EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
Liberal coach Brandi Fowler assessed the performance of Hays against the Lady Redskins in one sentence.
“Hays simply outplayed us tonight,” she said.
That was her reaction to a tough 77-50 loss for the Lady Redskins in the Western Athletic Conference opener Tuesday in The Big House.
The Lady Redskins haven’t suffered a 27-point loss in several years. But a tenacious Lady Indian defense forced Liberal into multiple turnovers early, and by the time the Lady Redskins recovered they were already staring down a double-digit deficit.
Liberal narrowed the gap to five points late in the first half but never got closer.
Hays had an 8-7 lead midway through the first quarter before putting together an 11-0 run to take a 19-7 lead.
Kamilah Delgado broke the run with a bucket in the lane to cut the lead to 10, but the Lady Indians finished the first quarter on a 6-3 run to take a 25-12 lead.
Hays pushed the lead to 14 two minutes into the second quarter, but the Lady Redskins started to battle back with another Delgado basket followed by a two from Kiley Rhine and two more form Shamari Lewis, and with 3:26 to play in the first half the Lady Redskins cut the lead back to 10, 33-23.
Hays added a free throw before Rhine landed back-to-back three pointers, and Liberal cut the lead to 34-29.
The Lady Indians responded with a pair of baskets before Delgado ended the half with a shot under the basket, and the halftime lead was seven for Hays.
But the break benefitted Hays, and the refreshed Lady Indians came out with intense defense and sharp shooting to start the half on a 9-2 run, and Liberal trailed 47-33.
Lewis connected on a basket only to have it answered by four more Hays points, and after another strong move to the basket for two points for Lewis, Hays went on a 9-0 run to push the Lady Indian lead to 59-37.
Zoey Torres ended the third quarter with five straight points including two free throws and a three points, but the Lady Redskins still trailed 59-42.
The Lady Redskins could not stop the Lady Indians from scoring in the fourth quarter and was outscored 18-8 in the 77-50 loss.
Lewis led the Lady Redskins with 19 points. Rhine scored 10.
“That’s not the way you want to start a game by letting the other team score 25 points in a quarter,” Fowler said. “I was super proud of the girls and their resilience in the second quarter. We really stormed back.”
Trailing by seven at half, Fowler still believed the Lady Redskins could recover, but turnovers continued to mount.
“We were confident in our ability to get back in it,” she said. “At halftime we made some adjustments. But we shot ourselves in the foot too many times. We will learn from it and get better and be back. Hays simply outplayed us tonight.”
Hays crowded the lane and outnumbered the Liberal defenders.
“We weren’t communicating well enough to know they were sending people behind us,” Fowler said. “That was a big disadvantage for us. We tried to exploit some things on offense by putting all three bigs in at the same time, we just need to get better at that.”
But Fowler believed the Lady Redskins can address the issues that led tot he loss.
“Everything we did wrong tonight is something that we can fix,” she said. “These girls have such grit and determination that we have full confidence that they are going to put the work in, and we’re going to be right back at it. This is the best test we have had, and if we have to taken L this early, we can use it to grow and become a better team and get closer together.”
Liberal will travel to Woodward, Okla., for two weekend games before traveling to Hugoton Tuesday.
“We want to finish the calendar year strong,” Fowler said. “We have to take one game at a time and take care of Elk City first.”
Liberal faces Hugoton Tuesday.
