Lady Redskins Move On to the 6A Semifinals

The Lady Redskins used their reliable defense to get them out of a rugged first round game with a victory.  Liberal won their first state tournament game as a 6A school 41-33 over Olathe South Wednesday afternoon at Koch Arena in Wichita.  Liberal held the Lady Falcons to 23 percent shooting and fought off foul trouble with Katie Horyna and Machia Mullens to win.

It was a defensive oriented first quarter as LHS took an 8-5 lead.  The Lady Red led 21-13 and led 23-16 at halftime.  Olathe South, who’s been to state in 15 of the past 16 seasons, made a run in the third quarter out scoring Liberal 13-8.  Liberal took a 27-16 lead early in the third quarter before the Lady Falcons used a 13-2 run to tie the game.  Horyna picked up her fourth foul at the beginning of the fourth quarter and Olathe South tied the game 31-31.  Liberal went to their 2-3 zone for much of the fourth quarter and out scored Olathe South 10-4.

Machia Mullens was dominant with 20 points, eight rebounds, and four blocks.  Liberal led points in the paint 28-16.  Horyna had eight points and seven rebounds.  Aubrey Warden had eight points and four rebounds.

Liberal shot 37 percent from the field and held Olathe South to 12-52 shooting for 23 percent.  Liberal only had eight turnovers and Olathe South had 10.  LHS was just 10-17 from the foul line while the Lady Falcons were 6-9.  LHS was 1-5 from three point range and Olathe South was 3-11.  Liberal is 23-0 for the first time in school history.  They play 21-2 Derby Friday at 3 in the 6A semifinals.  Derby outlasted Shawnee Mission Northwest 44-39 in double overtime.  Topeka and Olathe East will play in the other semifinal at 6:30 Friday.  The Liberal game airs with Redskin Pre-game at 2:45 Friday on 1270 and kscbnews.net.