GCCC women sloppy, but move to 6-0
11/17/2012
By ADAM HOLT
aholt@gtelegram.com
The Garden City Community College women's basketball team's first game this season as a ranked squad resulted in a win, but also disappointment.
Garden City defeated Trinidad State Junior College (Colo.), 68-61, Friday at the Dodge City Classic to stay unbeaten at 6-0.
But given multiple chances to pull away, the Lady Broncbusters couldn't do it.
"You know what, today, we just almost looked like we didn't have a lot of interest in going out and really playing our way," head coach Alaura Sharp said in a phone interview. "We almost went though the motions well enough to win."
Up 34-25 at half, GCCC led by as much as 13 in the first, but TSJC (6-1) took advantage of inconsistent defensive efforts by the Busters to pull back in the second.
It didn't help that GCCC shot 33.3 percent from the field, despite attempting just six 3-pointers — of which they made zero.
Sharp said the Busters missed too many layups and easy shots in the point. While GCCC had 17 second-chance points, they also had a staggering 29 offensive rebounds. Garden City was also just 65.5 percent from the free-throw line.
Tamara Jones led all scorers with 23 points on 10-of-24 shooting from the field and 3-of-4 free throws. Deni Jacobs added 16 on 5-of-14 shooting, and Shicole Watts scored 12 on 5-of-14 shooting. No other Buster had more than five points.
Destiny Bragman scored 18 for the Lady Trojans on 8-of-10 shooting from the field. Stephanie Knowles added 13, while Jackie Becker and Justine Gallegos added 10 apiece. Trinidad State shot 52 percent from the field, and outscored Garden City 36-35 in the second half.
Sharp said she wasn't happy with Garden CIty's execution down the stretch, and had trouble finding a rhythm on either side of the ball. She attributed it to effort and focus.
Consistent focus is something Sharp has stressed to her team so far this season. Part of that may be the long layoff between games for the Busters. They haven't played since Saturday, and Sharp said she's noticed some rust after the long layoffs.
Despite the occasional lapses in focus, Garden City is 6-0. Sometimes those lessons don't stick until a team finally loses a game because of it, but Sharp said she hopes it doesn't come to that.
"That's what I told them after the game, I don't want to have to lose for us to learn these things the hard way," she said. "We can learn, even though we've gotten a few wins here and there. The bottom line is, we've proven that when we play really, really hard, then we play really well. And that's the big thing that we have to learn."
Garden City plays Allen County today at 2 p.m. in its second game of the Dodge City Classic. Allen beat Dodge City 80-74 on Friday to improve to 3-2 this season.