Newton’s pressure too much in the opening round of the NIT
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Newton, KS (westernkansasnews.com)-For nearly nine minutes on Thursday night, the Garden City girls went toe to toe with the top-ranked team in 5A.
Unfortunately for Matt Pfeifer’s squad, whatever smelling salt Newton Coach Randy Jordan used during a timeout early in the second, awoke a sleeping giant.
Taylor Antonowich scored a season-high 15 points, Abby Schmidt added 10 points and eight rebounds, and the No. 1 Lady Railers turned an early three-point deficit into a 56-24 rout of Garden City in the first round of the 41st annual Newton Invitational at Ravenscroft Gymnasium.
“We couldn’t hit any shots and they made plenty of them,” Pfeifer said afterwards. “Then we told our girls to get to try and get to the free throw line, but they couldn’t hit there either.”
The Buffaloes missed their first 13 free-throw attempts of the night. But, in his team’s defense, their inspired play early made things very interesting.
Garden City (3-9, 0-3) became just the second team this season to hold the lead on Newton after the first quarter (10-9). But all that faded away during a 20-minute stretch where the Buffaloes managed just two points.
Kyra Bellows three straight buckets gave the Buffaloes a 10-7 edge with 2:50 to go in the first. Then Newton’s half-court pressure went into lockdown mode, and the Buffaloes went the next 10:49 without scoring a single point. The Railers responded with 16 straight points, and by the time Pfeifer had burned his second timeout, Garden city was in a 13-point hole.
“Sure, it’s disappointing,” Pfeifer added. “But you learn from it, and you move on. I don’t even want the girls to see this film.”
Josie Calzonetti’s 3-pointer at the first-half buzzer finally put a stop to the Railers run. Garden City trailed 23-13 at the break.
“We knew they were going to pressure us in the half court,” Pfeifer explained. “So it wasn’t a surprise. Newton is a very good team.”
Newton’s play in the third quarter, removed any doubts on why the Railers are ranked No. 1 for the first time since 2006.
Antonowich splashed home a 3-pointer to begin the frame before converting a sensational layup off a Garden City turnover where she turned Kensi Peitz completely around and spun the ball home with her left hand. It was the beginning of a stretch where Newton (11-0, 5-0) scored 27 unanswered points. They outscored the Buffaloes 22-0 in the third, and eventually built their lead up to as many as 40 with 3:34 to play.
“It was more about pride in that fourth quarter,” Pfeifer said. “I put girls in that were going to rebound and hustle.”
The Buffaloes ended a 13-minute scoring drought with Taylor Savolt’s baseline jumper with 3:00 remaining in the final period.
“We move on as quickly as possible,” Pfeifer said. “It’s something that happened, and now you move onto the next one.”
Despite the blowout win, Newton shot just 31 percent (18-of-58) from the floor. They were 6-of-23 from beyond the arc and outrebounded the Buffaloes 41-31.
Bellows scored six of her eight points in the first quarter for Garden City, who lost their sixth straight game for the first time since 2006. Alyssa Long and Calzonettie each scored five.
Kyndal Bacon hit three 3-pointers and finished with 10 points for Newton, who advanced to play Olathe Northwest in the semifinals on Friday night. Savanna Simmons and Megan Bartel each tallied six.
Notes: There were six lead changes over the first nine minutes of action…Newton held Garden City scoreless in the third quarter; it’s the second time this season they’ve done that—they outscored Haysville Campus 20-0 in the first quarter back on Dec. 9…Newton leads the all-time series 6-0
Next up: Garden City vs. Andover Central-Friday, January 27-4:30 p.m. pregame; 4:45 p.m tip on 99.9 FM; westernkansasnews.com/kwkr and KWKR mobile app
