The Hays High Indians opened the 2019 portion of their schedule in Liberal on Friday prior to returning to school.
Girls
#5-6A Liberal 61 – Hays 42
Hays held Liberal scoreless for the first 4:30 minutes of the game but could only build a 4-0 advantage. The Redskins first scored at the 3:25 mark of the first quarter and sparked a 9-0 run. The Indians cut the deficit down to two at 9-7 early in the second quarter and had the ball twice with a chance to tie or take the lead. Liberal held off Hays on those two possessions and another Indian threat at 12-10. The Redskins closed the second quarter on a 12-3 run to build their largest lead of the half at 24-13.
Highlights
Liberal powered out to a 16 point lead early in the third quarter before the Indians’ best run of the night at 11-4 closed the game down to nine 36-27. Hays trailed one more time by nine at 38-29 but would pull no closer the rest of the night losing 61-42.
Liberal made 17 of 19 free throw attempts and 8 of 21 three pointers while moving to 7-0 on the year and opening Western Athletic Conference play at 1-0. Hays falls to 3-3 and 0-1 in league play.
Coach Alex Hutchins
Hays was led in scoring by Brooke Denning with 11. Savannah Schneider made all eight of her free throw attempts and scored 10 in the game.
Boys
Hays 68 – Liberal 56
Liberal made four of their first six shots in the game as Hays missed each of their first six shots and the Redskins jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first four minutes. Hays finally broke the ice and made four consecutive shots to close the game down to 13-8 after one quarter.
Liberal led by nine with four minutes to go in the second quarter when the Indians started to play their best basketball of the game. Over the next 5:40 that led into the third quarter Hays went on a 24-3 run to grab a 36-24 advantage. The Indians pushed their advantage to 15 midway through the third and led 47-35 to the fourth quarter.
Highlights
Liberal continued to shoot well behind the arc and pulled within eight at 55-47. The Redskins had the ball and launched a right wing three that was tipped by Dalyn Schwarz, rebounded by Cade Swayne who passed out to Tradgon McCrae, who found Schwarz for a layup and foul for a three point play. The play sparked a game decisive 12-0 run as Hays won 68-56.
Coach Rick Keltner
Hays was led by Tradgon McCrae who scored 20 and hit the 20 point mark for a third straight game. Cade Swayne had career highs with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Dalyn Schwarz also added a career high 13 in the victory.
The defending WAC champs Hays High is now 4-2 on the year and 1-0 in the conference. Liberal falls to 5-2 and 0-1.
Hays is on the road to Great Bend next Tuesday.