Lady Buffaloes Flatten La Junta, Win Fifth Straight
Garden City High School girls basketball team hosted Great Bend High School on Friday February 10, 2023 at The Garden in Garden City, Kan. The Lady Buffalos defeated the Panthers 49 - 40 in overtime. Photo credits; Adam Shrimplin, Shrimplin Photography
Garden City, KS. – Miraya Martinez caught fire in the second half. Three straight possessions, she poured in seven straight points.
Head coach Jacob Miller insisted any player could get hot at any different time for the team. Friday night’s game was a night of different players taking over at different times.
The Garden City Lady Buffaloes cruised to an easy 46-10 win against the La Junta Lady Tigers on Friday night at The Garden.
Freshman Myah Korf had her fingerprints all over the first quarter, scoring a pair of field goals in the paints with an assist to one of Garden City’s first-half treys to Alexiz Villegas. Korf closed the first half with four points and two assists.
“We came out a little flat,” Miller said. “I told them that great teams don’t play down to their competition, I feel we did that in the first quarter.”
The second quarter was all Buffaloes, who shut out the Tigers to the tune of an 11-0 run. Garden City forced six Tigers turnovers in the quarter.
Sophomore K.J. Pinchon took over late on, scoring five points – including a physical and-one – to give the Buffs an 18-4 halftime lead.
“We went back to our roots in the second quarter,” Miller added. “Good defense leads to good offense, and good offense leads to great defense. I think that’s what started happening.”
The third quarter was great on both ends for the Buffaloes, but specifically for Martinez. The Junior hit a layup, combined with a floater, and then an open corner three to seal what was a 17-2 quarter for the Buffs.
“In my head, I knew that I needed to score,” Martinez said. “I told myself that any open shot, I was going to take it.”
The senior tied her season-high of 10 points in the victory, coming off a year where she had missed most of last season due to a lower body injury.
Time rehabbing aside, Martinez hasn’t forgotten about the team’s results last season.
“We’re almost beating our record from last year,” Martinez said. “It feels pretty good.”
The Buffaloes won just six games in Coach Miller’s first season. Five games in, they’re one game away from tying that record. While there are a lot bigger goals to fill, a strong start will always help matters.
Garden City closes up the Roundball tomorrow against the Lamar Lady Thunder. Coverage begins immediately following the first half of Garden City Community College’s first half of men’s basketball versus Northwest Tech on 99.9 ‘The Rock’.
