By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Class 4A No. 8-ranked Hayden (9-4) has played a stellar brand of basketball in its last three weeks, becoming a team that has found the identity they've been looking for this season.
The Lady Wildcats gained one of itheir most impressive victories over 6A Manhattan (7-8) on Friday night, winning convincingly, 57-41.
Junior Lauren Sandstrom scored a game-high 19 points in Hayden's 57-41 Centennial League win over Manhattan. {Hayden girls basketball]
Four Hayden players ended their night in double figure as junior Lauren Sandstrom had a game-high 19 points, sophomore Kaliya Fulton 15, sophomore Brylee Meier 12 points and sophomore Norma Greco 11.
"I thought that our girls did a really good job of breaking (Manhattan's) defense down," Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson said. "We broke it down just a bit to where they needed help and we were able to get it to Lauren and Brylee in spots where they could really do something with it."
The Lady Wildcats were coming fresh from a championship win at the Top Gun Tournament in Wellsville last Saturday. Hayden looked to segue its stellar play into a testy matchup with a rugged Manhattan squad.
Both teams were hot entering Friday's game, with Hayden on a four-game winning streak while Manhattan had won three out of its last four games.
This series has been one-sided going into Friday night's matchup. Out of the last ten matchups between Manhattan and Hayden, the Indians had won nine of those matchups.
Would the curse be reversed?
Six quick Manhattan turnovers in the first quarter kept the Lady Indians from establishing momentum early. Manhattan's will to force the ball inside didn't work well early on, and the Lady Wildcats took advantage of the Indians' miscues.
But Manhattan's defensive full-court pressure kept the game within two points, with Hayden leading 12-10 at the end of the first.
Hayden's low-block tandem of Meier and Lauren Sandstrom scored the only four points for the first 4:31 of the second quarter before Manhattan took a timeout.
"(Hayden) did a good job early of driving the ball to the basket," Manhattan coach Scott Mall said. "We didn't help like we really wanted to, and they got too deep. (Hayden) either got a layup, or we fouled them, or they got a layup and fouled them."
Immediately after the timeout, Manhattan senior Avery Larson drained a 3-point shot near the left corner.
Larson would crash the glass and gain a foul on the next possession, earning her two free opportunities at the charity stripe. Larson hit one of two free throws and tied the game at 16-16 with 2:41 to go in the half.
Hayden went on a 5-0 run to close out the low-scoring half. As a result, the Wildcats took a 21-16 lead into the locker room. Manhattan shot five of 14 (36 percent), while Hayden shot seven of 17 (41 percent).
"I thought we really hurt ourselves in the first half," Mall said. "We had too many turnovers where we kind of just lost the ball. Partly because (Hayden) plays aggressive defense, but if you take in the fact that the game was probably going to be low-scoring anyway, those turnovers really hurt because it ruined your chance to score points."
Mall's halftime pep talk must have worked as the Lady Indians came out of the break on a 6-0 run and kept the Wildcats scoreless for 3:45 to begin the third quarter.
Hayden answered with a 15-6 run to close the third quarter, gaining an eight-point lead over Manhattan.
"We really tried to take (Manhattan's) drive away," Reynoldson said. "We actually gave up some open shots that a lot of times (Manhattan) will hit. We got lucky that they didn't hit them. But we did follow the game plan pretty well. We really tried to limit (Destiny Yates), (Emery Ruliffson) and (Avery Larson) on their drives."
Sandstrom (eight) and Meier (five) had 13 of the 15 third-quarter points for Hayden.
"We had talked about just really walling (Meier and Sandstrom) inside and making them shoot over us," Mall said. "They're bigger than we are. I thought our girls did a really good job between Paige (Chauncey), Saylor (Salmans) and Maxine (Doering); I thought they all did a good job of getting a good position and making them shoot over us."
Hayden did not let off the gas going into the fourth quarter, extending its lead to 12 points with 2:39 to go. Manhattan was staring at a significant deficit with minimal time remaining and shots failing to fall.
Manhattan went three of 15 from the 3-point line in the second half while Hayden was crashing the boards and making shots through contact look easy.
Manhattan sent Hayden's free throw shooters to the line hoping for a miracle, and Hayden was able to win convincingly over 6A Manhattan.
Hayden will host 5A No. 4-ranked Emporia on Tuesday night.
HAYDEN GIRLS 57, MANHATTAN 41.
Manhattan 10 6 12 13 – 41
Hayden 12 9 15 21 – 57
Manhattan (7-8) – Yates 2-8 4-6 8, Larson 4-13 4-6 14, Doering 5-9 2-2 15, Ruliffson 1-1 1-2 3, Salmans 0-1 0-0 0, Chauncey 0-0 1-2 1, Ball 0-7 0-0 0. Totals – 17-36 12-18 41.
Hayden (9-4) – Rea. Huscher 0-1 0-0 0, Sandstrom 7-13 5-6 19, Fulton 5-9 1-3 15, Meier 2-5 7-7 12, Greco 3-5 5-6 11, Grunert 0-2 0-0 0, Lenherr 0-1 0-0 0. Totals – 17-36 18-22 57.
3-point goals – Hayden 3 (Fulton 2, Meier), Manhattan 5 (Doering 3, Larson 2). Total fouls – Hayden 7, Manhattan 9. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
