer canned a 3 with 52 seconds left in the fourth.

Ogle finished with 15 points for Hutchinson, who beat Garden City for the 12^th time in their last 13 meetings. It's their most lopsided win over Garden City since Feb. 8, 2017 when they won 89-39. Kimbro scored 12 points off the bench, and Milan Schimmel added a team-high five assists.

Talia Roberts scored 13 for Garden City, who lost their third straight game and fifth in their last six contests.

Next up: Garden City vs. Northwest Tech-Monday, Feb. 11-5:45 p.m. pregame; 6 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM: westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app