Odom posts double-double in Garden City's blowout win over Barton

By Mike Pilosof

Great Bend, KS-Simple basketball, that's what Antwain Scales preaches. Wednesday's game plan was just that, and his girls executed it to perfection.

Justis Odom notched a double-double with 16 points and 10 rebounds, Aston McCorry pulled down a game-high 12 boards, and Garden City blasted Barton 68-35 in their Jayhawk Conference opener Wednesday night at Fleske Court.

The Broncbusters limited the Cougars to just 21 percent shooting and 0-of-8 from downtown. They outrebounded them 43-29 and scored 21 points off 19 Barton turnovers. It was complete domination in a gym where Garden City has now won back-to-back games.

The Broncbusters never trailed in this one opening a 6-0 lead following Desiree Smith's jumper with 5:19 remaining in the first. They stretched that to 12 four minutes into the second when Kealani Neves got free for a layup before pushing it to 14 on Jersey Mayfield's 3-pointer that made it 24-10 with 4:01 left in the half.  Garden City led by 16 at the intermission.

But to put the first 20 minutes into proper context, you have to take a deeper dive into the numbers, like how Scales' squad held Barton to 3-of-21 shooting and forced 10 turnovers over the first two quarters.

Garden City didn't let it up in the third. Odom knocked down a pair of midrange jumpers, Alexis Smith stepped inside the arc for a long deuce, and Derryana Cobbins easily beat her defender off the bounce for a layup that help ignite a 12-0 run that put the visitors up, 46-18 four minutes into the second half. In fact, during that same stretch, the Broncbusters held the Cougars without a field goal for the first six minutes of the period. They eventually built their lead to as many as 35 in the final 15 seconds of the fourth.

Odom finished 7-of-15 from the field for Garden City, which is 3-0 for the first time since 2015. Alexis Smith scored 10 in 23 minutes, and Cobbins added seven off the bench.

Dayjsha Fanning paced Barton with seven points, which all came from the line.

Next up: Garden City vs. Coffeyville-Saturday, Nov. 20-2 p.m.