Garden City Busters basketball splits conference opener with Cloud County

Concordia, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Wednesday night was a Jayhawk Conference opener for the Garden City Broncbuster basketball teams, as they traveled to Concordia to face Cloud County in their lone matchup of the regular season. While the last two years have been a grueling 26-game conference slate, this year is a 21-game conference schedule. The games would end up with a split decision, as the Lady Busters had two long scoring droughts in a 97-66 setback, while the Buster men led the whole way in a 76-63 win.

Cloud County Women 97, Garden City 66
The first four minutes saw a back and forth game, with three ties and four lead changes. After the game was tied at eight with 5:11 left in the opening frame, the Lady Thunderbirds scored the games next 19 points and never looked back, leading 27-9 at the end of the first quarter. Shooting woes occurred for Garden City (4-5, 0-1), who did not have a field goal for nearly a nine-minute stretch of the first half. The Lady Busters inched their way back in the game, pulling to within 31-20 with six minutes left in the first half. They had an opportunity to pull to within nine points, but missed a runner that went in and out. Cloud County would go down and hit a three pointer and closed the half on a 13-2 run to lead 44-22 at the break.

In the second half, the Lady Busters were only able to get to within 13 points, with the last at 66-53 with over a minute left in the third quarter. Garden City outscored the Lady T-Birds in the third 10 minutes of play 34-27, and trailed 71-56 after three quarters. The fourth quarter saw Cloud County (8-2, 1-0) use a 17-0 run over a five-minute stretch, to lead 93-92 with 2:17 left. They would lead by as many as 32 in the game late before settling for a 97-66 win.

Cloud County had four in double figures, led by Cassidy Haufler with 18 points, while Emmiley Hendrixson had 17, Kamryn Collins finished with 15 and Destiny Pittman added 10. They shot 60% for the game from the floor and had 23 assists on 33 field goals. Garden City got a career-best 18 points from Alyssa Boyce and Talia Roberts. The Lady Busters shot 37% for the game and were 15-30 at the foul line. Cloud County won the rebounding battle 45-30.

Coach Charinee Mitchell Postgame

Garden City Men 73, Cloud County 63
Garden City never trailed in the finale of the night, that featured a second generation of “Nee vs Altman”. Patrick Nee’s father, Danny, faced off against Dana Altman, Jordan Altman’s dad, while the elder Nee was at Nebraska and Dana was at Kansas State for four years, before moving to Creighton. They faced off 16 times from 1991-1999. The Busters came out with a 6-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game before Cloud County was able to answer back with their first points of the night. Garden City was never tied either, and used a 15-3 run over a three-minute stretch to lead 28-11 with 7:42 left in the first half. Cloud County (6-4, 0-1) would fight back, and counter with a 16-4 run over five minutes to pull to within 33-28 with 2:59 left in the first half. The Busters would respond and close out the half with the final seven points in the final 1:41 to take a 40-28 halftime lead.

In the second half, the closest Cloud County ever got was 10 points early in the half, but after the Busters pushed their lead past 20 points, the Thunderbirds never got any closer than 12 points. Garden City (6-3, 1-0) used an 8-0 run over three minutes to have their biggest lead of the night at 65-44 with 8:22 left. Cloud County would respond with a 14-5 run to pull to within 72-60 with 3:13 left. The Busters would coast to the win, using solid defense throughout to pick up a conference road win 76-63.

Garden City was led by Russhard Cruikshank’s 17 points, as he hit five three’s in the game, while Jakobi Pearson had 15 points and Jaleel Simmons added 11. The Busters shot 48% for the game, and were over 50% for most of the night. They held Cloud County to the mid teens from the floor for most of the first half. The Thunderbirds were led by Alvin Thompson with 17 points, followed by Adetomi Ayilara’s 12 and Nysir Scott’s 10 points. Cloud County shot 37% for the game, and outrebounded Garden City 42-34. The Busters outscored the Thunderbirds 26-4 on points off turnovers, forcing 22 Cloud turnovers.

Coach Patrick Nee Postgame