The Hays High Indians hosted Great Bend to close out the regular season and with it honored six seniors. The boys and girls team each recognized their three seniors. Re Green, Ginny Ke, and Maia Lummus on the girls team. TJ Nunnery, Jason Krannawitter, and Dalyn Schwarz for the boys.
GirlsGreat Bend 46 - Hays 40
The opportunities were there for Hays High against Great Bend. They just couldn't take advantage falling 46-40 in the final game of the regular season. The Indians trailed 9-2 in the first quarter after starting the game 1-12 from the field. Hays would tie the game at nine and eventually grab their only first half lead on a free throw at 13-12. Great Bend took the lead back and led 21-20 at halftime.
Highlights
Great Bend could never push their lead higher than three during the third quarter and Morgan Engle tied the game at 28 on a three pointer with just one second before the fourth quarter.
It took three minutes for either team to get on the board in the fourth quarter. Hays would take their biggest lead of the game at 30-28. It would be their final lead and short lived at just twenty seconds.
Coach Len Melvin
Trailing by seven Re Green and Carly Lang hit threes forty-five seconds apart to pull within one at 39-38 with two minutes left. The Indians though would only score two points the remainder of the game on a pair of Jersey Johnson free throws.
Hays falls to 6-14. Great Bend improves to 7-11. They both finish conference play at 1-7.
Both are part of the same 5A Sub-State with Salina Central and Salina South. The Indians will play the top seeded Central Mustangs on Tuesday in Salina. Great Bend also travels to Salina and plays at South High School.
Boys
#1 Hays 50 - Great Bend 32
If short-handed Great Bend wasn't supposed to give the number undefeated team in 5A a run on Friday night, nobody relayed the message to the Panthers. Hays High saw Great Bend hit five of their first six shots which included three of three behind the arc for a 13-5 lead.
The Panthers continued to lead for the entire first quarter and kept a one point lead at 18-17 with 3:20 remaining in the second quarter. A Jace Linenberger basket pushed Hays to the lead at 19-18 with 2:25 left before halftime. The Indians never trailed again.
Highlights
The Indian defense allowed just two third quarter points but scored just seven themselves taking a 32-23 lead to the final quarter. Hays steadily grew the lead through the fourth quarter with the help of eight of eight shooting from the free throw line and five of nine shooting from the field.
An alley-oop dunk finished by senior TJ Nunnery was the finishing touches on senior night allowing the three seniors to be taken off the floor before the final 50-32 final.
Coach Alex Hutchins
Jace Linenberger led all scoring with 15. Dalyn Schwarz added 11 and Nunnery's dunk put him at ten points.
Hays finishes the regular season at 20-0 and wins the Western Athletic Conference at 8-0. Great Bend drops to 4-14 and 1-7.
The same two teams will meet up in the first round of Sub-State in Hays next Wednesday.