Women fall to Pratt, Men hold off the Beavers as Garden City splits the first doubleheader of the year

Garden City, Kansas (WesternKansasNews.com) – It was a tale of 2 games for Garden City on Wednesday in Conestoga Arena. The Garden City Women’s Basketball fell to Pratt 65-58 after getting outscored 25-15 in the 4th quarter. The men on the other hand held on down the stretch to pick up a win over the Beavers 73-67.

Garden City Women’s Basketball fall shorthanded

It was a tough night of shooting for the Lady Busters, they finished the night 0-5 from beyond the arc and 37% from the field. The biggest thing that bit the Broncbusters was the 15 turnovers many of those were over the course of the final quarter. 

“We just weren’t tough enough again tonight, we have to come ready to play down the stretch or we aren’t going to be able to win each night in this league,” said head coach Antwain Scales.

There was one bright spot in the loss for Garden City, Demi Black finished the game with 25 points in her Broncbuster debut, Black had missed the first half of the season after transferring from division 2 Adams State University. She was a consistent scoring threat for Garden City who has struggled on offense down the stretch this season.

Despite Black’s performance, it wasn’t enough to overcome the Lady Beavers late in the game.  The Lady Busters were also without 3 players in the matchup adding insult to injury. Jae’Mya Lyons, Destiny Smith, Jersey Mayfield, and Aryiah Brooks were all out with injuries in the matchup. 

Garden City will now face off against top 25 ranked Cloud County on the road on Saturday at 2 pm. Garden City’s record is now (7-8) and (3-6) in Jayhawk Conference Play.

Garden City Men’s Basketball hang on for the first win of the semester

Coach Rusty Elmore was fired up as the buzzer sounded and rightfully so, Garden City’s win over Pratt meant that the Busters would stay tied in the top 4 of the conference with a (5-4) conference record.

“We came out and did what we needed to do, came in with a great gameplan and the guys executed it so well despite a short bench,” said Elmore. 

Garden City only had 8 available players as Aundre Polk and Logan Feltman were out with injuries sustained over the break. That didn’t seem to matter as Garden City got a double-double from Larry Olayinka in a career performance for the freshman. Olayinka finished with 20 points a new career high and 10 rebounds. Overall 4 players finished in double figures and Garden City took care of the basketball with only 10 turnovers while forcing 19 Beaver turnovers and converting those for 24 points.

The Broncbuster will look to win back-to-back conference games against a top-25 team in Cloud County on the road Saturday at 4 pm. You can catch Garden City all season long on 99.9 “The Rock” the home for Garden City Athletics.