Buffalo girls season ends in substate finals

Wichita West used defensive pressure to force 25 Garden City turnovers on the way to a 61 – 39 win over the Lady Buffaloes in girls’ sub-state final action Saturday night. Garden City turned the ball over 13 times in 15 possessions opening the game as West built a 16 – 2 1st quarter lead. Two Aerianna Stinemetz free throws were the only Buffalo points in the opening stanza.

West quickly pushed the lead to 22 – 2 early in the 2nd quarter, but Garden City settled down and outscored the Pioneers 11 – 5 the rest of the half to trail 27 – 13 at halftime. Abbie Dart, who finished with 11 points, hit a buzzer-beating three at the end of the half to bring the Lady Buffs within 14.

Unfortunately, it was more of the same in the 2nd half, as more Buffalo turnovers led to 10 quick points for the Pioneers who jumped out to a 24-point lead, 37 – 13 less than two minutes into the 3rd quarter. West’s largest lead of the game was 40 – 15. By the end of the period, Garden City had trimmed the deficit to 45 – 26.

Down 21 early in the 4th quarter, the Lady Buffs made a 9 – 0 run to cut the lead to 12, 49 – 37, with 4:00 left in the game. Josie Calzonetti, who was scoreless in the 1st half, led the charge and would finish with 11 points. But the Buffaloes started fouling to force the Pioneers to put the game away at the free throw line and they did just that, sinking 8 of 12 free throws down the stretch, while Garden City turned the ball over several more times to eliminate any chance at a comeback.

In addition to the 25 turnovers to West’s 8, the Lady Buffs hit just 9 out of 22 free throws, while the Pioneers were 14 of 18 from the charity stripe. West’s Brianna Johnson led all scorers with 20 points, followed by Dymond McElrath with 17.

Wichita West advances to the state tournament for just the second time in school history, first since 1981. Garden City finishes the year at 6-16 under 1st year head coach Matt Pfeifer.