Conley, Ramos Pires, Guide Garden City Past Northwest Tech

GARDEN CITY, KS. – Injuries and fouls left Garden City with just two players in the final 2:40 of their loss against No. 3 Butler. The screenshots of the court were the talk of the Jayhawk, seeing a team so shorthanded.

Saturday, it felt like Garden City was playing with nine players on the court. The Broncbusters swarmed their opposition, leaving no room for error in their final game of 2023.

The Garden City Broncbusters cruised against the Northwest Tech Lady Mavericks, 92-54, at Conestoga Arena on Saturday afternoon. Garden City improved to 2-0 off of losses this season.

The Broncbusters absolutely dominated the first quarter, using it as a building block for their entire afternoon. GCCC splashed five three-pointers, went a perfect nine-of-nine from the free throw line, and scored a season-high 36 points in the first quarter. NW Tech had no answers for the duo of Sariah ‘Boxer’ Conley and Ana Ramos Pires, who combined for 25 in the first quarter.

“Sariah was unconscious today,” Brad Zinn, Saturday’s acting head coach, said following the win. “Ana did what Ana does, those are things we expect out of them. They did their jobs.”

Conley, filling in at the point guard due to injuries, dazzled in the first 20. She shot the ball with the most confidence she had all season long, starting the afternoon with four straight three-pointers.

The freshman from Memphis, TN. delivered a career-best 24 points in the victory.

“I’ve been working on my shots, and they were falling tonight,” Conley said. “I’m going to try and keep it going.”

Garden City scored a season-high 55 first-half points in the victory, leaving Northwest Tech(1-9, 0-6 KJCCC) in the dust. The craziest part was that Lady Mavericks played a fine first half, shooting 40 percent as a team from the floor and making more total threes than the Broncbusters.

Ultimately, they just didn’t have the pieces to keep up with Conley and Ramos Pires.

Ramos Pires wasn’t far behind, playing an excellent second half. The Brazilian missed just two shots in the final 20 minutes, going for 11 second-half points.

“[The game plan] was to lock down defensively and play our game,” Zinn said. “[We] didn’t want to play things that were uncharacteristic of us.”

Garden City closes up the 2023 calendar with a 10-2 record, 5-2 in Jayhawk play. The Broncbusters’ schedule resumes on January 3rd, 2024, as GCCC welcomes the Seward County Saints to Conestoga Arena. Coverage begins on 99.9 ‘The Rock’ starting at 5:10 P.M.