Fourteen points.

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Garden City Community College\'s Katie Novack, right, moves the ball up court as Howard\'s Danielle Cota guards her Friday during a women\'s game in the Pepsi Classic at Perryman Athletic Complex.

That's all that Garden City Community College women's basketball team could manage in the first half against Howard College on Friday night. Sure, the Lady Busters held Howard to 19 points in the same span and would go on to more than double that total in the second half.

Yet, in the immediate aftermath of the 48-45 loss, Garden City's fourth straight, that is all head coach Jake Ripple could latch onto. Those fourteen points.

"I think we played like a bunch of individuals," said Ripple. "When you score 14 points in a half you're not going to win very many games. We dug ourselves a hole in the first half and gave a bad team effort, period."

Yet, the Lady Busters had a chance to win it in the end. With 8.3 seconds remaining and down by three, Garden City had one last possession to tie it after Howard's DeAndra Thomas missed both of her free throws off an intentional foul. Whitnie Jones rushed the ball down court and kicked it out to Trista Schmitt, who fired off a three pointer with .8 seconds on the clock that fell just short of the basket.

Jones led the Lady Busters in scoring with 14 points, going 7-of-11 from the field and 2-of-5 beyond the arc.

"It was a tough loss, we always seem to come up short and that's hard," Jones said. "It's making us stronger, but also we feel as a team that we've got to turn it around sooner or later."

In the low possession, defensive battle, the Lady Busters turned the ball over 18 times, mostly through errant passes and miscommunications on offense. Although Garden City outrebounded Howard by two and outshot them .385 percent to .293, it wasn't enough to avoid the loss.

"Eighteen turnovers, in a lot of games, doesn't bother me that much," Ripple said, "but in a game that was as low possession as this game tonight was, 18 turnovers really bothers me."

Despite their fourth loss in a row, Jones remains optimistic about the team's potential.

"We need to work on the little things," Jones said. "We're a good team, but I guess we have to just believe that. Once we believe that we can do anything."

The Lady Busters will wrap up their home stint in the final game of the Pepsi Classic on Saturday against Sterling JV at the Perryman Athletic Complex. Tip-off is set for 6 p.m.

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Howard 48, Garden City 45

Howard (1-0, 0-0): Watkins 4-11 4-6 12, M. Jones 4-8 3-4 11, Lambert 3-12 4-6 10, Griffin 3-9 1-2 9, Wilson 1-3 0-4 2, Dryber 1-3 0-0 2, Cota 1-6 0-0 2, Thomas 0-3 0-2 0, T. Jones 0-3 0-2 0 . Totals 17-58 12-26 48.

Garden City (1-4, 0-1): Young 7-11 0-1 14, Schmitt 3-11 0-1 7, Novack 2-13 2-3 7, Durler 3-4 0-0 6, L. Brown 2-5 0-0 4, Johnson 2-6 0-0 4, A. Brown 1-2 0-0 3 Totals 20-52 2-5 45.

Halftime--Howard 19-14. 3-Point Goals--Howard 2-7 (Griffin 2-5, Lambert 0-2), Garden City 3-7 (Schmitt 1-2, Novack 1-2, Brown 1-2, Copeland 0-1). Fouled Out--Garden City, Jones. Rebounds--Howard 31 (Watkins 8), Garden City 33 (Schmitt 7). Assists--Howard 4 (Watkins 2), Garden City 3 (Novack, Brown, Jones 1). Total Fouls--Howard 13, Garden City 19.