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GCHS opens home schedule against Panthers
Published 1/8/2009 in Sports : GCHS
By JASON ELMQUIST
It's time to see if the two Garden City High School basketball squads were able to carry over the momentum from a pair of wins in Elk City, Okla. just before winter break when the Buffs face three Western Athletic Conference opponents in a five-day span starting with Friday's game against Great Bend.
"It always gives you a better feeling going into break after that," GCHS boys basketball coach Jeff Tanner said about the wins. "We took them to a college basketball game right before break to do a little team building on that. So with all that, when we came back you could see a difference. I think they did have a little more confidence to them and a little more willingness to work the way that we need to work."
Not only will it be a short turnaround for the squads, but after playing solid Great Bend Friday night at home, Garden City will travel to Dodge City Saturday night.
"It's a tough weekend. They're two solid teams," Tanner said. "One has won three out of the last four WAC titles (Great Bend) and the other is a huge rivalry game. It's a big weekend, but we've got to take it one at a time starting with Great Bend."
After winning the Hays City Shootout, the Great Bend boys squad has gone on a three-game losing streak. But as Tanner pointed out, the Panthers' last three games have been against some quality opponents -- Salina South, Salina Central and McPherson.
"They're going to come out swinging," Tanner said. "You've got to look at who they've played. They've played some pretty dang good teams, so it's not like they've been in a slump. I'm sure they would have liked to have won those games, but they are still going to be a force in the WAC."
Cody Bernbeck is averaging 17.2 points per game for the boys squad. The sophomore guard is shooting 37.8 percent from behind the arc in the first five contests and has been the leading scorer in all five affairs.
Chris Ruiz, averaging nine points, leads the team in rebounding with 4.8 per contest. Most importantly, 15 of his 24 rebounds on the season are on the offensive end of the court. Bernbeck is close behind Ruiz in rebounding with 20 rebounds of his own.
For the Lady Buffs, Friday night's opponent will be rematch of a second round game at the Hays City Shootout. The Panthers pounced on the Lady Buffs 48-24 in that game.
"First and foremost we've got to take care of the ball," Upton said. "We had close to 30 turnovers in that game. We've got to watch our fouls because we did send them to the free throw line, I think, 31 times in that game. And we've got to make shots. We shot a horrendous percentage from the field. You do those three things against anybody, you're going to get beat."
The Great Bend girls have gone 5-1 with the lone loss coming to Salina South.
Regardless of the opponent, the boys and girls teams are just looking forward to finally playing in The Garden.
"I think the girls are kind of enjoying the fact that we finally get a home game and get to play in front of the home crowd," Upton said. "I know I heard them talking in the locker room this week about how people will finally get to come see them. So it's going to be nice to be home for a change."
Carly Schmale is the girls' top scorer with 53 points coming out of the break, but Marisela Rodriguez is tops in regards to scoring average with 12 points per game -- having played in one less game than Schmale and trails the junior in totals points by five.
The pair of post players have been vital to the Buffs' rebounding advantage. Rodriguez leads with 28 boards with Schmale right behind at 25. Paula Gonzales is close to cracking 20 rebounds with 19 of her own.
"With our two post players, we should be as evenly matched or stronger than everybody on our schedule," Upton said. "The rest of the posts on our schedule we should be evenly matched or stronger."
The Lady Buffs (3-2) will tip-off at 6 p.m. with the boys (2-3) game to follow.
Correction: The story that initially appeared in The Garden City Telegram and at www.gctelegram.com included an incorrect time for tip-off. A corrected version, with girls' tip-off at 6 p.m. and the boys game to follow, appears here.
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