Taya Davis pushes Garden City past Seward in 1st Round Upset
Photo Courtesy of Adam Shrimplin (Shrimplin Photography)
Liberal, KS (WesternKansasNews.Com) – Adversity had been a common theme for Garden City Women’s Basketball all season long.
Whether it was injuries throughout the year including losing 2 starters and 2 key role players at the end of the first semester or struggling to close out teams at home and on the road, they still found their way into the Jayhawk Conference Region Six Tournament. As the 11 seed, it meant they would have to travel on the road and do something that no visiting team could do on Saturday, win a first-round game.
After the 1st quarter, it wasn’t looking good. The Lady Busters trailed by 21-6 and trailed by as many as 17 in the game. Garden City only connected on one field goal in the entire quarter. In the 2nd quarter though Seward would battle through foul trouble and poor shooting to allow Garden city to get back into the game. The Broncbuster were 12-15 in the first half from the charity stripe which allowed them to trail by just six at the break 30-24. Enough can’t be said either about the effort from Ariyah Brooks who tied a career-high 19 points most of those in the first half to keep the offense alive for Garden City.
In the 3rd Garden City would lock up and move the ball well to jump out to a six-point of lead of their own with balanced scoring from Dayshawna Carter and Demi Black. Blacsk finished with 12 points and a game-high 13 rebounds.
The 4th quarter would get interesting with Seward outscoring Garden City 11-5 bringing the game to overtime but their season-long leading scorer D’arrah Allen would leave the game after picking up her 5th personal foul. The last time Garden City played Seward she scored a career-high 34 points but the Broncbuster kept her from impacting the game with just 11 points four points shy of her season average. Still, overtime was needed to decide who would play in the quarterfinal round at Butler on Tuesday.
In the overtime Garden City and Seward would trade the lead and ties most notably Halima Salat for the Saints who scored all 13 points for Seward in the overtime. Taya Davis would have the last laugh though as the sophomore who had struggled all game long played her best in the closing moments. She would attack the basket with just 15 seconds left score with her right and pick-up contact in the process. At the free throw line now with a chance to put Garden City ahead.
After missing her first two free throws of the game Davis knocked down all three of her attempts in overtime to secure the lead for Garden City. Now Busters would have to get back and play defense for 10 more seconds. In the closing possession, Seward would get off three looks after back-to-back offensive rebounds but nothing would go through and Garden City had the only upset of the day in the conference from the Greenhouse.
“I’m proud of these ladies we’ve dealt with a lot this season and to go the win was nice but we still have to refocus and go after Butler on Tuesday night,” said coach Antwain Scales after the game. The win also marked the first playoff win in three years for Garden City with Scales at the helm.
The Lady Broncbusters are back in action on Tuesday night at the number three-seeded Butler Grizzlies a team they beat at Conestoga Arena just a week and a half ago in another upset win. You can listen to the game on 99.9 The Rock as the tipoff will be at 5:30 from the Power Plant.
