Coffeyville slips by Garden City in opening round

By Mike Pilosof

Coffeyville, KS-Oh man, the Broncbusters nearly flipped the Region VI bracket upside down.

But as quickly as upset-minded Garden City had taken command, Coffeyville restored order, sending Mike "Scoop" Harding's team packing for the offseason.

Faith Simpson was unstoppable, scoring a season-high 37 points and pulling down 12 rebounds, singlehandedly dragging the Red Ravens past the Broncbusters 79-65 in the opening round of the Region VI Tournament Wednesday night at Herkelman Court. Coffeyville advanced to play Barton in the quarterfinals on Saturday while Garden City's season ended at 11-20.

"We really hurt ourselves with turnovers late," Interim Head Coach Mike "Scoop" Harding said. "That's when we needed to be strong and secure with the ball. That's always going to hurt you."

And give credit again to Harding, whose team could have easily taken an early knockout blow once Simpson scored eight points in the first three minutes to put Coffeyville up 9-2. But Garden City clawed back, and Alyssa Boyce and Jaleah Bellany canned 3's to pull the Broncbusters to within one, 17-16 at the end of the first.

"We played really loose in the first half," Harding said. "When you play like that, shots start falling."

Everything was going down in the second quarter. Dasja Ross's three-point play gave the Broncbusters their first lead, 25-24. A couple of minutes later, Corina Suarez-Tudela, Boyce and Ariyanna Hall drained three straight long balls, and Garden City was up 37-33. Hall added a block, which led to Donetria McGee's runout layup, giving the Broncbusters a 39-35 edge at the break. They pushed that to six on another McGee bunny to begin the third quarter.

"That's the cure for everything with us," Harding said. "Once those shots start falling, everyone is having fun."

But the mood quickly soured once Coffeyville ripped off 10 straight points in the third, capped off with Simpson's layup that gave the Red Ravens a 45-41 advantage. She added a three-point play and another bunny, putting the home team up three, 55-52 going to the fourth.

"We didn't do a very good job of keeping our composure," Harding explained.

With the Broncbusters trailing by one with 3:29 remaining, Garden City suffered an inopportune mental lapse when Alana Kramer sliced her way to the basket for an uncontested deuce. Simpson followed with a layup before the brown and gold completely unraveled when Bellany and McGee were each whistled for technical fouls on the same possession. Kailyn Lay and Ania Markowska drained five free throws, and just like that, the game was over.

"In the end, they're young kids who have to learn that in situations like that, you have to keep your cool," Harding said. "But we also couldn't stop Simpson. She's really strong and uses her body well."

Simpson, an All-Region and All-American volleyball player, finished 17-of-22 from the field and recorded her eighth double-double of the season. She was the only Red Raven in double figures.

McGee tallied 18 points, seven rebounds and three steals for Garden City, which was eliminated in the first round for the second straight season. Boyce scored 17, and Bellany had 10.