Garden City uses strong first half to push past Pratt

By Mike Pilosof

Photos by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-If Interim Head Coach Mike "Scoop" Harding had his way, he would play every game at home. Why? His team flat out shoots it better inside their gym.

And Wednesday's first half, was no exception.

Jaleah Bellany scored 18 of her game-high 23 points over the first 20 minutes, the Broncbusters knocked down 10 3's in the first half, and Garden City held off Pratt 71-61 at Conestoga Arena. The win marked just the third time this year that the Broncbusters won consecutive games.

"I really like how we moved the ball tonight," Harding said afterwards. "Swinging to whoever had the hot hand."

In the first half, that hot hand belonged to Bellany, Ariyanna Hall and Alyssa Boyce. Those three combined to score 43 of Garden City's 49 points. In the first, it was Hall, burying three straight triples to put the Broncbusters up 23-10 going to the second. Boyce took the baton after that, capping off an 11-0 surge with her third consecutive 3, stretching the lead to 20, 36-16 with 5:41 to go in the half. Hall and Bellany then closed the second by drilling two long balls, the sophomore shooting guard muscled her way to the rim in the final seconds, and the Broncbusters led 49-29 at the intermission.

"Our goal is to share the ball as much as we can," Harding added. "Just share the ball and have fun."

The Broncbusters finished the first half 10-of-19 from downtown (53 percent). The final 20 minutes however, was a completely different story.

Garden City came back down to earth, which allowed Pratt to get back in the game. After Jaleah Bellany opened the third with a 3 to give the Broncbusters their largest lead, 52-29, Garden City went stone cold. Pratt responded by outscoring them 16-8 in the period, and just like that the lead was down to 12 going to the fourth. The home team was just 2-of-12 (17 percent) from the floor in the quarter.

"The ball started sticking a lot in the second half," Harding said. "We didn't get a lot of good looks, because we weren't moving it."

In the fourth, Rylee Alexander canned an open 3 from the right wing; then grabbed and offensive rebound before laying it in off the glass, and Pratt was within seven. Tytiana Haamid and Rachel Tippins added four free throws a couple of minutes later, and the Beavers were down only six, 64-58 with 2:32 remaining. But Garden City put the clamps down the rest of the way, limiting Pratt to just one field goal over the final two minutes. Bellany, Hall and Boyce combined to go 6-of-6 at the line down the stretch, and the Broncbusters finally put the Beavers away.

"We were fortunate to win this game," Harding said. "But we'll take it."

Fortunate is right. In fact, Garden City managed just four buckets in the second half. Bellany finished with seven rebounds and four steals, Donetria McGeee added eight points and eight boards before fouling out with three minutes to go, and Hall cashed in 20 in 23 minutes off the bench.

Haamid recorded her first double-double of the season for Pratt with 16 points and 12 rebounds. But the Beavers were severely limited, thanks to early foul trouble that had post player Janell Douvier riding the bench most of the night. She logged just 16 minutes.

Next up: Garden City at Dodge City-Saturday, Feb. 15-12:45 p.m. pregame; 1 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app