By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural girls basketball coach Kevin Bordewick wasn't real happy with the way his team started Thursday's game against Great Bend and shared that information with his Junior Blues during an early time out.
The Junior Blues got the message, outscoring the Panthers 58-25 over the final three quarters to take a 75-37 victory at Rural and improve to 9-1 on the season.
Washburn Rural, ranked No. 4 in Class 6A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association, never trailed in the game, but the 4-6 Panthers were still within a point late in the opening quarter.
"(Great Bend) coach (Cindy) Beck did a lot more with her kids than what we were doing with ours,'' Bordewick said of the opening minutes. "I thought defensively we just came out slow. We were standing up, we weren't in a stance, we weren't ready, we weren't talking, things that I thought we were getting better at that we weren't doing.
"That's why we were a little upset in the first quarter.''
Washburn Rural sophomore Brooklyn DeLeye scored 26 points and grabbed 7 rebounds in Thursday's 75-37 win over Great Bend.
Rural turned things around in a hurry, however, scoring the final 4 points of the first quarter for a 17-12 lead and outscoring the Panthers 19-7 in the second period to take a commanding 36-19 advantage at the half.
Sophomore Brooklyn DeLeye, who had a 26-point, 7-rebound night, scored Rural's first 9 points of the third quarter and the Junior Blues went on to outscore Great Bend 25-14 in the quarter for a 61-33 lead. DeLeye started off the fourth with her final bucket of the night to give the Junior Blues a 63-33 cushion and a running clock was used the rest of the way.
"Especially after halftime I thought we got a lot better,'' Bordewick said. "We're not going to be a team that's going to out-offense people, so we've got to play better defense.''
DeLeye was one of three Junior Blues in double figures, with junior Emma Krueger adding 12 points and 5 rebounds and freshman Jada Ingram coming off the bench to score 11 points and grab 6 rebounds.
Washburn Rural junior Emma Krueger (11) scored 12 points and grabbed 5 rebounds in Rural's 75-37 win over Great Bend Thursday night.
Senior Sydney Unruh led Great Bend with 10 points.
Washburn Rural will be back at home for a 6 p.m. game Friday against Shawnee Heights, followed by a 7:30 boys game between the Junior Blues and Emporia.
WASHBURN RURAL GIRLS 75, GREAT BEND 37
Great Bend 12 7 14 4 -- 37
Washburn Rural 17 19 25 14 -- 75
Great Bend (4-6) -- Spray 2-5 2-2 6, Unruh 4-9 1-2 10, Harbaugh 1-2 1-2 3, Lathan 2-3 1-2 5, Smith 2-7 0-0 4, Hall 1-3 0-0 2, Loomis 2-2 0-0 5, Kaiser 1-3 0-0 2, Premer 0-0 0-0 0, Elliott 0-1 0-0 0, Fletchall 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-34 5-8 37.
Washburn Rural (9-1) -- Lutz 1-3 0-0 3, Krueger 4-9 4-6 12, Canfield 1-5 0-0 3, Hurtig 2-9 0-0 4, DeLeye 11-13 2-4 26, Ladson 1-3 0-0 3, Bagshaw 1-1 0-0 2, Whitmore 0-0 0-0 0, Carlgren 0-2 0-0 0, Brogan 3-3 0-0 8, Ingram 5-8 1-1 11, Schuler 1-1 1-1 3. Totals 30-57 8-12 75.
3-point goals -- Great Bend 2 (Unruh, Loomis), Washburn Rural 7 (DeLeye 2, Brogan 2, Ladson, Lutz, Canfield). Total fouls -- Great Bend 12, Washburn Rural 7. Fouled out -- none.
