Buster Women fall, Men rout foes in Pepsi Classic opener

Garden City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–On the first day of the Pepsi Classic on Friday at the Perryman Athletic Complex, the Garden City Women fought hard, but fell to undefeated Howard College 59-51, while the Buster men dominated Kingdom Prep 90-57.

For the Lady Busters, both teams got off to rough starts offensively. Garden City went almost 10 minutes without a field goal to start the game, and trailed early in the first half 9-2. They would come back and eventually take a 19-18 halftime lead, than’s to a three pointer from Kate Inchun. Their lead would grow to as big as six before the Lady Hawks came back. Howard would take the lead for good with around a six minutes remaining and the closest Garden City could get was four. Three Howard Lady Hawks had double figures, led by Sarah Stinnett and Brianan Kentwell with 20 points, while Garden City (0-4) had Zantaya Jackson finish with 12 points and 1o rebounds.

The Buster Men had no problem with Kingdom Prep, leading by a 43-27 halftime score, and thumping the prep squad 90-57. It was all Garden City from the get go, despite an early 2-2 tie. The Busters led by as many as 35 in the game, as they slowed down a high-scoring Kingdom Prep team. Leading the charge for Garden City (3-0) was Talan Whitaker with 13 points, while Jeremy Wilson had 12, as four Busters finished with double figures. No player played more than 22 minutes in the game. Brian Morton paced Kingdom Prep with 15 points. 

In earlier action Friday, the Dodge City Women defeated Eastern Wyoming 85-70, and the Seward County Men dropped a close game with No. 25 North Platte 57-54.

Saturday’s schedule at the Pepsi Classic features Dodge City Women facing Howard College at 1:30, the Seward County Men taking on Kingdom Prep at 3:30, followed by the Buster women against Eastern Wyoming at 5:30, and the 7:30 game with the Garden City Men against No. 25 North Platte.