Lady Saints Upend First Place Garden City

While it was an ugly game throughout for both sides, there were plenty of things for the Seward County Lady Saints to cheer about Wednesday night in Garden City as not only did Seward knock off the conference leading Busters, but they also moved up a spot in the conference standings to 4th place and secured their 24th 20 win season in a row with their 54-47 victory over the brown and gold.

In front of an amped up home crowd, Garden City came out early and scored the first five points of the game to jump out to a 5-0 lead. Seward answered to even up the score at 8 moments later and after the Busters took a 10-8 lead back, the Lady Saints scored eight straight points behind a pair of threes from Daniela Galindo and Neidy Ocuane followed by a bucket inside from Joanna Grymek to retake the lead at 16-10 late in the quarter. The Busters got the final two of the period, but after one it was Seward 16 and Garden City 12.

Seward scored the first three points of the second quarter to stretch their lead to seven, but the Busters fought right back, getting the next five to make it a 19-17 game with 8:06 left in the half. It remained a two point game in favor of Seward with less than two minutes remaining in the quarter when Tiani White was left open in the corner for three and banged the triple home to end the scoring for the first half, giving the lady Saints a 28-23 lead at the break.

Both teams shot exactly the same in the first half, each going 10 for 29 for 35% from the field. Galindo led Seward with 11 first half points while Axelle Bernard already had her eighth straight double digit rebounding performance by the half with 10.

Three White free throws and a three point play from Grymek early in the third quarter pushed the Seward lead to nine at 34-25. The Lady Saints held Garden without a field goal for the final 5:03 of the quarter, but the Busters were able to get to the free throw line to close the gap, making it just a three point game, 41-38 after three quarters of action.

With 7:44 remaining in regulation, the Broncbusters knotted the score at 44, but the Lady Saints responded with a smooth backdoor cut from Galindo that resulted in two points to take the lead back at 46-44. The bucket spurred a mini 5-0 run for Seward to give them a 49-44 lead and the Lady Saints never looked back. Seward’s defense continued to give Garden City fits and with their leading scorer out of the game with five fouls, the Busters had no answer for the Lady Saints stingy defense. Seward allowed just two second half field goals to the Busters while icing the game away at the line on their end of the floor to come away with a 54-47 win over rival Garden City to earn their 20th win of the season.

Seward shot just 29.6% in the game, but held Garden City to just 26.8% shooting on the night and 5 second half field goals. The Lady Saints turned the ball over just 8 times in the win while Garden City coughed it up 14 times. Galindo led Seward offensively with 15 while White added 12. Bernard ripped down 20 big rebounds, playing all 40 minutes of the contest, bringing her within one of breaking her own school record for single game boards.

The Lady Saints improve to 20-7 overall on the season, winning their 20th game for the 24th consecutive year. Seward’s Jayhawk Conference record improves to 12-5 where they jump Coffeyville into the #4 position in the conference standings. Garden City takes a big setback in their quest for the league crown as they fall to 20-8 overall and 14-3 in league play.

Seward will play their third road game of the week on Saturday when they travel to Dodge City’s Civic Center to take on the Lady Conquistadors in a 1:00 matinee tip off.

SEWARD COUNTY/GARDEN CITY BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wbkb/2015-16/boxscores/20160217_o9b4.xml?view=boxscore>

Roy Allen