Garden City splits with Liberal in WAC Home Opener

Garden City, KS (WesternKansasNews.com) – Garden City welcomed Liberal to The Garden on Tuesday night where teams split with the Lady Reds beating the Lady Buffs 58-50 and the Boys beating Liberal 86-59. 

Girls | Garden City 50 Liberal 58

Anytime you have to open up conference play at home against a top 5 team it is going to be tough, when they are a conference opponent it can be that much tougher. The Lady Buffs welcomed in number 3 ranked Liberal and while they held a high ranking, the Buffs hung tough with the Lady Reds.

The story of the game though for Garden City was missed opportunities, Liberal left the game open multiple times for Garden City but the depth of Liberal wore down Garden City. The Lady Buffs were led by Amaya Gallegos who scored 21 points. 

“I feel like we were right there and I’m proud of the effort tonight from the girls, we had our chances but Liberal is a very good team and it was nice to have that challenge to open up conference at home,” said Garden City Head Coach Jacob Miller.

Garden City moves to (4-5) on the season and (1-1) in conference play with a road matchup vs. Hays on Friday.

Boys | Garden City 86 Liberal 59 

After an emotional slugfest with conference rival Great Bend last Friday, Garden City had every right to come into the game in cruise control. The Buffs did everything but that, as they Led Liberal 25-9 after just one-quarter of play and despite a few runs from the Redskins they were able to keep Liberal in check on Tuesday night. 

Garden City scored a season-high 86 points as they moved to (2-0) in conference play out in front of Great Bend (1-1), Hays (1-1), Liberal (0-2), and Dodge City (0-0). The win also marks a (9-0) start for the Buffs which is the best in program history since 1972.

Garden City’s scoring, was led by Jace Steinmetz’s career-high 31 points. That ties him for top 16 in Garden City history in an individual game for points. It’s also the most points for a Buffalo since 2008. Jake Underwood had 13 points and 11 rebounds while Caleb Wiese added in 11 points. In total 8 Buffs scored at least 2 points. 

Garden City is back in action on Friday night against Hays in an early-season conference matchup that could set the pace for the conference standings. The game can be heard on 99.9 The Rock.