By MIKE COURSON
Great Bend Post
Was it a shot or not? Garden City's Mia Hannagan threw up a three-quarter court shot to end the third quarter of Friday's Western Athletic Conference basketball game at Great Bend High School. The significance? It was the freshman's lone blemish in the second half. Hannagan hit eight threes in a nine-minute stretch to push the Buffs to a running clock and a 57-26 win.
Great Bend made just one of its first 19 attempts from the floor but remained competitive through two quarters. Trailing 11-4 after one period, senior DeShawnna Bryant got the Panthers on the board in the second with a jumper two minutes in. Junior Alyssa McCauley went end to end for another basket and a 16-8 score. Sophomore Alex Mayers scored underneath the basket, then her steal led to an offensive board from McCauley, which resulted in a free throw from Bryant. The Panthers eventually got as close as 18-15.
Garden City's 5-11 junior KJ Pinchon was problematic early on with 13 of her 17 points coming in the first half. Several of those came late in the second quarter to stretch the Buff lead to 24-16 by halftime.
Then it was Hannagan's time. The freshman connected on four threes in less than two minutes to open the third quarter. She hit her seventh triple of the third with a minute to play to push the Garden City lead to 50-19. She added one more trey 55 seconds into the fourth quarter to finish her night with 27 points on 9-of-14 shooting from the outside. Pinchon finished with 17 points and 10 rebounds. Garden City improves to 6-2 on the season.
The Lady Panthers drop to 3-5 ahead of next Friday's contest at Hutchinson. Sophomore Meredith Mazouch scored five of her team-high nine points in the second half. Cassie Ellegood and Bryant each added five points.