Olathe Northwest Outpaces Lady Red

Turnovers and three pointers.  Those were two of the key statistics that sent the top seeded Liberal Lady Redskins back to school on Friday.  Olathe Northwest, fresh off a sub state win over Kansas City area powerhouse Blue Valley North, kept the ball rolling leading wire to wire against Liberal and winning 57-46 Thursday afternoon at 6A state at Koch Arena at Wichita State University.

The Lady Ravens led by future Drake Bulldog Sarah Gueldner, led 15-6 after one and 29-19 at the half.  ONW hit 6-10 three pointers in the first half.  The lead ballooned to 18 41-23 in the third quarter.  The Lady Redskins did make some noise.  Behind a large and loud following dressed in red and black, the Lady Red used a 14-0 run culminated with a Katie Horyna step back three pointer to trail just 41-37.  But that was it.  The faucet turned off from that point.  Olathe Northwest scored the next four points to lead 45-37.  Liberal was at arms length the rest of the afternoon.

Olathe Northwest only committed four turnovers compared to Liberal’s 14.  The Lady Ravens led the points off turnovers category 21-7.  Olathe Northwest buried 8-16 three pointers and Liberal was just 2-12.  ONW shot 44 percent from the field and Liberal was at 38 percent from the field.

Machia Mullens had a monster game with 29 points and 17 rebounds.  Katie Horyna had 11 points and five rebounds.  Gueldner had 31 for the Lady Ravens.

Liberal finishes 22-1.  They lose seniors Whitney Hay and Kim Alarcon but return the rest of the team next season.