No. 12 Lady Busters host Coffeyville in Region VI quarters
3/5/2013
By ADAM HOLT
aholt@gctelegram.com
The Garden City Community College women's basketball team hosts Coffeyville at 7 p.m. today at the Perryman Athletic Complex in the Region VI tournament quarterfinals.
The No. 12 Lady Broncbusters (28-3) beat Northwest Kansas Tech, 75-39 on Saturday in the first round, a game they still found some flaws with. The Lady Ravens (14-17) beat Pratt, 73-61 in Coffeyville on Saturday.
The Ravens are led by 6-foot-1 freshman Chelsie Keys, who averages 11.7 points and eight rebounds per game. Sophomore Tonisha Wilson is second in scoring for Coffeyville at 10.8 points per game, and had 22 in the Ravens' win over the Beavers. Four other Ravens average at least six points per contest, including Devyn Edwards, who had 15 against Pratt and 19 against Kansas City, Kan. in Coffeyville's regular-season finale.
Garden City counters with the region's top scorer and rebounder, in sophomore Tamara Jones. Jones had an eight-game double-double streak snapped against NW Kansas Tech, but she sat the last nine minutes of the second half, and still produced 21 points and nine boards. Fellow sophomore post Deni Jacobs adds 12.2 points per game, and Tahlia Pope is averaging 14.4 points over her last seven games.
Statistically, the Ravens are middle-of-the-pack in the region in just about every category. The one thing Coffeyville doesn't do much is shoot 3-pointers, with the fewest made (81) and second-fewest attempted in all of Region VI. The Raven's biggest weakness is in turnover margin, where they average 23.3 turnovers and 18 takeaways per game.
Coffeyville has a 2-4 record vs. the Jayhawk West this season, losing to Cloud County, Barton, Hutchinson and Seward County, while beating Pratt twice. Garden City held an 8-2 edge over those teams. Both the Ravens and Busters played Northeastern Oklahoma on the road in non-conference play, with Coffeyville falling 59-50, and Garden City getting a 71-62 win.
Garden City will need to adjust from playing an undersized Mavericks squad to a Coffeyville team that has plenty of height. Aside from Keys, three other Ravens stand at least 6-foot-1, and just two players on the roster are shorter than 5-foot-7.
The school is promoting a Broncbuster theme for the game, and encourages fans to dress in cowboy attire. There will also be a meet-and-greet before the game in the Hall of Fame room at the DPAC from 6 to 6:50 p.m. with former Kansas State players and current Garden City football coaches Matt Miller, Jeff Kelly and Joe Gordon.
The other quarterfinal matchups today are: Seward County (20-10) at Hutchinson (30-1), Butler (25-6) at Independence (16-14) and Cloud County (21-10) at Cowley (27-4).
The winners of today's games advance to the Region VI semifinals at Hartman Arena in Park City on Friday.