Lady Busters drop season opener to Murray State

Liberal, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–In their season opener Friday afternoon at the Green House in Liberal, the Garden City Lady Busters ran into the buzzsaw named Tierani Richardson. Richardson, the smallest player on the court at only five-foot, three inches, scored 49 points in the most unusual of ways, as the Murray State Lady Aggies pulled away midway through the second half for an 85-69 win over the Lady Busters.

Garden City had early leads in the first half of three at 13-10, and 15-12, that’s when Richardson would take over. Drawing fouls and getting to the free throw line is what propelled her to score 20 of the teams final 25 first half points. The Lady Busters trailed by eight with under a minute remaining in the first half, when Loysha Morris converted two old fashioned three-point plays to cut the halftime deficit to 37-35.

In the second half, Murray State would race out to a 12 point lead at 53-41, using a 10-0 run, only to see Garden City cut the deficit to three at 53-50 with 11:07 remaining. That’s the closest the Lady Busters would be the rest of the way. A 21-3 run by the Lady Aggies over a four-plus minute span would put the game in doubt, as the closest Garden City (0-1) would get would be 13 points with about four minutes left at 76-63.

The difference in the game were a couple of factors. First, Murray State hit 18 more free throws than Garden City. Second, the Lady Aggies converted seven more three-pointers than the Lady Busters, despite Garden City making four more field goals in the game. Murray State was 30-44 from the foul line, while Garden City was 13-31. 

Leading the way for the Lady Busters was Loysha Morris, who poured in 30 points, while Taleah Williams had a double-double with 12 points and 14 rebounds. She had 10 points and 10 rebounds in the first half. Justina James added 10 points. Murray State’s Tierani Richardson scored 49 points on 19-24 free throw shooting and 8-12 on three’s, including two of them from at least 25 feet out. Shaylynn Bass added 13 points and 14 rebounds for the Lady Aggies.

Garden City will take on Hill College Saturday afternoon at 2 pm in Liberal. Hill College lost to Seward County 66-51 Friday night.