Garden City shows grit in loss to Hutch

By Mike Pilosof

Photos by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-Most coaches will admit that moral victories mean very little in the grand scheme of things-pointing out that the end result is all that matters. But considering the fact that Garden City was coming off a 65-point loss to Seward County on Monday, Wednesday's showing against the 10^th-ranked team in the country, even in defeat, will go down as one of the greatest moral victories of the season. And this one meant something.

No Garden City didn't win, they lost by 15. But their zest for the game returned, 48 hours after one of the darkest moments of the season.

Abby Ogle scored 17 points before fouling out late, Makayla Vannett bounced back from a poor first half to score 12 of her 14 points over the final 20 minutes, and Hutchinson beat the Broncbusters 77-62 at Conestoga Arena.

"Compared to Monday night, this performance was night and day," Harding said after the game. "Shots started falling, and when shots start falling, your effort gets a little better."

When asked what went wrong 48 hours earlier, Harding didn't mince words.

"We just laid down and didn't do what we were supposed to do," he said.   

That was never a problem on Wednesday.

From the jump, the Broncbusters seemed reenergized, erasing an early 9-2 deficit, thanks in large part to Ariyanna Hall. The freshman, who scored a career-high 26 points, hit back-to-back layups before canning a 3-pointer from the wing, pulling Garden City to within two, 11-9. They were down four going into the second.

"We still made way too many mistakes; a lot of turnovers still," Harding explained. "We need to cut those down. And our defensive rotations were just a step off."

After Hutchinson went back up by five on Ogle's floater in the paint, Dasja Ross hit a line-drive triple from the top of the key, and Jaleah Bellany, who was coming off an 0-for-9 showing vs. Seward on Monday, drilled a long ball from the wing, trimming the Blue Dragons' lead to 20-19 with 7:56 remaining in the half.

"There were a lot of positive signs from this game," Harding said. "We didn't give up. We kept playing. And we started to figure some things out."

Hutchinson had their chance to pull away in the first half. Ogle dropped in a layup, Presley Barton drained a pair of 3's, and Ogle maneuvered her way to the rim, stretching the visitor's lead to 10, 32-22 with 3:53 remaining. But unlike on Monday, Garden City responded. Dashanae Pajeaud rattled home a bomb from the right wing, Debora Ford got loose for a layup, and Bellany swished three throws, pulling the Broncbusters to within four. Only Barton's third trey of the half in the final 20 seconds stemmed the tide, putting the Blue Dragons up 37-30 at the break.

"I kept stressing that we have to get four or five passes before a shot goes up," Harding said. "The ball moved a lot better tonight."

Things looked really good in the third quarter when Pajeaud drained another 3, and Hall put back Felicity Houston's missed jumper, making it a three-point contest, 49-46. But Garden City didn't close the quarter strong at all. They were held without a bucket the final 2:19 while Hutchinson scored the final five points to take a 54-46 edge to the fourth. That run continued in the final period when Sasha Francis hit a pullup and Nafatoumata Haidara used a nifty drop step to get to the rim, giving the Blue Dragons their first double-digit lead of the night, 58-46 with 7:40 on the clock. Vannett, who came into the game fifth on Hutchinson's career three-point list, finally broke loose after missing her first five attempts from downtown, dropping in a 3-pointer before wiggling her way to the basket, Francis split a pair of free throws, and Hutchinson had their largest advantage 74-55.

"We have to stay together," Harding said. "That's the main thing."

Hall enjoyed the best night of her collegiate career. She finished 10-of-16 from the field and hit a season-high five 3-pointers for Garden City. But the Broncbusters shot just 32 percent (21-of-65).  

Hutchinson went 26-of-52 (50 percent) from the field but missed 14 of their 33 free-throw attempts. They also turned it over 22 times, the sixth time this year they've had 20 or more in a game. Francis scored 13 points, and Haidara tallied 11 in just 16 minutes thanks to foul trouble.

Next up: Garden City at Northwest Tech-Saturday, Jan. 18-6:15 p.m. pregame; 6:30 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app