Broncbusters give up big lead; fall to Indy at home

Garden City, KS-Valentina Ojeda scored 20 points, D'yanna Maxey added 15, and Independence erased an early 11-point deficit to beat Garden City, 68-63 Saturday afternoon at Conestoga Arena. The loss dropped the Broncbusters to 4-5 overall and 0-3 in conference.

"We lost the game in the third quarter," Head Coach, Antwain Scales said. "We have to be better."

The Broncbusters, who led for most of the game, shot 44 percent form the field and outrebounded the Pirates, 32-23. They forced 18 turnovers and scored 44 points in the paint. But the fourth quarter was their undoing.

Leading by as many as seven in the period after Jae'Mya Lyons banked home a two-footer, the Pirates made their move. Blesseth Dillingham drilled two free throws, Jamya Robinson connected on a 3-pointer, and Ojeda sank two freebies, capping off a 13-5 run that pulled Independence to within one, 56-55 with 5:43 to play. Moments later, Ojeda beat Jersey Mayfield to the basket to give the Pirates its first lead of the day.

"It was the little things that cost us this game," Scales mentioned.

After Dayshawna Carter answered on the other end to give the Broncbusters a brief lead, Robinson responded with a deep triple for Indepednence. Maxey added a layup, and the Pirates were up four.

"We let one of their guards get downhill three times, and one of those was a three-point play," Scales said. "That just can't happen."

Carter, who kept the Broncbusters in it down the stretch with a game-high 24 points, had three critical turnovers, which was compounded by Jersey Mayfield's foul on Ojeda, who finished through the sophomore guard for a three-point play with 11 seconds to go to put Independence up, 67-63.

"We just fell asleep at the end of the game," Scales added.

Garden City owned the first 15 minutes building an 11-point lead after Mayfield rattled home a 3-pointer to make it 20-9 with 8:32 left in the half. But the Pirates countered with a 13-2 run that trimmed the deficit to two. Garden City was up 26-22 at the break despite scoring just two points over the final 2:30 of the first half.

Carter finished 11-of-21 from the floor in 35 minutes for Garden City but turned the ball over five times. Lyons added 14 points and 15 rebounds, and Taya Davis recorded eight points and eight assists.

Suni Kartik scored 10 points in 21 minutes off the bench for the Pirates, which improved to 2-2 in conference play.