Broncbusters close out Colby

By Mike Pilosof 

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-Following Saturday's road loss at Independence, Antwain Scales was looking for a bounce-back performance. And while Wednesday's victory was far from aesthetically pleasing, the Broncbusters found a way.

Dayshawna Carter posted her first career double-double with 15 points and 10 rebounds off the bench, Kealani Neves added nine points, and Garden City beat Colby, 51-41 at Conestoga Arena to improve to 7-1 overall and 3-1 in conference play.

The Broncbusters won the game despite shooting a season-worst 11-of-52 from the floor (21 percent), and 0-of-10 on 3's. In fact, it was the second time this year that they missed all their attempts from downtown. They turned the ball over 22 times and managed just 10 points in the paint.

And boy was it a struggle early.

The two teams managed just 10 points in the opening quarter and combined to brick 21 of their first 25 shots. And it showed as neither squad could pull away. The Broncbusters scored seven straight points polished off by two Carter free throws that made it 19-11 with 3:33 left in the half. But Garden City failed to score the rest of the way, Colby answered with seven straight of their own, and the home team's lead was trimmed to one, 19-18 at the break.

The Trojans took the lead early in the third on Katelyn Alatini's 3-pointer. But Carter answered with two more freebies, Ashton McCorry knocked down a shot in the paint, and Alexis Smith converted a 14-footer to put the Broncbusters up by five. But the game flipped early in the fourth when Colby's Kiarra Henderson and Head Coach, James Cole, were whistled for consecutive technical fouls. Jersey Mayfield buried all four free throws, then followed that up with a steal and layup, Carter rattled one in from the midrange, and Garden City had a 43-33 edge with six minutes to go.

While Garden City had an off-shooting night, the Broncbusters salted this game away at the line, finishing 13-of-16 in the fourth. They were 29-of-37 (78 percent) for the night.

McCorry pulled down 10 rebounds, and Carter added three steals for the Broncbusters.

De'jah Vigilante scored 10 points for Colby, which dropped its fifth straight game.

Next up: Garden City at Dodge City-Wednesday, Dec. 1, 1 p.m.