Scott City drops home openers to Great Bend

Scott City, Kan. (westernkansasnews.com)–Tuesday’s home opener for Scott City would be the first of three tough matchups for the Beavers this week, as they began the week with Great Bend in the Scott Community Events Center. Unfortunately for both the boys and girls squads, it would be a couple of tough losses, as Great Bend rallied for a 50-42 win in the girls game, while the Panthers jumped out big early and held off a late Beaver rally in a 53-45 victory.

Great Bend Girls 50, Scott City 42
For a 27-minute stretch of the game, it was Scott City’s game. But for the first two minutes and the games final three-plus minutes, it was Great Bend’s, as the Lady Panthers would rally for a road win to open the season. They started out 6-2 before the Lady Beavers put together a 16-2 run over the final 5:49 of the opening period to lead 18-8 after the first quarter. Great Bend cut the score early in the second quarter to 18-31, but Scott City would push it out to 24-13 with a little over two minutes left in the half, and eventually led 28-17 at the break. When it looked like the Lady Beavers were ready to run the Lady Panthers out of the building, Great Bend would work themselves back into the contest. Scott City led 36-21 with a little over five minutes left in the third stanza, only to see the Lady Panthers close out the period on a 9-2 run to get to within 38-30 after three quarters. Experience would take over the final eight minutes, as Great Bend was able to wear the Lady Beavers down with their full court pressure, and forced 11 turnovers in the period. They outscored Scott City 20-4 in the final quarter, and closed the final 3:31 with the games final 11 points to complete the win in a 50-42 win. 

Sydney Unruh led all scorers with 17 points, while Taryn Warren and Alyson Kaiser each had 12. The Lady Panthers were 13-19 from the line, and had 20 turnovers. Scott City saw Amber Latta lead them with 15 points and Ella Rumford added 11. They were 12-18 at the line, but committed 28 turnovers. 

Great Bend leads the series over Scott City 4-2, and have won three straight in the series. The last win by the Lady Beavers in the series came in 1988. 

Great Bend 8-9-13-20-50
Scott City 18-10-10-4-42

Great Bend (1-0): Fletchall 0 0-0 0; E. Loomis 0 0-0 0; Spray 2 0-0 4; Unruh 4 6-6 17; H. Loomis 0 0-0 0; Warren 5 2-4 12; Tinkler 0 0-0 0; Harbaugh 0 2-2 2; Kaiser 5 2-4 12; Hull 0 0-0 0; Smith 1 1-2 3; Team 17 13-18 50
Scott City (1-1): Rumford 5 0-0 11; Strine 2 4-8 8; Latta 4 4-4 15; Ford 0 1-2 2; Felker 2 3-4 7; Cupp 0 0-0 0; Patton 0 0-0 0; Team 13 12-18 42

Three Pointers: Great Bend 3 (Unruh 3), Scott City 4 (Latta 3, Rumford 1); Turnovers: Great Bend 20, Scott City 28; Rebounds: Great Bend 25, Scott City 29; Fouls: Great Bend 16, Scott City 15; Fouled Out: None.

Coach Amy Felker Postgame

Great Bend Boys 53, Scott City 45
Great Bend would come out and force early turnovers, using a full court press, and jumped out to a 13-0 lead with 2:40 left in the opening frame. Scott City wouldn’t get on the board until the 1:35 mark and trailed 13-3 after the first quarter. Somehow, the Beavers were in the game in the second quarter, as they chipped away from behind the three-point line, and pulled to within 18-14 with 2:36 left before recess. The Panthers scored the final four points of the half to lead 23-14 at the break. Their 12-1 run over at one point in the third quarter pushed them to their largest lead of the game at 35-15 with 1:35 left in the third quarter. Scott City would grab a little energy with a three at the end of the period to make it 35-18 heading into the fourth quarter. It was the Beavers who would force turnovers and make a couple runs in the final eight minutes of play. Their first run was a 9-2 run to get to within 37-27 with 6:32 left. Trailing by 14 points with 3:32 remaining, Scott City used a 10-2 run to make it 48-42 with 1:18 left. The Beavers got to within 50-45 late, but were unable to get any closer, as the Panthers hit three of their four free throws in the final seconds to take a 53-45 win. 

Great Bend got 24 points from Stefan Spray, who had 17 in the second half, and 13 from Sage Koelsch. They were 10-14 at the line, and had 12 turnovers. Scott City got 15 points apiece from Josh Rosin and Harrison King. King scored five three’s in the final quarter. They had 20 turnovers and finished 5-10 at the line.

With the win, Great Bend evens the series at 2-2, and had their first win over the Beavers since 1997. 

Great Bend 13-10-12-18-53
Scott City     3-11-4-27-45

Great Bend (1-0): Koelsch 5 3-4 13; Hernandez 0 0-0 0; Council 0 0-0 0; Moeder 0 0-0 0; Streck 2 0-0 6; Spray 8 5-6 24; Hall 3 2-4 8; Moeder 1 0-0 2; Team: 19 10-14 53
Scott City (0-1): I. Tarango 0 0-0 0; Rosin 4 4-7 15; King 5 0-0 15; Stevens 0 0-0 0; Thon 0 0-0 0; Culp 0 0-0 0; Hawkins 0 1-2 1; Bailey 2 0-0 6; Metzger 2 0-0 6; E. Tarango 0 0-0 0; Gooden 1 0-1 2; Team: 14 5-10 45

Three Pointers: Great Bend 5 (Spray 3, Streck 2), Scott City 12 (King 5; Rosin 3; Bailey 2; Metzger 2); Turnovers: Great Bend 12, Scott City 20; Rebounds: Great Bend 23, Scott City 18; Fouls: Great Bend 8, Scott City 13; Fouled Out: None.

Coach Brian Gentry Postgame

Scott City will head to Liberal on Friday, and host Wichita Trinity Saturday afternoon, while Great Bend hosts Holcomb on Thursday and travels to Junction City on Friday.