The Garden City Telegram
NEW E-Edition!
Subscription
Required
Add Your Comment | Read (0) Comments
Lady Busters are good enough in 62-46 triumph
Published 2/25/2013 in Sports
Lady Busters are good enough in 62-46 triumph
By ADAM HOLT
aholt@gctelegram.com
For about 10 minutes of its 62-46 win over Dodge City on Saturday, the No. 15 Garden City Community College women's basketball team went about its business, and beat up on the Lady Conquistadors.
The results were mixed in the other 30, though, which included some extended scoring droughts.
"I didn't really like our consistency," GCCC head coach Alaura Sharp said. "Just finishing plays, the mental side of the game, defensive breakdowns. But I thought when it came down to crunch time, and we allowed them back in, then we stepped up and made some plays."
On sophomore night at the Perryman Athletic Complex, the Lady Broncbusters' Tamara Jones went off for 30 points and nabbed 17 rebounds, while fellow sophomores Deni Jacobs and Tahlia Pope added 12 and nine, respectively.
Garden City (26-3, 12-3 KJCCC) nursed a 10-plus point lead for much of the game, but Dodge City stayed pesky, and a 5-of-10 start from 3-point range kept the Conqs (9-20, 3-12) hanging around.
The Busters started the second half strong, going up 45-29 with 15 minutes, 9 seconds to play, but scored just two more points over the following stretch of almost seven minutes.
Consistent focus has been an issue all season for Garden City, and Sharp didn't want to blame Saturday's lapses on a week-long layoff between games.
"Maybe. But I think it's who we are a little bit, too," she said. "We've seen that throughout the season. So it's easy to lay blame on being rusty, or making an excuse, but I think it's focus. Our focus has got to get better."
It was a 49-39 game at the 8:05 mark, but Jones and the Busters closed the game on a 13-7 run, with GCCC going 4-of-5 at the free throw line in the final three minutes.
For Jones, it was just the latest in a stretch of strong games, even by her standards. It marked the sixth time in her career she's scored at least 30 points in a game, and the third time this season. Her 17 rebounds matched her own season-high, and was her sixth straight double-double, and 15th of the season.
"I thought she attacked the glass really well," Sharp said. "I thought she was really aggressive. She's struggled a little bit with her shot selection, but it was better tonight. I thought maybe one or two times it was a little bit forced, but overall, I thought her shot selection was really good."
Four of those boards came on the offensive end, and with Jacobs adding five offensive rebounds, Garden City had 16 to Dodge City's six. The Lady Busters out-rebounded the Conqs 44-30 for the game. The Busters weren't lights out shooting (40 percent from the field), but made up for it with second-chance points.
"That was the biggest challenge that I laid on them today, was let's dominate the glass," Sharp said. "What did it end up being? We wanted to win by 20, so it was close."
Jameeshia Armstrong led DCCC with 17 points, and the Conqs got 10 from Kelli Tolar. Dodge City shot just 32.6 percent from the field, as there were stretches where the Conqs couldn't get the ball inside, and were forced into late shot clock situations by the Busters.
In addition to some problems finishing, a good portion of Garden City's 16 turnovers came on silly mistakes. With a scheduled trip to Seward County (19-8, 10-4) coming up at 6 p.m. today, there isn't much time to get that fixed, that's assuming the weather cooperates. The game had already been postponed from Wednesday's storm.
"Too many mental mistakes," Sharp said. "Three seconds in the lane, illegal screen, throwing the ball out of bounds. Those are things we cannot do Monday."
Notes: The Busters' sophomores — Jacobs, Jones, Pope, Mikell Chinn, Kenee Green, Brittany Maxwell and Nicole Young — were honored at a ceremony at halftime during the men's game.
The game with Seward has playoff implications for seeding purposes. Region 6 playoffs begin Saturday at the home site of the higher-seeded team.
------
Dodge City (46) — Briggs 2-6 0-0 5, Westmoreland 0-3 0-0 0, Buckner 0-4 0-0 0, Tolar 3-6 2-2 10, Mouton 4-4 1-3 9, Salazar 2-8 0-0 5, Cramer 0-3 0-0 0, Armstrong 4-11 7-10 17, Ruiz 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 15-46 10-15 46.
Garden City (62) — Jacobs 4-11 4-6 12, Jones 12-19 5-8 30, Young 2-4 0-0 4, Pope 3-10 3-6 9, Chinn 1-4 3-4 5, Green 0-2 1-2 1, Chisom 0-4 0-0 0, Maxwell 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 22-55 17-28 62.
Halftime--Garden City 36-25. 3-point goals--Dodge City 6-19 (Tolar 2-4, Armstrong 2-4, Briggs 1-4, Salazar 1-6, Cramer 0-1), Garden City 1-5 (Jones 1-2, Green 0-2, Chinn 0-1). Rebounds--Dodge City 30 (Armstrong 8), Garden City 44 (Jones 17). Assists--Dodge City 8 (Salazar 3), Garden City 17 (Jones 5, Chinn 5). Turnovers--Dodge City 21, Garden City 16. Fouled out--none. Total fouls--Dodge City 20, Garden City 13.
Found 0 comment(s)!