Broncbuster women fall at home to Dodge City

Garden City, KS-Plain and simple: the bench was the difference on Saturday.

Reserves Shakara Anderson and Paris Santacaterina combined for 23 points, Jenna Roses Mafua added 15, and Dodge City beat Garden City, 75-68 at Conestoga Arena. It was the Broncbusters sixth loss in their last seven games, dropping them to 5-6 overall and 1-4 in the Jayhawk. 

"We just can't keep having slow starts," Head Coach, Antwain Scales said. "We came out lethargic and never really got anything going."

Dodge City's bench outscored Garden City, 24-5. The Conquistadors also out rebounded the Broncbusters, 32-26 and scored 33 points off 24 Broncbuster turnovers. 

"We need to take better care of the basketball, that's a given," Scales said. 

Garden City missed seven of its first 11 shots from the field and trailed by 11 at the end of one. Dodge City then pushed the advantage to 21 following Mafua's 3-pointer that made it 32-11 with 7:52 left in the half. It was all part of 14-0 run in which the Broncbusters were held scoreless for nearly four minutes. They were down 46-27 at the intermission. 

"We can't pick and choose when we want to play," Scales said. 

Trailing by 17 entering the fourth, the Broncbusters made their push. Jae'Mya Lyons' hoop inside followed by Dayshawna Carter's layup and Jersey Mayfield's triple pulled the Broncbusters within 12 . Carter than sank two free throws, Taya Davis completed a three-point play, and Garden City was down only five, 71-66 with 53 seconds left. But the Broncbusters failed to get the stop they needed in crunch time. Stephens beat both Maya White-Eagle and Lyons to the basket for 2, and the Conquistadors had a seven-point edge with 30 seconds to play. 

"We have to have better attention to detail from start to finish and be able to put four quarters together," Scales said. 

Carter scored 27 points for Garden City, which shot just 39 percent from the floor. Lyons chipped in 20 points and 13 rebounds. 

Dodge City shot 26-of-43 from the field (29 percent) and was 17-of-28 (61 percent) at the line.