Girls Defeat Quinter in Consolation Championship
The Lady Indians defeated the Quinter Lady Bulldogs for the consolation championship of the Northwest Kansas League Basketball Tournament in Quinter on Saturday, January 24. The game was close throughout, but the Lady Indians eventually emerged with a 53-45 win to earn 5th place in the tournament. Hoxie won the Northwest Kansas League championship with a 62-39 win over the Dighton Lady Hornets.
Click this link to view/print the completed NWKL Tournament bracket.
Kylie Sherlock's post basket (assist Kyla Bandel) opened the scoring in the 5th place contest against the Quinter Lady Bulldogs. Freshman Kylie Crist followed with two treys for Quinter. Kyla Bandel's trey from the left wing, at 3:28, pulled the Lady Indians within one point, but Quinter soon scored again. Another Bandel trey narrowed the margin to one again. After an exchange of free-throws, the score became tied at 9, and again at 10, before the first quarter buzzer sounded.
Quinter scored the first two baskets of the second period; one on press offense and one on an offensive rebound. Kyla Bandel's left-wing basket preceded another press offense score for Quinter. After resulting in two easy baskets for the Lady Dawgs, the St. Francis full-court pressure began to cause some difficulties. Quinter's turnovers resulted in extra shot attempts for the Lady Indians. At 4:26, Madi Tice sank two free-throws to get the Lady Indians within one, and then scored on an offensive rebound to put the Lady Indians in front 17-16 with 3:45 left in the first half. Hanna Bracelin followed with a left-wing trey, and Emileigh Dinkel scored from the high-post to give St. Francis a 22-16 lead with just under three minutes remaining. Then......it was Quinter's turn for a run. In the last 2 minutes and 35 seconds of the half, Quinter scored three baskets and a free-throw to take a 22-23 lead at halftime. Two of the scores were strong post-moves and another score came after a Lady Indian turnover.
The Lady Indians were first to score in the second half. Journey Lee's pass setup an out-of-bounds play basket by Kylie Sherlock. Kyla Bandel followed with a left-corner three, and St. Francis held a 26-23 lead. Two more Bandel treys moved the score to 32-28 at 2:56. The Lady Bulldogs pulled in front 33-34, at 1:34, after a trey and consecutive free throws. Hanna Bracelin earned a basket with one minute left in the quarter, but Quinter scored twice on strong post baskets last in the minute to take a 35-38 lead after three quarters.
The fourth quarter belonged to the Lady Indians. St. Francis opened with a right-elbow jumper by Emileigh Dinkel (assist Makayla Rogers) and left-elbow shot by Hanna Bracelin. Dinkel followed with another right-elbow jumper, and Kyla Bandel added a free-throw. The Lady Indians had taken the lead 42-38, a lead they would not relinquish. Quinter earned a press-offense basket, but free-throws by Bracelin and Bandel, and a left-wing basket by Journey Lee, extended the lead to six (46-40). With 1:48 left, Quinter scored their second basket of the period on a fast-break. St. Francis missed two consecutive free-throws at 1:28, but Hanna Bracelin grabbed the errant second throw and scored from the free-throw line (48-42). Quinter called time-out and went into "foul mode." Reagan Beims and Kyla Bandel combined to make 5 of 6 free-throws in 40 seconds to extended the lead to 53-42 with 9 seconds remaining. Quinter drained a three-ball at the buzzer. The Lady Indians defeated Quinter 53-45 to earn fifth place in the NWKL Tournament.
Scoring for the Lady Indians were: Kyla Bandel (22), Hanna Bracelin (12), Emileigh Dinkel (6), Kylie Sherlock (4), Madi Tice (4), Reagan Beims (2), Journey Lee (2), and Mariah Beikman (1). The Lady Indians were 13 of 25 from the free-throw line and made 6 treys in the contest. The game was close throughout, the but the Lady Indians' preserverance had allowed them to out-score Quinter 18-7 in the final period.
Quinter was led by 5' 5" freshman Kylie Crist with 18 points. Katelyn Lee, 5' 11" junior, scored 12 (6 in the 2nd period). Brook Blackwill, 5' 5" sophomore, added 7 points. Quinter made 7 of 20 free-throw attempts and swished 4 treys.
The Lady Indians will play Rawlins County, in St. Francis, on Tuesday, January 27.
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