Lawhorne leads the way as Garden City downs Colby

By Mike Pilosof

Photo by Adam Shrimplin

Garden City, KS-If you've followed Antwain Scales' career, whether it was winning four straight state titles at Wichita South High School or resurrecting the women's program at Colby, his teams have never relied on 3-point shooting. But over the last two games, the veteran coach has joined the longball revolution. And his team's pretty good at it.

Taylor Lawhorne poured in a career-high 18 points, the Broncbusters drilled a season-best 12 3s, and Garden City beat Colby 74-60 Wednesday night at Conestoga Arena. Garden City, which improved to 6-7 overall and 5-7 in conference, has hit 22 triples in their last eight quarters.

"These young ladies have been in the gym on the gun the last couple of weeks," Scales said afterwards. "Some of those 3's were authorized and some weren't."

And you can add Lawhorne to the list of Broncbusters who have been putting extra work in after practice. And boy has it shown.

The Morgan-State transfer was fantastic again, combining with Aerihna Afoa to score Garden City's final 18 points of the first half which included a steal at half court that led to a layup, a 3-pointer, and a three-point play. That and-1 bucket was part of an 8-2 run that gave Garden City their largest lead of the half, 35-28. They were up by four at the break.

"Taylor is really starting to figure some things out," Scales explained. "She just doesn't know her potential. She still doesn't know what she's truly capable of."

The sophomore scored 10 in that second period; then chipped in six more in the third including a beautiful reverse layup off of a pretty Donetria McGee pass that capped off a 10-1 surge that stretched the lead to 50-37. Moments later, Jill Stephens, facing her dad, Tom Stephens' (now the girls coach at Colby High School) former team, splashed home a 3-pointer, and Lawhorne finished at the rim with a two-handed banker, putting Garden City up 14. They led by nine going to the fourth. Then in the final frame, Elisabeth Matas-Martin's long ball gave the Broncbusters their largest edge of the night, 67-51 with 6:08 remaining. The Trojans never got closer than 14 the rest of the way.

"We just have to find ways to keep getting better," Scales said. "We need to keep bringing the energy. That's really the key."

Stephens, facing a box-and-1 for most of the night, scored 13 points and canned four treys for Garden City, which shot a season-best 49 percent (28-of-57) from the field. Matas-Marin finished with 13 points and four dimes, and McGee posted her second double-double of the year with 10 points and 14 boards. The Broncbusters also handed out a season-high 20 assists and outrebounded Colby 30-15.

Marveen Ross scored 18 points but turned it over seven times for Colby, which lost for the sixth time in their last seven games. Kiarra Henderson added 17, and Katelyn Alatini scored 10.

Next up: Garden City vs. NW Tech-Saturday, March 13-2 p.m. CDT.