The Garden City Telegram
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Busters come up short; GCCC women fall by 14
Published 11/21/2009 in Sports
By The Telegram
The Garden City Community College men's and women's basketball teams found themselves on the long road for the weekend and the traveling and visiting gyms treated the two teams in much the same manner Friday night.
GCCC's men fell to Laramie, Wyo. Community College, 65-63, in the opening night of the Laramie Classic, while the Lady Busters traveled to Enid, Okla. for the Northern Oklahoma Classic where they suffered a 72-58 loss.
In the Busters' game, they trailed by as many as 10 points in the first half before closing the deficit to just two, 38-36, at halftime. The Busters eventually gained the lead and went up by as many as eight points in the closing 20 minutes of play.
"Bobby (Wesley) injured his knee in the second half and we just didn't have anybody step up for us," Busters coach Kris Baumann said. "We didn't defend, we didn't rebound. It was a microcosm of our season so far."
Baumann said Wesley tried to re-enter the game twice but a tweaked knee sent him back to the bench.
With less than 10 seconds remaining in the game, GCCC's Vince Banks had an open 3-pointer which bounced off the rim, rebounded by teammate Eric Griffin who had three point-blank shots right before the buzzer, none of which fell or the game could have gone into overtime.
"We're just not very good right now and I'm the one responsible for that," Baumann said. "For us to get better, I've got to do a better job of getting them ready."
Freshman Chris McHenry paced the Busters (4-3) with 16 points, while Ronald Cobb chipped in with 12. Griffin led the team with five rebounds.
The Busters, who will complete their brief trip to Wyoming today with a 2 p.m. game against Eastern Wyoming Community College, shot 44 percent from the field (24-of-55) and were 11-of-16 from the line (69 percent) and had just 10 turnovers for the game.
"They make seven three's on us in the first half," Baumann said. "Somebody has to defend that, but we seem to have trouble with that."
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In Enid, Okla., the Lady Busters saw their record fall to 2-4 after the 72-58 loss to the No. 18-ranked team in the country.
With two minutes to play, coach Alaura Sharp saw her team within seven points. At that stage, though, the Busters fouled, Northern Oklahoma made free throws and GCCC didn't score the rest of the way.
"It's a tough place to play and we didn't shoot the ball well," Sharp said. "We hung in there, but then just nothing went right in the last two minutes."
The Lady Busters were down nine at halftime before trimming the deficit in the final five minutes.
"Overall, I thought we played well considering the caliber of the competition," Sharp said. "We ran our offense well early and got some good looks, but the shots just didn't fall."
Freshman Marisela Rodriguez, playing just her second game, led the Lady Busters with 14 points, 13 rebounds and two blocks. Victoria Naylor contributed 12 points and 5 rebounds while LaMesia Abbott had 11 points, two rebounds and a pair of steals.
"They just didn't have any answer for Marisela," Sharp said of the 6-3 center playing in her second game. "We've just got to regroup for the game (today)."
Sharp's team will face Allen County from Iola at 2 p.m.
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