Busters basketball splits with Northwest Kansas Tech

Garden City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–The weather has played a factor this winter with scheduling. Monday’s make-up game between Garden City and Northwest Kansas Technical College was also affected by the weather, as they moved the games up to a pair of afternoon games. A big third quarter would propel the Lady Busters to a 71-55 win, while the Buster men saw the Mavericks make a living at the foul line in the second half in an 82-74 setback.

Garden City Women 71, Northwest Kansas Tech 55
While it was back and forth in the first two minutes, Garden City led this game for a majority of the day. Trailing 6-5 with 7:55 in the first quarter, the Lady Busters went on a 14-7 run to take a 19-14 lead after the first quarter. Still the Lady Mavericks would not go away, pulling to within 26-24 with 2:48 remaining in the first half. Garden City closed the half on an 8-2 run and led 34-26 at recess.

It took both teams over five minutes in the third quarter to score their first points of the half. Garden City (13-15, 8-11) scored the first points of the period for their first double-digit lead at 36-26 with 4:56 left in the third period. After the teams traded baskets, the Lady Busters would take it to Northwest Kansas Tech (2-25, 2-17). An 11-4 run over the final 3:46 of the third quarter pushed their lead to 51-34. Their lead would grow to 22 at 56-34 with 8:45 left, before a late surge by the Lady Mavericks got them to within 61-47 with 3:19 left. Garden City would settle down and cruise to their second straight win.

Talia Roberts led the way with 21 points, while Alyssa Boyce added 16 and Daz’Monique Johnson had 14 points and 11 rebounds. Garden City went 44% from the floor at 28-63, and were 8-10 from the line. They finished with 19 turnovers and had 37 rebounds. N’Dea Fry led the way for Northwest Kansas Tech with 27 points and 10 rebounds, while Josie Cook added 16. The Lady Mavericks were 38% from the field at 22-58, and were only 5-9 from the free throw line. They also finished with 19 turnovers and had 25 rebounds.

Coach Charinee Mitchell Postgame

Northwest Kansas Tech Men 82, Garden City 74
This game would be back and forth throughout. The Busters started off slow, trailing 5-0 and 15-6 with 11:05 left before halftime. Northwest Kansas Tech would build their lead to 24-11 with 7:09 left before halftime. That’s when Garden City would make one big surge. They scored the next 13 points over a four-minute span to take their first lead at 26-24 with 1:59 left before halftime. Both teams would trade baskets, as the half was capped off by a Jamir Thomas dunk to give the Busters a 28-26 halftime lead.

In the second half, Garden City (12-16, 7-12) led by as many as five at 33-28 with 18:27 left. The Mavericks would slowly come back and eventually retake the lead at 42-39 with 14:03 left. Northwest Kansas Tech (13-15, 5-14) would work their lead 57-52 lead with nine minutes left. The Busters would rally to take a 62-61 lead with 5:43 left on a Thomas three. That would be their last lead of the night. The Mavericks went on a 12-0 run over the next two minutes to lead 73-62 with 2:59 left. Garden City was only able to pull to within 73-67 with 2:32 left. Northwest Kansas Tech hit their free throws down the stretch to put the game away in an 82-74 win.

Miles Gibson had 26 points to lead Northwest Kansas Tech, with 21 points coming in the second half. He was also 15-15 from the line. Brandon Conwright added 21, while Chris Freeman had 13 points and Ebon Jay finished with 10. The Mavericks were 40% from the floor at 22-55 and were 31-35 from the free throw line. They were 28-29 in the second half alone, and missed their last free throw. Garden City was led by Jamir Thomas wiht 25 points and Russhard Cruikshank added 16. The Busters finished 43% from the field at 27-63 and went 14-21 at the foul line. Northwest Kansas Tech won the rebounding battle 34-32.

The loss snaps a three-game winning streak for the Busters, and snaps a four-game losing skid for the Mavericks.

Coach Patrick Nee Postgame

Up next for Garden City will be a trip to Colby on Wednesday, before hosting Barton on Saturday. Northwest Kansas Tech travels to Seward County on Wednesday, and will host Dodge City on Saturday.