Broncbuster men hang on; women earn first road victory

Dodge City, KS-Brady Trenkle will never say it publicly, but there’s always something extra on the line facing Dodge City.

On Wednesday night, despite having to sweat it out late, the fifth-year coach handed his former employer a gut-wrenching setback.

Theo Holloway recorded his first double-double of the season with 15 points and 10 rebounds, Kendale Hampton also scored 15, and Garden City held off Dodge City in the final seconds to earn a hard-fought 66-64 victory over the Conquistadors at the Student Activities Center.

“This is a tough place to play,” Trenkle said after the game. “Dodge City put up a heck of a fight.”

Garden City (8-2, 4-2) won the game despite shooting a season-low 39 percent from the floor. They were just 3-of-11 from deep, their second fewest 3-pointers made in a game this year.

“You want to talk about playing hard-that’s a really good Dodge City team,” Trenkle said. “They play so well together. We definitely got their A-plus hit tonight.”

Dodge City (5-4, 3-3) was sharp early on, scoring 10 of the game’s first 13 points while the crowd erupted following Lazarus Williams’ 3-pointer that made it 10-3 six minutes into the contest.

“We had not seen them play that well yet,” Trenkle said. “But that’s the thing with this league, and while Dodge City may not be as talented as some of the other teams in the region, they are extremely well coached.”

The Broncbusters weathered the early storm, and Octavious Meadows’ layup, followed by Holloway’s steal and dish to Russhard Cruickshank and Hampton’s 3-pointer, spearheaded a 7-0 run that tied the game at 10. Garden City then took their first lead on Meadows’ driving layup that put the Broncbusters up 16-14 with 7:06 remaining in the half.

“Even with some of the things that went wrong in this game, at the end of the day, we have to remember that we won,” Trenkle said.

The game went back and forth for the majority of the opening period, with Tajae Anderson’s triple putting Dodge City back in front 24-21 with 4:09 left. But two free throws by Holloway coupled with a midrange jumper; a layup and Hampton’s scoop and score had the Broncbusters up 29-28 at the half.

The first half featured six ties and three lead changes. Trenkle wasn’t surprised.

“There are a lot of things that we still have to learn,” Trenkle said. “But that’s the beauty of this schedule. We’ve got plenty more games to get this thing right.”

The game stayed close in the second half with the Broncbusters building a five-point edge four minutes into the stanza only to have Bruce Hodges split a pair of free throws; then hit a layup followed by Jyrus Freels’ drive to the rim that tied the score at 37.

“We could never really pull away from them,” Trenkle said. “And they kept the score down.”

Garden City built their biggest lead of the night when Jeff Otchere rattled the rim with a breathtaking slam with 2:08 remaining that gave the Broncbusters a 64-57 edge. But as they did most of the night, the Conquistadors struck back, pulling to within three on Hodges made free throw with nine seconds left. Then, with Broncbusters up four, Cruickshank made a costly error, fouling Hodges shooting a 3-pointer.

“We have to learn on the go here, like you can’t foul that guy in that situation,” Trenkle explained.

Hodges hit the first, missed the second before first-year Head Coach Steve Tucker called a timeout. When play resumed, Hodges tried to intentionally miss the freebie only to see it splash through net, cutting Garden City’s lead to 66-64 with two seconds left. But even with Otchere missing two from the stripe on the other end, Doge City was out of timeouts, and Anderson’s three-quarters court heave fell well short, giving the Broncbusters their first win over the Conquistadors since Jan. 20, 2016.

“We can hold our heads up because our guys played well for the most part,” Trenkle said. “Now it’s onto the next one.”

Meadows finished with 11 points for the Broncbusters, who won their third straight game. Jamir Thomas chipped in seven points and eight boards, and Pierre Johnson had six and four dimes in 35 minutes.

Hodges paced the Conquistadors with 16 points on 6-of-11 shooting. Tamajae Blackwell had 11, but as a team, Dodge City was just 6-of-25 from downtown (24 percent).

Next up: Garden City vs. Hutchinson-Saturday, Dec. 2-8 p.m. on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app

Women

Dodge City, KS-In 2017, games played away from home have been sort of a Rubik’s cube for the Broncbuster women.

On Wednesday night, they finally solved the problem, and all it took was a rival 50 miles to the east.

Abigail Green led four Broncbusters in double figures with 16 points, Garden City shots lights out in the second half, and Charinee Mitchell’s team earned their first road victory of the season with a 66-57 win over Dodge City at the Student Activities Center.

“I told our kids in the locker room: do not be happy with your performance tonight,” Mitchell said afterwards. “We pulled this one out, but it was very ugly.”

Entering the game, Dodge City had shot over 40 percent only two times in their first seven games. On Wednesday, Mitchell’s team watched as the Conquistadors shot a season-best 48 percent from the floor while outscoring the Broncbusters 30-22 in the paint. Yet the common denominator was this: Garden City (5-4, 3-3) outscored Dodge City (4-4, 2-4) by 21 points behind the 3-point line in a nine-point victory. The Conquistadors finished 1-of-8 from beyond the arc.

“We did just enough to win this game,” Mitchell said. “That’s all there is to it. We have to get better.”

Garden City looked like they would run away with this one early, scoring the first five points of the game. But Dodge City stormed back, and Makaela Ewing’s layup with 22 seconds left in the first period, gave the Conquistadors a 12-9 edge. Talia Roberts though answered the bell for the Broncbusters, drilling a 3-pointer at the buzzer to knot the game at 12 after one.

“We have to keep our foot on the gas,” Mitchell said. “We can’t let teams back in the game.”

As uneven as the Broncbusters played for a good portion of the first half, their domination on the glass paid huge dividends, especially in the final 30 seconds when, after Jada Washington stole the ball, both Abigail Green and Daz’Monique Johnson kept the possession alive with offensive rebounds. Then with time winding down, Johnson threw a strike to Washington, who nailed a 3-pointer from the top of the key to give Garden City a 28-26 advantage at the break.

“I made sure to tell our players in the locker room that they were outworking Dodge City on the glass, and that they couldn’t let up,” Mitchell said.

Garden City never did, outrebounding the Conquistadors 41-29 by night’s end. Everything else seemed to fix itself in the second half.

As cold as Mitchell’s team was to start the game (they missed 28 of their first 38 shots), the Broncbusters were just as hot over the final 20 minutes. Garden City connected on 15-of-26 from the field (58 percent) in the second half, and after Roberts’ steal setup Green’s transition layup, the brown and gold had their largest lead of the night 55-38 with 7:57 to go in the fourth quarter. It was part of a 27-10 run that seemingly put the game out of reach.

“We had a lot of energy tonight,” Mitchell said. “We kept believing, and we kept fighting.”

Johnson enjoyed her most complete game of the season for Garden City, scoring 12 points, pulling down 17 rebounds and blocking three shots in 37 minutes. She was 4-of-7 from the field and 4-of-5 from the line. Roberts chipped in 12 points, six assists and five steals while Washington netted 12.

Ewing scored 16 points for Dodge City, who lost for the second time in their last three games. The Conquistadors had 20 turnovers, their fourth straight contest with 20 or more.

Next up: Garden City vs. Hutchinson-Saturday, Dec. 2-5:45 p.m. pregame; 6 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app