Lady Buffs season ends on the road to Topeka
Photo Courtesy of Adam Shrimplin (Shrimplin Photography)
Topeka, KS (WesternKansasNews.com) – The biggest key for the Lady Buffs all season long was to make shots, and for the better part of two quarters the Buffs did that vs. Topeka on Wednesday night. Then the wheels came off late as Topeka surged to a 68-44 round one Sub-State victory.
In the first quarter, Garden City matched the pace of play of the quick Trojans, even holding a lead after one-quarter thanks to a late three at the buzzer by Amaya Gallegos to give GC a 17-12 point lead.
“We were great in that first quarter we wanted to make sure we came out and played well early. We played 8 minutes of Lady Buff basketball.” said coach Jacob Miller after the loss and his first game as head coach in the state of Kansas postseason basketball.
Then the Buffs slowly were worn down by the pressure of Topeka through the 2nd quarter and would get outscored 19-7 in the period to trail in the 2nd half 33-24.
At the start of the 3rd quarter Garden City would make their final run even getting the game within six points trailing 37-31 but that was as far as Topeka would let the game get. Kiki Smith would take Topeka the rest of the way as she scored a team-high 19 points to help the Trojans take down the Buffs.
Leading the way in scoring for Garden City was Aileen Becceril who tallied 16 points followed by fellow senior Amaya Gallegos with 14 points. The Buffaloes will graduate 4 seniors Aileen Becceril, Ryann Warren, Amaya Gallegos, and Mackenzie Lucas who all saw significant time in their careers for GCHS.
“I’m proud of this group they allowed me to coach them in my first year and now they are family for life to me,” coach Miller added after the game.
The Lady Buffs finish their season with a 6-15 record and 2-6 in WAC.
