Girls
#3-5A Liberal 46 – Hays 38
The Hays High Lady Indians entered Friday’s nights game in Liberal as the leaders in the Western Athletic Conference at 4-0. The one game lead that Hays held onto in the league race was because of a victory over Liberal. That loss was still the only loss for Liberal on the season entering Friday night.
All of the Lady Indians’ first quarter points came off the bench after neither team scored for the first three and a half minutes. Brooke Denning hit three three pointers to trigger an 11-2 run. Hays led by seven at 11-4 at the end of the run. Liberal’s first four points came from the free throw line and they didn’t make their first field goal until the first quarter buzzer sounded on an offensive put back.
The basket pulled Liberal back to a 11-6 deficit and started a 12-2 run to take a 16-13 lead. Hays tied the game at three on a Madyson Flax three point play that included the Lady Indians only free throw attempt of the first half. Liberal made 9 of 11 attempts including two in the final thirty seconds to take a 20-18 lead at half time.
Highlights
Hays outscored Liberal 12-5 in the third quarter that allowed a the Lady Indians to take a 30-25 lead to the fourth quarter. After scoring just 25 points through three quarter, the Lady Red got in a groove from the free throw line. After a 6-0 run by Liberal to take a lead at 34-32, Savannah Schneider would convert on a three point play to tie the game at 36. The Lady Indians would only score two points in the final 3:24 and lose 46-38. Liberal made 7 of 9 free throws over the decisive stretch of the game.
Liberal made 24 of 33 free throw attempts while Hays made 11 of 14. Neither team shot above 25% for the game from the field.
Coach Haley Wolf
Hays was led by the 16 of Brooke Denning and Savannah Schneider scored 11.
Hays falls to 10-6 on the year and 4-1 in the WAC. Liberal is now 15-1 and 4-1 in conference. Liberal is ranked #3 in 5A.
Boys
Hays 68 – Liberal 57
The first half featured runs from each team that led to a 32-30 lead for Hays at half time. Liberal opened the game on a 10-4 run that was followed by an Indian 10-3 run. Liberal took a 18-17 lead after the first quarter following a Cole Murphy three pointer that cut the Hays deficit down to one.
Liberal gained a five point lead in the second quarter after a 9-3 run with two minutes left in the half. The Indians responded with a 7-0 run to close that half and take a 32-30 lead. The Indians started the game just two of their first fourteen shots from the field and then made eight of their next fourteen shots.
Highlights
After hitting six three pointers in the first half but made just two of twelve in the second half. Hays never did trail in the second half and took a six point lead early in third quarter. Liberal did tie the game at once at 42 and then had the ball three times down to the Indians 43-42. The Indians though held on defense and scored points in the final ninety seconds to take a lead to the fourth quarter 48-42.
Liberal got within three thirty seconds into the fourth quarter before the Indians made three straight three pointers to grab their first double digit lead of the night. The separation provided on those three shots allowed Hays to keep the Redskins at arms length for a 68-57 win.
Coach Rick Keltner
Hays was led by Ethan Nunnery with 16. Cole Murphy added 14, Kyler Koenke 13 and Tradon McCrae 12. Peyton Kieffer scored eight and grabbed a career high 13 rebounds.
Hays improves to 11-5 on the year and is 5-0 in the Western Athletic Conference. Liberal falls to 6-10 and 0-5.