Rivalry comes to a head; Buffs split with Dodge
Final Highlights: GCHS girls vs. Dodge
Dodge City, Kan (westernkansasnews.com)-Garden City Head Coach David Upton tells his girls not to think about last February’s substate semifinals; focus on the present. But there’s no way the Buffs didn’t use that loss as a driving force on Tuesday night
Jaymie Bernbeck notched her second career double-double-20 points and 11 rebounds and Jacksenie Tornero drilled three monster threes as the Buffaloes held off Dodge City 53-46 at Demons Field House.
“The best part of that game was the final three minutes,” Upton said afterwards. “We put the ball in Jaymie’s hands and let her decide what was going to happen.”
A very smart decision. In fact Bernbeck doused the Demons’ comeback effort late. After Chandra Sain hit a three-pointer to pull Dodge City (2-3) within two with 1:15 to play, the junior took matters into her own hands. She took a pass from Taryn Tempel, split through traffic, and hit a sweeping layup in the paint to give Garden City (5-2) a 50-46 advantage.
Bernbeck put the game on ice with two free throws moments later, capping off her own, personal 6-0 run.
But it wasn’t all rosey.
After the Buffs built a 9-0 first-quarter lead, Dodge City coach Kelley Snodgrass called a time out at the 6:02 mark. From there, Garden City watched the Demons score 13 unanswered points. Tornero’s three early in the second frame finally ended the drought.
The senior guard would play a big role in a huge third quarter that watched her and her Taryn Tempel combine for 14 of the team’s 16 points in the period. Tempel also added three steals and five assists.
Next up: Garden City vs. Great Bend-Friday, January 10-6 pm on KWKR 99.9 FM
Final Stats: GCHS girls vs. Dodge
Boys
Dodge City, Kan (westernkansasnews.com)-Jacy Holloway won’t be submitting his team’s offensive performance Tuesday night to the ESPY awards; he might not want to watch them either.
Garden City shot a season-worst 23 percent from the field; allowed 13 offensive rebounds and watched Dodge City pull away late for a 35-26 win at Demons Field House.
“I’m not pleased with effort that we came out with,” Holloway said. “Very disappointed.”
The silver lining in this game: The Demons didn’t play much better. In fact, the two teams combined to shoot 27 percent from the floor. But it was Dodge City making the plays down the stretch.
Trailing 17-13 with just over a minute to play in the third, Dodge City (2-3), if you can believe it, seized control. They closed the game on an 18-13 run, led by two monster offensive rebounds late by Noah Williams, who finished with a game-high nine boards.
Tristan Nanniga, who played the majority of the game without his two front-court mates Hunter Delgado and Caleb Tramp (both saddled with foul trouble), led the Buffs with eight points. The aforementioned Tramp, whose had his moments in the first half of the season, failed to reach double figures for the second straight game. And he didn’t help his cause with a 1-for-6 performance from the line.
But he wasn’t the only casualty on this night. The rest of his team combined to shoot just 7-of-15 from the line, and Delgado, who was coming off his best game of the season against Pueblo East (14 points, 7 rebounds, 2 assists and 3 steals) finished the game scoreless on 0-for-5 shooting.
But give credit where credit is due; Dennis Hamilton’s team suffocated the Buffs in the half court; then exposed Garden City (4-3) with timely rebounding in the final minutes-out rebounding the Buffs 33-22.
Next up: Garden City vs. Great Bend-Friday, January 10-7:30 pm on KWKR 99.9 FM
