Girls basketball mounts comeback

Michael Simmons, Staff Writer

The Lady Indians beat Washburn Rural 49-46 thanks to a fourth quarter comeback and a buzzer-beater three-pointer from Gigi McAtee, both of which had the fans resisting the urge to storm the court. Manhattan High had one of the slowest starts of the season during the Washburn game, only scoring 15 points in the first half.
“We made some defensive mistakes and they shot the ball really really well,” head coach Scott Mall said. “They hit some hard shots but missed some easy shots, but offensively we were acting like we were scared, we made one move and then just kind of held the ball and waited a round for something to happen, and that’s not like us. We crowded up the middle a little bit, they did really good compacting the middle.”
The fourth quarter was easily the strongest part of the game for the Indians. The Lady Indians scored 25 of their 49 points during the fourth quarter of the game. The offensive part of the fourth quarter comeback was led by sophomore Kia Wilson, who scored six points during the fourth quarter and junior Chrissy Carr and sophomore Haleigh Harper, who both scored five points during the fourth quarter.
“I think our defense won us that game, not in the first half though, they weren’t very good,” senior Gigi McAtee said. “In the second half our defense definitely helped us make that comeback and helped us get that win, and when you’re down by fifteen points, you don’t close that gap by offense, you close it by defense.
Sophomore Taylor Johnson and Harper were two of the players that helped the Lady Indians make stops on defense. Both Johnson and Harper helped the team overcome the stall-ball tactic which has caused the Lady Indians to struggle in past games.
“I think the previous teams we have faced that used the stall-ball tactic, helped us prepare for when [Washburn] used it against us tonight, especially in the Olathe South game,” McAtee said. “We’re a strong team that should be able to get stops on defense and scores on offense when we see stall-ball, and we did that tonight.”
The Lady Indians weren’t expecting the Junior Blues to use the stall-ball tactic so early in the game, which contributed to the team being slower in the first half. Some players have shown in this game, and in previous ones, that this tactic just isn’t successful in slowing them down at all. Wilson is one of these players. She was the highest-scoring player for the Lady Indians, scoring a total of 14 points: 12 from 14 field goals and two for two on free throws.
“Even if everyone didn’t start out great, I thought everyone finished so well.” Wilson said. “It wasn’t like one person, or another person, I just thought we all did great and worked really well as a team, so it worked out in the end.”
Wilson was followed by Carr who scored a total of 13 points: 12 from 11 field goals ,one for three on free throws, and Haleigh Harper, who scored nine points from six field goals.Although Wilson was the highest-scoring player, and contributed greatly to the comeback and the overall win for the Lady Indians, it was a team effort that made it possible for the Lady Indians to overcome the stall-ball tactic and come back from a 18-point deficit.
Their next game is Friday against Emporia at MHS.