Hays High opened 2023 and Western Athletic Conference play on Friday night in Liberal. Both the Hays and Liberal girls entered with a state ranking. Liberal won the 2022 WAC title. The Indian boys won at least a share of the previous three conference titles.
Girls
#8-5A Hays 50 - #4-6A Liberal 59
Both teams used 6-0 runs in a tight first quarter that left Hays with a 12-9 lead following a Carly Lang three point play with four seconds left.
Liberal scored the first four points of the second quarter for their first and only lead of the first half at 13-12. Following ties at 18 and 21, the Indians went on an 8-0 run for a 29-21 advantage and led 30-24 at halftime.
Highlights
Hays again built their lead to eight points in the third quarter at 34-26 with 6:20 left. The Indians though went cold from the field and Liberal found their shot. The Redskins outscored Hays 33-16 over the final fourteen minutes for a 59-50 advantage.
The Indians last lead came with just under four minutes left at 45-44. The game featured seven ties and seven lead changes.
Coach Len Melvin
Molly Martin led Hays with 18 points and Carly Lang scored 14. Liberal was paced by Hailey Contreras who scored thirteen in the fourth quarter for a career high 26. Her previous career high was 24 which also occurred against Hays.
The Indians fall to 4-3 and open conference play at 0-1. The defending WAC champs are 6-0 and 1-0.
Boys
Hays 60 - Liberal 38
Hays led wire-to-wire and never led by less than four on their way to a 60-38 over Liberal. The Indians scored the first six points of the game before the Redskins made a pair of free throws at 6-2.
The Indians scored the games next 11 points to lead 17-2 early in the second quarter. Hays pushed the lead to 18 twice in the second quarter and led 29-14 at halftime.
Highlights
Hays was never threatened in the second half leading by as many as 22 in the third quarter and 25 in the fourth.
Hays was able to get 14 players in the game with 11 of them scoring.
Coach Sean Dreiling
Jack Weimer led all scoring with 18. Chason VanDerWege added 13. Liberal was led by Zayden Martinez who scored 16, making 10 of 11 free throw attempts.
Hays wins back to back games for the first time on the season and is 4-3 on the year and 1-0 in conference play. Liberal falls to 2-4 and 0-1.
The Indians travel to Great Bend on Tuesday.