GCCC Men Win Opener; Women Lose by Two at Pepsi Classic

Garden City, KS (westernkansasnews.com) It is safe to say Garden City Community College Men’s and Women’s Basketball Coaches were not happy with their team performances at the Pepsi Classic from the Dennis Perryman Athletic Complex, but for different reasons.

In the men’s game #25 ranked Garden jumped out to a 15-4 lead against the #12 ranked team in division II Kansas City, Kansas and built up the lead to 19 with seven minutes to go only to have the Blue Devils close late in a 66-54 Broncbuster win.

Men’s Highlights First Half

Men’s Highlights Second Half

The Busters withstood from cold shooting from the line at 9/19 and missed a number of dunks, but were able to produce enough offense to pull through.  Josh Fleming led three players in double figures with 21 (5-10 from 3), Ben Howze had 13 points and grabbed 10 boards for a double-double.  

Garden distributed the ball well getting 14 assists to KCK’s 5 and turned the ball over only six times while forcing 18.  

The Blue Devils (0-2) were led by post player Jonathan Murray and guard Mike Lee, Jr. each of the returners from last year’s team that won region six and advanced to the national Division II tournament scored 18 each.

Garden City Coach Brady Trinkle

For the GCCC Women they lost their first game of the season dropping to 1-1 with a 63-61 lost to Northern New Mexico.  The Lady Busters trailed 39-29 at half and were down by as many as 18 after an early second half run from the Lady Eagles.

Women’s Highlights First Half

Women’s Highlights Second Half

Garden City closed out on a 10-3 run to end the game, but still fell two points short despite 18 rebounds from sophomore post player DeRae Lewis.  Tionnia McKee finished with 17 in the loss for GCCC. Nisa Duran poured in 21 points on 5-9 shooting from 3 while Michelle Tapia dominated underneath the basket with 17.

GCCC Women’s Coach Nick Salazar Post-game Comments

Day two of the Pepsi Classic will feature the Garden City (1-1) women against Lamar and Men (3-0) against Bethel’s JV.  Pre-game coverage begins at 5:45 Saturday night on ESPN 99.9 and westernkansasnews.com.  Tip-off of the women’s game is at 6.