By KYLE MANTHE
The Washburn Review
After finishing the regular season as the No. 3 seed in Class 6A West, Washburn Rural girls basketball earned a home matchup against 14th seed Garden City to begin postseason.
The Junior Blues continued where they left off in the regular season, picking up a 61-27 first-round victory over the Buffs.
In tournament play advancing is all that matters and even with the win coach Kevin Bordewick still sees some areas to clean up moving forward.
“(We were good) in spurts, I don’t think we were real consistent all the way through,” Bordewick said. “We just have to be more consistent with everything we do.”
Junior Brooklyn DeLeye scored 16 points in Washburn Rural's 61-27 Class 6A sub-state semifinal win over Garden City Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
The win moved Washburn Rural to 19-2 on the year and sets Rural up to host No. 11 Manhattan, who the Junior Blues beat twice in the regular season, in Friday's 7 p.m. sub-state final.
“At this point in the season everybody has the same record,” Bordewick said. “Even though we have beaten a team it doesn’t matter because everybody starts over.”
The first quarter was slow paced for both teams offensively. The difference came in Washburn Rural’s three 3-pointers in the quarter coming from three players to build a 13-5 lead.
A floater from Junior Blues sophomore Zoe Canfield put them up by double figures shortly into the second quarter.
Eleven of the Buffaloes' 15 first half points came from junior Alileen Becerril-Landeros, who knocked down two 3-pointers in the second quarter.
“We knew number eleven could shoot 3s, and she made three of them in the first half. We just have to go out and guard her and I don’t think we did a real good job at that,” Bordewick said.
Washburn Rural continued to score from the outside, with three more 3-pointers in the quarter.
The final two started an 8-0 run which was capped off with a layup from junior Brooklyn DeLeye just before halftime to put the Junior Blues up, 34-15.
“I thought we ran fast break really well, especially in the second. I thought we just got the outlet and took off. And I think when we attack we are a little bit better,” Bordewick said.
After a few early turnovers the offense for Washburn Rural ramped up in the third quarter, scoring 22 points.
The ball continued to move inside out, playing around DeLeye opening up Canfield for two more 3-pointers. Senior Emma Krueger also got into the paint, scoring seven points in the quarter.
“We got people that can shoot the ball and make them,” Bordewick said. “Whenever you can hit from outside it opens up things inside and it makes it look like we are running smoother … but having said that we had some kids step up and make some shots,”
The Junior Blues ended the third on a 10-0 run to set up a running clock in the fourth quarter.
“Once we started playing together more and just communicating a lot on defense then we kind of knew where people were and we were able to help and get some stops,” DeLeye said.
Washburn Rural quickly pulled its starters in the fourth quarter. The defense did not take a dip, keeping the scoring low with the Junior Blues claiming a 61-27 semifinal victory.
“We didn’t come out our best at the beginning,” DeLeye said. “At this point in sub-state we knew that anybody could come and play their best. So we knew that we had to be at the top of our game.”
DeLeye led all scorers with 16 on 7-9 shooting. Canfield was not far behind, scoring 14 including four 3-pointers. Krueger got into double figures, scoring 11.
Manhattan advanced to the sub-state final with a win over No. 6 Hutchinson.
“At this point any team can surprise you, so you just got to be ready for the best,” DeLeye said.
WASHBURN RURAL GIRLS 61, GARDEN CITY 27
Washburn Rural 13 21 22 5 -- 61
Garden City 5 10 7 5 – 27
Washburn Rural (19-2) – Bagshaw 1-3 2-2 5, Whitmore 0-0 0-0 0, Lutz 2-6 0-0 5, Krueger 4-6 1-2 11, Carlgren 0-4 0-0 0, Ochs 0-0 0-0 0, Canfield 5-9 0-0 14, Brogan 2-4 0-0 6, Bunck 0-0 0-0 0, Ingram 2-4 0-0 4, Schuler 0-2 0-0 0, DeLeye 7-9 1-2 16. Totals: 23-47 4-6 61.
Garden City (3-18) – Mesa 0-0 1-2 1, Tesch 0-2 0-0 0, Roth 2-5 1-2 5, Becerril-Landeros 4-11 0-0 11, Warren 0-2 0-0 0, Pinchon 0-0 0-0 0, Lucas 1-6 1-2 3, Gallegos 2-8 3-4 7. Totals: 9-34 6-10 27.
3-point goals – Washburn Rural 11 (Canfield 4, Krueger 2, Brogan 2, DeLeye, Lutz, Bagshaw). Garden City 3 ( Becerril-Landeros 3). Total fouls – Washburn Rural 9, Garden City 8. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.
