EARL WATT
• Leader & Times
Trailing most of the night in the Sub State championship, the Lady Redskins finally tied Topeka 31-31 in the third quarter, but they could never take the lead and faltered down the stretch in a 65-58 loss to end their season.
Topeka pushed the ball inside early to Hailey Caryl who found her way to the basket for point blank shots, and the Lady Trojans scored on their first four possessions to take na early lead.
The Lady Redskins came out cold in the first quarter and also could not get a whistle when Shamari Lewis entered the lane against contact.
After shooting more free throws than their opponents for the past several games, the Lady Redskins only shot two free throws in the first quarter and made one of those.
Maliyah Mullens fought through the contact and made a pair of shots in the first quarter, and Lewis was also able to get a putback shot, but that was all the offense Liberal had, and the Lady Redskins trailed 17-7.
The Lady Redskins continued to push to the basket in the second half, and the whistles started to catch up. Liberal made it to the free throw line for 10 shots in the second quarter and made six of those to start to cut into the Topeka lead.
Lewis connected on a three, and Mullens dropped in a pair of baskets on elbow jumpers.
Topeka also dropped a three, and Caryl added five more points in the quarter for 14 points in the half. But Caryl was called for her third foul late in the second quarter and had to go to the bench, and the Lady Redskins cut the 10-point Topeka lead in half by halftime, 29-24.
Lewis started to heat up on the third quarter and helped the Lady Redskins erase the five-point deficit and tied the game 31-31.
But Ashleyrhuajh Rayton found her stride for the Lady Trojans on both offense and defense, and she knocked down a pair of three to help the Lady Trojans stretch back to a lead. Rayton scored 10 points in the third quarter to help the Lady Trojans extend back to a 49-40 lead.
With their backs against the wall, the Lady Redskins pushed to cut into the Topeka lead, and several times they had it back to a one-possession game.
Lewis and Rayton battled back and fourth in the final eight minutes, with Rayton scoring 11 points in the final quarter and Lewis scoring 10. Kylie Rhine hit her only shot of the game in the final period, and the Lady Redskins forced several turnovers to give themselves a chance, but Rayton intercepted several passes in the final quarter and the Lady Redskins could not cut the lead below five in the final three minutes.
Lewis played her last game as a Lady Redskins and put up 30 points in the 65-58 loss.
Mullens scored 12.
Topeka’s Rayton scored 30 points, and Caryl had 16.
Liberal ended the season 18-4.
“I was proud of our defensive presence for most of the game,” Liberal coach Brandi Fowler said. “We fought hard and rebounded well. Some nights you come up short, and that happened tonight.”
Liberal adjusted in the second half to force the tie.
“The girls have a high basketball IQ,” Fowler said. “They know what other teams are trying to do. We blocked out (Caryl), and tried not to bail out (Rayton). The girls really responded. They know the game plan. Topeka did exactly what we wanted in the second half, but we just couldn’t get it done.”