Lady Buffs drop OT game to Liberal, 68-66

Story Credit: GCHS Athletics

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There’s heartbreaks in sports. And then there are the more painful heartbreaks.

Garden City’s Lady Buffaloes suffered the latter in a 68-66 overtime loss to Liberal in a game that was characterized by runs from both teams and also a see-saw battle where there were 11 ties and 14 lead changes over the course of 36 minutes.

It was the final Western Athletic Conference contest for the Buffs as they finished 4-4 which will be good enough for third place behind Hays and the Lady Red.

They are now 13-9 overall and will finish the regular season on Friday (Feb. 27) with a road game at Wichita Southeast. Girls tip-off will be 5 p.m. at Southeast Gymnasium. Liberal improves to 16-3 and 5-2 in the WAC with one conference game remaining on Thursday at Dodge City.

The Lady Buffs found themselves on the short end of a 40-32 score midway through the third quarter but then began what ultimately was a 19-2 run that put them on top 43-40 at the end of the third stanza and then ahead 51-42 with 6:13 left in regulation.

“The girls fought too hard to have this taken from them,” head coach Kelley Snodgrass said. “We’re down by eight and go on that run and then we’re up by 10. We couldn’t get the plays we needed and it was just a battle.”

The tide turned in Liberal’s momentum as the Lady Red outscored the Buffs 14-5 to knot the score at 56 with 2:46 left. Livi Meng hit a follow shot at 2:10 for a brief lead before Liberal’s Shamari Lewis scored on a driving layup and then missed the -and 1 free throw to leave the score tied at 58 with 1:50 on the clock.

Tegan Snodgrass scored on a follow shot after a Buffs’ steal to go up 60-58 with 1:10 still to play but Lewis answered with a driving layup and a missed free throw at 0:06.9 seconds. The Lady Red plucked the offensive rebound and ran out the clock to send the game to overtime.

Liberal’s Kylie Rhine, a thorn in the side of the Buffs all night, got another driving layup at 2:59 only to have Myah Korf answer for the Buffs with two free throws at 2:19 and then Mia Hannagan got a driving layup at 1:49 for a 64-62 Garden lead. She missed the -and 1 free throw and just 26 seconds later Rhine began a parade to the free throw line.

The senior guard, who finished with 27 points (11-of-14 at the free throw line), hit 6-of-8 charities in just a little over a minute after two costly turnovers by the Buffs. Rhine’s final charity gave the Lady Red a 68-64 lead with 0:12 seconds on the clock and all the Buffs could do was get a mid-range jumper at the buzzer from Korf to come up two points short.

“We had kids who left it all out on the court,” Snodgrass said of her young team that has no seniors playing. “I couldn’t ask more for the effort they put out. It’s just a tough one to take.”

Rhine’s 27 was backed up by Lewis’ 22. The Lady Red shot an inconceivable 31 free throws, making 18 of them, but of those 31, 24 came in the fourth quarter and overtime. The Buffs, meanwhile, only got to the charity stripe 11 times, making seven of them. Only four of the free throws came in the final quarter and overtime.

For the Lady Buffs, Snodgrass and Korf shared high-point honors with 21 points each and Hannagan added 10. Snodgrass and Hannagan, however, were victims of the fouls (23 on the Buffs) and both fouled out in overtime. Without their two main ball handling guards, the Buffs struggled to get the ball into scoring areas.

The Lady Buffs shot 40.9 percent from the field (27-of-66) and were just 5-of-19 from 3-point range (20.9 percent). Korf had the hot hand, making 8-of-14 field goals. Liberal hit 23-of-61 for 37.7 percent and were 4-of-19 behind the arc. The Buffs were out rebounded 51-34 with Lewis grabbing 18 of those for the Lady Red. Liberal had a 22-12 advantage on the offensive boards.

The Buffs finished with 11 assists (Snodgrass led with 9) to 12 for Liberal. Garden had 14 turnovers to 17 for the Lady Red. The Buffs led in steals with a 10-5 margin and had 4 blocks to 2 for Liberal.

The first half was a close battle between the teams that had met on Jan. 13 in Liberal where the Lady Red had escaped with a 59-54 victory early in the WAC race.

The Buffs had an 11-9 edge after the first quarter and then went up 18-11 early in the second. They were still ahead 20-13 midway through before Liberal warmed up and finished the quarter on a 13-6 run to take a 29-26 lead into the intermission. The damage came from three 3-pointers from three different players.

During that 19-2 outburst in the latter third and early fourth, the Buffs finally drained their first 3-pointers of the night, two by Hannagan and one by Korf to go from down 40-32 to up 43-40 at the quarter break. Korf and Powers each added a trey in the fourth period during what became a 24-6 run. It was then Liberal who turned the tables with its own 10-0 run over a 2:06 span of time.

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Western Athletic Conference

Game #8
Tuesday, Feb. 24
At The Garden

LIBERAL 68, GARDEN CITY 66 (OT)
Liberal (68) — Rhine 7 11-14 27, Lewis 9 4-10 22, Olvera 3 0-0 7, Alvarez 1 0-2 3, Short 1 1-1 3, Mullens 2 2-4 6. Totals 23 18-31 68.
Garden City (66) — Powers 2 1-1 6, Hannagan 4 0-1 10, Meng 2 0-0 4, Korf 8 3-3 21, S. Doll 2 0-0 4, Snodgrass 9 3-6 21. Totals 27 7-11 66.

Liberal (16-3, 5-2)…9…20…11…20…8…–…68
Garden City (13-9, 4-4)…11…15…17…17…6…–…66

3-point goals—Liberal: 4 (Rhine 2, Olvera 1, Alvarez 1); Garden City 5 (Powers 1, Hannagan 2, Korf 2). Fouls—Liberal 14; Garden City 23. Fouled Out–Garden City (Hannagan, Snodgrass).