Broncbusters break 3-point record; knock out Trinidad State

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-As soon as Omega Tandy was hired, she immediately hit the recruiting trail. Her goal: get as many shooters as possible.

Friday night, those recruits arrived in fine style, putting on a shooting clinic.  

The Broncbusters broke a school record with 15 3s, Jaleah Bellany scored 22, and Garden City destroyed Trinidad State 91-71 at Conestoga Arena.

"We shot the ball really well tonight," Head Coach Omega Tandy said after the game.

That may be the understatement of the year.

Garden City finished the night 33-of-65 from the field (51 percent) and 15-of-28 from downtown (54 percent). It's the most 3's in a game since they hit 14 vs. Midland during the 2012-2013 season.

"We still have a ways to go," Tandy said. "We have to get better with our intensity. Championship teams play for four quarters."

The lead only changed hands twice; that happened in the first three minutes of the first quarter. But when Alyssa Boyce hit a triple to put the Broncbusters in front 6-4, Garden City never looked back. Boyce added a jumper, Donetria McGee sliced to the rim, and Tyla Happer hit a bunny in the paint to put Garden City up 12-6.

"In our system, we are going to get wide-open shots," Tandy explained. "We got a lot of wide-open shots today, and that saved us to be honest because we didn't rebound the ball well."

That may be the only negative to take away from this game as the Broncbusters lost the battle on the glass 32-30. They surrendered 11 offensive boards.

"We just couldn't stop the basketball tonight," Tandy said. "We need to be better in all areas."

After Trinidad State cut the Broncbusters' lead to three going into the second, Garden City took off. Dasja Ross canned a 3 from the top of the key, Deborah Ford beat two Trojans to the basket, McGee converted back-to-back layups and Boyce drained another triple, fueling a 20-8 run that had the home team up 36-21 with 2:39 left in the half. They opened up their biggest lead in the final seconds of the period when Corina Suarez-Tudela spun a perfect pass to Ross, who dropped in a 23-foot bomb for a 45-23 advantage going into the locker room.

"That's great that we won this game," Tandy said. "But we allowed 71 points to this team. We have to play better for four quarters. We just have to be better."

In the third, Bellany hit a 3 from the left wing before Ariyanna Hall unleased a triple from the short corner. Moments later, Bellany dropped in a trey from the top, Happer delivered from long distance, and Garden City had their largest edge of the night, 69-42 at the end of three.

"I'm glad we were hitting shots tonight, because if we weren't, this game would have been a different story," Tandy said. "This was not an easy win for us. We turned the ball over 17 times. We struggled against the press, which I don't understand because we practiced it for the past three days. We want to play fast, but we want to be disciplined as well. That's what we are working towards."

The Broncbusters fell just short of breaking the assist record, dishing out 25 dimes, eight of those courtesy of Boyce, who chipped in 12 points, three rebounds and a block. Ford tallied 10 points, and Hall nailed three 3's off the bench and finished with 11 points and five boards.

Maria Llorente scored 19 points on 5-of-10 shooting for Trinidad State, but the rest of her team was a combined 18-of-52 (35 percent). Kate Rohr added 15 points.

Next up: Garden City vs. Otero-Saturday, Nov. 9-3:45 p.m. pregame; 4 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app