Late basket stings Garden City in home loss to Seward County

Garden City, KS-Greg Franklin had the perfect play call.  

Ajong Lual and Ana Ramos Pires set a pair of cross screens, which freed Lual for a potential lob at the rim. But the pass never made it there. Instead, with only .8 seconds remaining and trailing by two, Ramos Pires caught it on the left block and flung it towards the rim. Unfortunately, the shot fell about a foot short as Seward County hung on for a 52-50 victory Saturday afternoon at Conestoga Arena.

That Ramos-Pires heave capped off a wild final 30 seconds that saw the lead change hands twice. Ella Reisner's 3-pointer from the left wing gave Garden City its' first lead of the game, 50-49 with 24 seconds on the clock. But after a Saints' timeout, Ari Gordon beat two defenders and banked home a 3-footer from the block, putting Seward County up by one.  

Lual tied a season high with 15 points in 24 minutes off the bench for the Broncbusters, which fell to 9-8 overall and 6-6 in conference play. Ramos Pires had nine points and four boards, and Bruna Costa Da Silva and Antonicia Moultrie each scored eight.  

Avery Marchino scored 15 points to lead three in double figures for Seward County, which snapped a two-game skid to improve to 12-6 overall and 7-5 in the Jayhawk.  

Garden City, which shot just 35 percent from the floor, struggled to score in the first half. They missed eight of their first 10 shots and posted just seven first-quarter points. Then they watched Seward County rip off eight straight points to open up a 19-7 lead with 5:59 left in the half.  

The Broncbusters were down 10 at the intermission.  

Franklin's bunch though turned it on late in the third. Trailing 37-25, Lual made a layup, and Costa Da Silva connected from distance to make it a six-point contest going to the fourth.  

In the final period, Lual made another shot from in close; then added the tying layup, capping a 6-0 surge that evened things up at 39.  

After the Saints went back up by six, Jolie Mantz swished a right-wing trey. Moments later, Ramos Pires drained a long ball from the top of the key to make it a two-point contest with 1:08 to play.  

Garden City was outrebounded, 24-21 and turned it over 19 times.