Girls take second at HPL
by Media Tech class
The girls' dreams of a league tournament title hit a roadblock Saturday as they fell to Elkhart in the title game at Syracuse, 58-49.
The girls, seeded second, came into the game riding a six-game win streak, but the top-seed Wildcats proved to be too much.
Elkhart jumped out to a 17-9 lead after the opening period and led 28-15 by halftime.
The final two periods belonged to Lakin as they outscored the Wildcats 34-30, closing the gap to five points midway into the final period.
But Elkhart's height and inside dominance proved too much.
The Broncs shot just under 30 percent from the field, including just 6 of 27 from behind the arc.
They were also just 9 of 15 at the free throw line, while Elkhart was 15 of 20.
Lakin managed to out-rebound Elkhart by one, but the Wildcats outscored the Broncs 34-12 from inside the paint as they hit a number of chip shots off the glass.
Leading scorer for Lakin was Jay Esquibel with 20 points, followed by Talyn Beltran with 11.
Beltran led the Broncs with 14 rebounds.
The girls finished the first half of the season at 6-4.
Semifinal Thursday
Lakin 43, Stanton County 37
The Lady Broncs won their semi-final in a tight game versus Stanton County, overcoming a sluggish first half to get the 43-37 win.
In the first quarter, the Broncs held a 8-6 lead, but they were down by one by halftime, 13-12.
The Broncs then came back after a strong tough game and outscored the Lady Trojans 16-13 in the third quarter.
Sara Wright nailed three consecutive 3-pointers to spark the Broncs' turnaround in the third period.
"Seeing my teammates struggle really gave me the motivation to go out and try to make something happen," Wright said. "It really wasn't a challenge shooting from the three point line because in practice, Coach (Vanessa) Esquibelhad me play as one of Johnson's shooters to help our varsity for the game and it really paid off."
The girls had four transition points while Stanton County had two.
The Broncs also beat Trojans in points off of turnovers 10-7.
They had 13 second-chance points to Johnson's eight.
Leading with points for the Lady Broncs was Wright with 11, followed by Jaya Esquibel with 10.
Ryan Rider and Taegan Bachman led the team with a total of seven rebounds, offensively and defensively.
Tiana Gonzalez had four steals.
Leading with points for the Lady Broncs was Wright with 11, followed by Jaya Esquibel with 10 points.
Esquibel and Taegan Bachman led the team with a total of seven rebounds, offensively and defensively.
Tiana Gonzalez had four steals while others had one or none.
Opening round Monday
Lakin 61, Sublette 29
The girls opened their HPL tournament with an easy win against Sublette in Stanton County on Monday, 69-21.
In the first quarter Lakin was up 21-0, and by half time it was 34-6.
The Broncs had 24 points off of turnovers, as well as 19 assists and 11 steals.
Leading the way with points was senior Jaya Esquibel with 18. Freshman Jara Davidson added 11 points and led with six rebounds.
Sara Wright and Tiana Gonzalez led defensively, both having three deflections and two steals.