Buster Women, Red Devil Men, pick up conference wins

Garden City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–The Garden City Broncbuster men and women’s basketball teams returned to Conestoga Arena Saturday afternoon for their home conference opener against the Allen Red Devils. It was a split in the doubleheader, as the Lady Busters snapped a three-game losing streak in an 82-60 win, while the Buster men fell to the Red Devils 80-61

Garden City Women 82, Allen 60
Two teams who have struggled recently met up in hopes of snapping a losing skid. Garden City came in with a three game losing streak, while Allen’s had reached eight entering Saturday. In the first half, the lead exchanged six times and the game was tied seven times. The Lady Busters would led 15-13 after the first quarter, only to see Allen score eight straight to take a 21-13 lead. Their run would eventually be 11-2 over the first five minutes of the second quarter, before Garden City countered with a 10-0 run to take a 27-24 lead with 2:17 left in the first half. The Lady Busters led 29-26 at the break, and never trailed in the second half. Mini-spurts in the third quarter pushed the Garden City lead to as big as 15 at 53-38 with 53.7 seconds remaining in the third frame, and took a 53-41 lead into the fourth. Allen (2-9, 0-2) would get as close as 53-43 early in the fourth quarter, before the Lady Busters put the game away. Their biggest lead reached 22 at the end at 82-60. Garden City (5-5, 1-1) outscored the Lady Red Devils in the second half 53-34.

Leading the way for Garden City was Talia Roberts with 29 points, while Jaleah Bellany had all 14 points in the second half and Alyssa Boyce added 11. The Lady Busters were 20-26 from the free throw line and scored 30 points off turnovers. Allen was led by Ariel Walker’s 19 points, ChrisAlee Patterson added 11 and Alecia Verge finished with 10. They were 17-31 from the line and had 25 turnovers.

Garden City hosts Trinidad State in the final non conference game Wednesday night.

Allen Men 80, Garden City 61
Two teams with high-octane offense met up for the afternoon finale, and came in with big wins on Wednesday night. Early on, it was Garden City who brought the energy, building a 9-3 lead over five minutes into the game. The Red Devils would slowly work their way to tie the game at 16, using an 8-2 run. They would retake the lead at 19-16 with seven minutes left in the half, and use a 12-1 run over the next four minutes to build a 31-18 lead. The Busters battled back and pulled to within 33-25 at intermission. Unfortunately for Garden City (6-4, 1-1), they wouldn’t get any closer. Leading 45-35 with 16:19 left, Allen (10-1, 2-0) went on an 11-0 run, and eventually it would build up to a 19-4 run over the next six minutes to lead 64-39 with 10:02 left. Garden City cut it to within 14 late at 72-58, before falling 80-61.

Darius Love had 18 of his game-high 20 points in the second half to lead the Red Devils, while Malik Hardmon had 17 points and 17 rebounds, while Trez Hankins had 14 and Wesley Anderson, Jr added 10 points. Allen shot 36% for the game and were 24-29 from the foul line. Jakobi Person led Garden City with 13 points, and Daishaun Woods added 10 points. The Busters shot 33% for the game, and had only six turnovers in the loss. The Red Devils own the rebounding battle 57-34.

Garden City will host Otero Monday night.