Broncbusters fall to Cloud County on the road

By Mike Pilosof

Concordia, KS-Antwain Scales said it perfectly following Garden City's fourth straight loss on Monday.

"We didn't show up at all, from the jump," he stated. "I'm not sugar coating this."

It was disappointing, considering how the Broncbusters started the year with that 16-point come-from-behind win in Arkansas City. But even that game seems like a lifetime ago. Since then, it's been a rollercoaster ride, one that veered off the tracks in this one.

Le'Yanna McGinnis posted her sixth double-double of the season with 17 points and 12 rebounds, Rori Cox scored a season-best 22 off the bench, and Cloud County beat Garden City 60-53 at Arley Bryant Gymnasium.

"I'm not going to continue to take the high road," Scales said. "I'm disappointed in our team. We didn't execute. We didn't make a layup. We didn't rebound. We played super soft."

And you couldn't have asked for a worse start on the road.

The Broncbusters missed their first nine shots and 22 of their first 24 as Cloud County built an early 11-6 advantage. Then, in the second, McGinnis found her stroke, scoring eight points including a stretch of seven straight that put the Thunderbirds up 29-14 at the half. More staggering was the Broncbusters' first-half stat line: 14 points on 5-of-33 (15 percent) from the field and 0-of-9 on 3s.

"It's tough when you have kids with their own agenda," Scales explained. "They're just not doing what we're telling them to do. We felt like we had a great game plan coming in here."

Incredibly, despite their ugliest first half of the season, Garden City, who trailed by as many as 16 in the third, made a game of it over the final 20 minutes. Jill Stephens hit three free throws, Britney Mapang converted a twisting layup in traffic, and the Broncbusters were within seven going to the fourth. Odom followed with two freebies in the final frame, Morgan State transfer Taylor Lawhorne drilled a turnaround jumper from the left elbow, and just like that, it was a four-point contest, 45-41 with 6:26 to go.

"Our team can't keep trying to make these runs in the third and fourth quarters," Scales said. "We have to be ready from the start, and we simply weren't."

That's as close as Garden City got the rest of the way. Cox answered with a 3 and a second-chance basket, one in which she beat three Broncbuster defenders to the ball to grab her own miss and lay it back in, and the Thunderbirds were up 56-45 with 2:25 remaining.  

"We're just missing way too many assignments," Scales added. "Too many blown layups; too many missed shots. We didn't do anything right in this game."

Cox and McGinnis combined to go 13-of-27 from the field (48 percent) for Cloud County, which snapped a three-game losing streak. The rest of the team was a combined 6-of-21 (29 percent).

Donetria McGee paced the Broncbusters with 10 points, but she was just 3-of-10 from the floor. Mapang scored all nine of hers in the third quarter, and Kealani Neves chipped in nine as well.

Next up: Garden City at Seward-Wednesday, March 4-6 p.m.