Following an opening round loss to Wichita Northwest on Thursday afternoon, the Hays High Lady Indians returned to action less than 24 hours later in McPherson.  Friday’s consolation semi-final game was a state ranked showdown.  The Lady Indians entered the game at #6 in 4A-1.  Their opponent, Shawnee Mission Northwest, ranked #8 in 6A had already played seven other state ranked opponents in 11 games.

Hays hit a pair of shots on their first two possessions of the ball game to take a 5-2 lead.  The Lady Indians pushed that lead up to five at 10-5 with 2:34 left in the first quarter.  The Indians though made just one of their next thirteen shots in the remainder of the first half.  That allowed Northwest to go on a 12-2 run and take a 17-12 lead.  Jaycee Dale made a pair of free throws with a minute left in the half to cut the halftime deficit to 17-14.

Highlights

The Lady Indians turned those two points from the first half into a 14-2 run, building a seven point lead at 26-19.  The lead came at the 3:20 mark of third quarter.  Hays though would score just three points over the next 9:55.  The Lady Cougars embarked on a 15-3 run to build a 34-29 lead.  Savannah Schneider converted a three point play with ninety seconds left to cut the Hays deficit down to two.  The Lady Indians got good looks at the basket on their next three possessions but could not score.  Northwest hit a pair of free throws with ten seconds left to ice the game and a 36-32 win.

Coach Kirk Maska

Hays falls to 8-4 on the season on their third straight loss.  Shawnee Mission Northwest improves to 7-5.  Hays will play for seventh place at 2:00 on Saturday.