EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
Shamari Lewis would not be denied Friday night in The Big House. Lewis found her way to the basket on drives, rebounded missed shots and put them back in the basket, and found herself at the free throw line en route to scoring 32 points, grabbing 17 rebounds, and leading Liberal to a 73-44 win over Great Bend.
Liberal jumped out to a 5-0 start before the Lady Panthers answered with a 5-0 run for a tie.
But Lewis scored the next nine points for Liberal, and by the end of the first quarter the Lady Redskins had a 16-13 lead.
Great Bend kept the game close most of the second quarter, and the Lady Redskins had a 26-23 lead with 3:09 to play in the first half.
That’s when the Lady Redskins went on a 21-1 run that spanned into the third quarter that gave the Lady Redskins a 47-24 lead.
Zoey Torres had her best scoring night with 15 points including two three pointers in the third quarter.
Kylie Rhine was hampered with foul trouble and missed most of the first half., but she made her minutes count with three second-half threes as part of her personal high 14 points.
Still, those performances were overshadowed by the show Lewis provided.
Lewis found a way to cut to the basket for rebounds and putbacks that went along an outside three and five points from the free throw line.
“I was focused on driving to the basket and crashing the board,” Lewis said. “I knew we had more size. If I didn’t see anybody behind my defender I was taking it to the basket.”
“We shot ourselves in the foot in the first half,” Liberal coach Brandi Fowler said. “We got in foul trouble. We missed Kamila Delgado. But I was super proud of how they responded. We had so many girls have personal bests tonight. We struggle with fouls, but they have the mental toughness to be resilient.”
Liberal moved to 4-3 on the season and 1-1 in the Western Athletic Conference. Liberal travels to Woodward, Okla., tonight.
