HAYS – The Smith Center Lady Red used an 11-3 run to end the second quarter and another in the third quarter and then held off a late TMP challenge as the knock off the Lady Monarchs 47-44 in the quarterfinals of the Mid-Continent League tournament Tuesday at Al Billinger Fieldhouse.
Rose McFarland interview
The Monarchs (7-2) got off to a slow start and fell behind 6-0 before Sophia Balthazor knocked in a pair of threes tying the game at six.
Balthazor then tied the game at 8 when she made two free throws after she was fouled on a three-point attempt.
TMP’s Kassidi Yost converted a pair of free throws to give TMP a 10-8 lead through one quarter.
Emilee Lane scored a bucket to open the second quarter giving TMP their largest lead of the night at 12-8. Her second straight field goal put TMP up 14-10 to open the second but the lead was short lived.
Smith Center outscored TMP 11-3 to end the quarter and take a 21-17 lead into the halftime break.
The Monarchs briefly tied the game at 21 with back-to-back Lane field goals to open then third quarter but Smith Center strung together a second 11-3 run to build their largest lead of the game at eight at 32-24.
TMP trailed 34-28 through three quarters.
Into the fourth quarter TMP, on several occasions, was able to close the lead to as few as two points and even got within one in the final minute but could never retake the lead.
Smith Center gave them plenty of chances, the Lady Red missed three straight front-end of one-and-one free throws but each time got the rebound and down one the Monarchs missed a layup that would have given them the lead.
Game highlights
Emilee Lane recorded a season-high 20 points in the loss for TMP. Sophia Balthazor added 12 points.
TMP will take on Trego in the consolation semifinals on Thursday in Plainville. The Golden Eagles lost to the two-seed Hoxie Tuesday 36-32.
The top-seed Phillipsburg was the only higher seed to advance to the championship semifinals. The beat Oakley 63-20.
They will take on Norton after they beat Ellis 56-50.