Lady Saints Hammer Colby 98-43

Moving the ball like a pinball machine and shooting it like an arrow, the #6 Seward County Lady Saints rolled to a 98-43 win in the Greenhouse against visiting Colby Saturday night in Liberal, keeping their 2016-2017 record perfect at 15-0.

It didn’t take long for Seward to take control against the Lady Trojans Saturday night as they jumped out to a 6-0 lead to get things going and stretched their advantage to 11-2 just 2:34 in as Erin Richardson nailed the Lady Saints second three in the opening minutes. Flying around on the defensive end and pounding the ball inside to Joanna Grymek, Seward continued to pour it on the Trojans who had no answer for the high powered Seward attack. Grymek scored the final six points of the first quarter in the paint, ballooning Seward’s lead after one quarter of action to 24-7.

It was more green and white as the second quarter got underway as the Lady Saints scored the first 15 of the period to blow their lead wide open to 39-7. Colby didn’t score their first point of the quarter until the 5:24 mark and didn’t get their first field goal until the 4:11 mark as Seward had opened up a 44-8 cushion. The Seward guards owned play over the next few minutes as Diamond Bailey had a pair of nifty drive and scores followed by another Richardson three to make it 51-10. Grymek then went back to work, scoring the final four points of the half for the Lady Saints to give them a 55-12 lead into the locker rooms at the break.

The halftime stats were obviously lopsided as Seward shot 50% from the floor to Colby’s 19% while the Lady Saints forced 16 Trojan turnovers and gave it away just eight times. Grymek outscored Colby by nine on her own 21-12 in the half while Richardson nearly did the same with 10.

After a slow start to the second half by his starters, Seward Head Coach Toby Wynn sent five reserves in to spark his squad and that they did as Valerie Caro banged home two straight threes to get them back on track with a 61-16 lead. The Lady Saints starters returned and with renewed focus, put up 18 points in the final 5:24 of the third, again just blowing their lead up bigger and bigger to crest it at 50, 79-29 after three.

The Seward starters did not see the floor in the fourth quarter as the bench took over and fared quite well. Manuela Fungate earned the chairman of the board sticker for the night with her work inside, dropping in four points on offensive rebounds to keep Seward going. After watching twin sister Valerie get it done in the third, Vanessa Caro got in the action with five straight points for the Lady Saints to make it a 90-33 game and a pair of late Tiani White buckets would give Seward a 98-43 win at the final horn.

As they did in the first half, Seward shot an even 50% again in the second to finish the night at 50% overall while Colby shot just 27% from the field. Grymek led all scorers with 28 points in just 20 minutes of action while Richardson, Valerie Caro, and Mollie Mounsey all reached double figures as well. Fungate finished with a game high 13 rebounds for Seward. The Lady Saints ended the night with 28 assists on 40 made baskets, a season high.

Seward cruises to 15-0 on the year with the win and improves to 11-0 in Jayhawk Conference action. Colby continues their tailspin as they fall to 3-12 overall and 1-10 in conference play with the defeat.

Next up for the Lady Saints is rivalry week when they take on Southwest Kansas foes Dodge City Wednesday at home before making the trip to the Perryman Center in Garden City Saturday to take on the Busters.

#6 SEWARD COUNTY/COLBY BOX SCORE<http://www.sewardsaints.com/sports/wbkb/2016-17/boxscores/20170107_i3vd.xml?view=boxscore>

Roy Allen