Broncbusters sweep Allen

Garden City, KS-When Garden City arrived back on campus at 3 a.m. Sunday following an overtime loss to Cowley County, Brady Trenkle had his guys right back in the gym shooting free throws. And rightfully so after his squad missed 18 of them against the Tigers.

“These guys knew what they had to do,” Trenkle said. “We gave that game away.”

Fast forward 72 hours, and the Broncbusters work during the early-morning hours paid off.

Jamir Thomas scored a season-best 23 points, his team combined to go 11-of-15 at the line, and Garden City snapped a two-game losing streak with a 94-75 victory over Allen County Tuesday night at Conestoga Arena.

“I’m really proud of how they bounced back; this is what we’ve been looking for,” Trenkle said. “It’s a process, and these guys have to understand the type of competition they’re playing in this league.”

Garden City set a new season-high, shooting 55 percent from the floor on 37-of-67 while dominating the smaller Red Devils inside-outscoring them 52-18 in the paint. They also killed them from deep, draining 9-of-20 3-pointers, their third highest total of the season.

“We haven’t seen it yet but when Theo Holloway, Russhard Curickshank and Kendale Hampton all shoot well in the same game, it will be hard to beat us,” Trenkle said.

While Hampton scored only four points in 18 minutes off the bench, Cruickshank continued his hot shooting, scoring 15 points on 4-of-8 from long range. He’s now 19-of-35 (54 percent) from downtown over his last four games.

“He’s (Cruickshank) the best point guard I’ve coached in 18 years,” Trenkle said. “I knew that as soon as he signed.”

Holloway was also on point, hitting four treys while scoring a season high 19 points; 11 of those came in the first half, which included a powerful baseline jam that fueled a 6-0 run that gave Garden City a 27-10 advantage with 9:12 left in the opening period.

“We did a good job of cutting these guys’ minutes in this game,” Trenkle said. “I mean Russhard played 44 minutes the other night, so we had to make a conscious effort to get guys some rest.”

Cruickshank and Holloway each played 29 minutes, while no one played more than 30. It was part of a masterful plan that produced Garden City’s (6-2, 2-2) most efficient game of the season.

“The one thing I know about this team is that they won’t accept losing,” Trenkle said.

The Broncbusters led the entire way, building a 21-point lead following Cruickshank’s 3-pointer with 7:36 remaining in the first half. Allen County did fight back, scoring 10 straight points to cut it to 11. Garden City was up 12 at the break.

“Allen County has talented players,” Trenkle said. “They were hurt tonight because they didn’t have one of their best players, but they still have scorers.”

The Red Devils were without sophomore returner Ahmad Winston, but Perry Carroll, who was the eighth all-time leading scorer at Ottawa High School, along with Tevin Townsend, who won three national championships with the Oklahoma City Storm in high school, more than carried the load for sixth-year Head Coach Andy Shaw.

Carroll scored 15 of his team-best 23 points in the second half while Townsend netted a season-high 20 points on 5-of-7 shooting in the losing effort.

“There are no easy games in this league,” Trenkle said. “And that was proven again tonight because even when we got up big, the basket got bigger for them, and they started hitting shots.”

Elvis Harvey put a jolt into the Broncbusters offense early in the second half with back-to-back jams, pushing the lead back to 22. But as they did in the first half, the Red Devils did not quit, and Carroll and Townsend hit consecutive 3’s to spark an 8-0 run that cut the Garden City lead to 55-41 with 15:20 left. That was as close as Allen County (2-6, 0-4) got the rest of the way.

The Broncbusters scorched the nets over the final 20 minutes, knocking down 20 of their 30 shots from the field while hitting 4-of-7 from deep. It was a shooting clinic that saw four of the five Broncbuster starters reach double figures.

“This team will be good at some point once they figure everything out,” Trenkle said. “It was really good to see Jamir and Jeff (Otchere) stay on the floor tonight and not foul. I told Jamir that when he fouls out, those are on him. He needs to learn how to play without fouling. Both of them did a much better job tonight.”

The Broncbusters beat Allen County for the fifth time in their last six meetings, and handed the Red Devils their eight consecutive conference loss dating back to last season.

Next up: Garden City at Independence-Saturday, Nov. 25-6 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app

Women

Garden City, KS-Garden City is still looking to put a complete 40-minute game together. But they are getting closer, one half at a time.

Daz’Monique Johnson scored a season-high 19 points off the bench, Abigail Green netted a season-best 18, and Garden City dug out of early seven-point hole to beat Allen County 75-67 Tuesday night at Conestoga Arena.

“This game proved that we can grind games out as long as our effort is there,” Head Coach Charinee Mitchell said. “We gave great effort.”

Garden City shot 45 percent from the field and grabbed 18 offensive rebounds, both season highs en route to their fourth home victory of 2017. They did all of that despite missing eight of their nine 3-point attempts.

“We just need to figure a way to have this carry over to the road,” Mitchell said. “We can do it, but we still have a long way to go.”

Garden City (4-3, 2-2) had a tough time creating any separation from the Red Devils in the first quarter, as an early four-point lead dissipated thanks to a 6-0 Allen County (3-5, 1-3) run that put the road squad up two after 10 minutes. Another 6-0 spurt had the Broncbusters staring at their largest deficit 27-20 with 4:48 remaining in the first half.

“It’s just one quarter at a time right now for us,” Mitchell said. “It all starts with getting quality shots.”

With the game teetering, Green gave Mitchell’s team a shot in the arm, hitting a 3-pointer before drilling back-to-back midrange jumpers to tie the game 27-27 with 2:55 left in the half. Kelcy McHenry added a layup followed by Johnson’s put back that capped an 11-0 surge and put the Bromcbusters in front by four.

“She (Green) was a game changer for us in that second quarter,” Mitchell said. “And we needed that.”

In the second half, Garden City built an eight-point lead late in the third quarter only to see Allen County reel off nine straight points early in the final period to retake the lead 56-54 following Jakira Wilson’s two free throws with 6:31 to go.

“Our girls have dealt with adversity all season,” Mitchell said. “This game was tough because we haven’t had a day off, and I’m sure neither has Allen. But that’s how it goes, and you have to fight through that stuff.”

The Broncbusters did just that. Johnson’s two freebies, and Shakendra Tilley’s three-point play gave Garden City the lead for good 59-57 with 4:50 remaining.

“I like how we responded,” Mitchell explained.

Garden City was lights out from the field in the fourth, shooting 58 percent (7-of-12). They were also opportunistic on defense, scoring 23 points off of 17 Allen County turnovers. They outrebounded the Red Devils 33-22 and had 10 assists on their 28 field goals.

“Good job by Abigail Green stepping up for us tonight,” Mitchell said. “This showed these girls that we do have the fight to play 40 minutes regardless of the circumstances.”

Tilley added 13 points on 4-of-8 shooting for Garden City who improved to 4-0 at Conestoga Arena. McHenry scored eight, Washington tallied five and Jessica Carillo scored, six, pulled down seven rebounds, dished out four assists and had two steals.

Wilson paced Allen County with 17 points in 28 minutes off the bench. Tamera Shaver had 15 and Kamri Summons 12.

Next up: Garden City at Independence, Saturday Nov. 25-3:45 p.m. pregame; 4 p.m. tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app