Bench Keys Seward’s Win Over Midland

The #20 Seward County Saints got a lift from an improbably place on Saturday night as they took on a very talented Midland team, getting 35 points from Brooklyn Artis and Daniela Galindo off their bench as they routed the Chaparrals 75-57 to improve to 5-0 on the early season.

The first few minutes of the game were a battle as expected as the Lady Saints and Lady Chaps worked to feel each other out. It was a 7-6 game in favor of Midland when Rebekah Hatchard nailed a big three from the wing and the shot propelled Seward on a 9-0 run to give them their first lead of the night at 13-6 five minutes into things. The Lady Saints offense remained hot and threes from Hatchard and Brooklyn Artis pushed their advantage to 12 before another long ball, this one from Daniela Galindo put the Lady Saints up 24-10 at the 11:00 mark of the first half. Seward played even for the next five minutes and the Lady Saints remained up by 14, but the Chaps closed the first half on a 12-2 run to cut the Lady Saints lead to just 39-35 as the teams went to the locker rooms at half. Midland actually outshot Seward 47-39% in the first 20 minutes, but the Lady Saints forced 18 first half turnovers to carry the four point lead into the break.

Seward didn’t waste any time in building their lead back up as the second half began, getting buckets from four different players to quickly regain a double digit lead at 47-35. Midway through the half a high arching three by Galindo pushed the Lady Saints lead to 16 but a 7-0 run by Midland made it a 59-50 game as the clock ticked under 9:00. A big three out of the media timeout by Artis stretched the lead back to 12 and the Lady Saints never looked back. Seward cruised from there, getting a pair of Kyndal Davis free throws to take an 18 point lead with 4:32 to go and that is the margin they would win by as their bench finished things off in a 75-57 victory to improve to 5-0 on the year.

The Lady Saints and Lady Chaps actually nearly shot identical numbers from the field overall on the night as Seward shot just over 36% while Midland finished at just under 36%. The difference though came from the three point line and in the turnover category where Seward outscored Midland 24-9 from deep and had 12 less turnovers than the Lady Chaps 31 on the night. Artis and Galindo led the Lady Saints off the bench as Artis scored a game high 22 while Galindo pinned her early career high with 13. Davis also scored 13 and had 8 rebounds for the Lady Saints while Seda had 10 and 6 rebounds.

Seward improves to 5-0 on the year and now has a pair of resume building wins over Weatherford and Midland while the Lady Chaps go home licking their wounds after taking a pair of losses in the Billy’s/Days Inn Classic by a combined 44 points to fall to 5-3 on the year.

Next up for the Lady Saints is a trip Northeast to the Hutchinson Sports Arena next weekend where they will take on Jayhawk East foe Coffeyville on Friday and State Fair on Saturday at 1:30.

#20 SEWARD COUNTY/MIDLAND BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/mbkb/2014-15/files/SewardMidland.html>

Roy Allen