Artis/Bernard Lead Seward Past Dodge City

Behind a combined 35 points from freshmen Brooklyn Artis and Axelle Bernard, the #7 Seward County Lady Saints raced by the visiting Dodge City Lady Conquistadors by a count of 71-48 on Homecoming Night in the Greenhouse Saturday. Seward raced out to a 36-17 halftime lead before coasting to the 23 point win to improve to 24-2 and 12-1 in Jayhawk West Conference play with the win.

Seward got the scoring started right off the bat as Brooklyn Artis drained a three from the wing to give them the early 3-0 lead. The Lady Saints kept the pressure on the Conqs, racing out to a 17-5 advantage on a 14-0 run that saw Artis driving the ball aggressively to the basket to give herself nine points in the first seven minutes of the game. The Lady Saints didn’t stop there, continuing to pour it on Dodge City on both ends of the floor, pushing their lead to 27-9 on another Artis bucket and going up by 21 after Axelle Bernard connected on back to back trips down the floor. Dodge City scored in the final minute of the half, but at the break it was all Lady Saints by a score of 36-17.

The Lady Saints held the Lady Conqs to just 7 first half field goals and 22% shooting while Seward was able to shoot slightly better at 35% from the field, but took advantage of 12 chances at the free throw line where they shot 83%. Artis led all scorers with 15 first half points, just two points off of tying Dodge City’s first half output by herself.

A slow start to the second half for the Lady Saints watched Dodge crawl back into the contest as they cut the Seward lead to just 12 at 39-27. With the Conqs beginning to get to within striking distance the Lady Saints stepped on the gas once again, using a 10-0 run in just 2:07 to quickly balloon their lead back to 22 at 49-27. The run seemed to have taken the air out of the Lady Conqs sails as Seward slowly extended their lead until it was its largest of the night at 67-37 following a pair of free throws from Leslie Speer with 4:01 to go. Dodge closed the gap some in the final moments, but it was far too little too late as the Lady Saints coasted to the win 71-48.

The Lady Saints weren’t at the top of the game on offense, shooting just 36% from the floor, but Seward locked down the Conqs potent attack as Dodge City shot just 27% in the game, their second lowest mark in the conference season. Artis led the Lady Saints with 19 points in the win while Bernard had a huge night with 16 points, 12 rebounds, and a career high 6 blocked shots.

Winning their 24th straight game against Dodge City in the Greenhouse, the Lady Saints improve to 24-2 overall on the year and 12-1 in Jayhawk West Conference play with three games remaining. Seward still sits in 2nd place in the conference standings, one game behind Hutchinson who remains unbeaten this season. Dodge continues a miserable season, falling to 10-18 overall while dropping their 13th Jayhawk West game in 14 outings, effectively locking in a 9th place finish in the conference standings.

Next up for the Lady Saints is a road test in neighboring Garden City where Seward will travel on Wednesday for an early 5:30 tip at the Perryman Center.

#7 SEWARD COUNTY/DODGE CITY BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wbkb/2014-15/boxscores/20150214_9srs.xml>

Roy Allen