EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
Shamari Lewis was queen of the court for two-and-a-half quarter before being recognized in front of the home crowd for reaching 1,000 points in her career as a Lady Redskin. Oh yeah, she was also crowned Homecoming queen after Liberal’s 74-40 win over Great Bend.
The Lady Redskins put together one of their best first quarter performances in recent memory with 29 points including nine from Lewis.
Madysen Hammond also had a strong start with eight points in the period including a pair of threes, Rubio Alvarez also added a three, and Kylie Rhine continued to add to her long-range tally with a three of her own.
While the Lady Redskins offense was lighting up the scoreboard, the defense had the Lady Panthers in cages. Turnovers turned in to fast breaks, and even point-blank misses were quickly turned into transition opportunities.
With less than a minute to play in the first quarter, Liberal had yet to allow a point before Great Bend finally broke the shutout with a basket and free throw, and another basket by the Lady Panthers barely made a dent in Liberal’s 29-5 lead.
Rhine dropped another three in the second quarter, and Lewis reached double digits for the game with a pair of baskets to go along with a pair of baskets from Maliyah Mullens and single baskets from Aaliyah Cadena and Trinity Olvera.
The Lady Panthers were able to score eight points in the second and had a chance to cut into the lead even deeper but only made two of seven free throws in the quarter, and Liberal led 44-13 at half.
Liberal coach Brandi Fowler allowed her starters to get a couple minutes into the third quarter before pulling them when the lead was close to 40, and in that short time Rhine dropped her third three of the game, and Mullens collected seven more points.
By the end of the quarter Great Bend was able to win the period, 21-19, to cut Liberal’s lead to 63-34.
But Liberal’s reserves quickly pushed the lead over 30 to enact the running clock, and Vivi Favila drained a pair of threes in the fourth quarter while the starters erupted on the bench to lead the Lady Redskins to outscore the Lady Panthers in the fourth quarter, 11-6, for the 74-40 win.
Lewis and Mullens each had 15 points in the win. Rhine and Favila each scored 11.
“It was smothering team defense,” Fowler said. “That’s what we love to see from the girls. It’s getting to the point in the season where it all really needs to start coming together, making sure everyone is on the same page every single time, and we love to see that — defense turning in to offense.”
And the off-court activities of Homecoming didn’t distract the Lady Redskins.
“Our girls are locked in,” Fowler said. “It’s not that hard to keep them focused. We talk about the gym being our sanctuary, where we can get away from distractions on a daily basis. Homecoming week is no different This is a special group. They come to practice ready to go.”
Liberal (12-2) travels to Lakin tonight and hosts Hays in a key WAC rematch Friday.
