Women’s Basketball Ends Regular Season With Loss to #9 Dodge City

LIBERAL, Kan. – In a game that came down to the final seconds, it was the 9th-ranked Dodge City Conquistadors who came out on top over the Seward County Lady Saints, 67-62, on Wednesday evening at The Greenhouse.

Despite the outcome the Lady Saints (19-11, 14-10 KJCCC) did not fall in the standings, as they carry the five-seed into the upcoming NJCAA Region 6 Tournament. Seward will host 12-seed Fort Hays Tech Northwest at the Greenhouse on Saturday at 4 p.m. with the winner to play at four-seed Coffeyville on Tuesday in the quarterfinals. Dodge City (25-4, 20-4) finishes the season in second and receives a first-round bye.

The game saw six ties and eight lead changes with neither team leading by more than seven throughout. Seward trailed 14-8 early but outscored Dodge 10-2 over the final 4:36 of the first quarter to lead 18-16 after one. Avery Marchino and Trinitee Holmes scored six points each in the opening quarter.

Seward shot a game-low 28.6% (4-14) from the floor in the second quarter but were only outscored 15-11 as Dodge City took a 31-29 lead to halftime.

Both teams traded buckets in the third but Seward trailed 45-41 heading to the fourth.

The fourth quarter marked the highest scoring of the game for either team. Seward surged ahead for its first lead of the second half, midway through, off a Destiny Alexander layup. Marchino put in a layup on the next possession to give Seward its largest lead of the game, three, to make it 52-49.

The lead switched hands down the stretch with a pair of Marchino free throws putting Seward ahead 58-57 with 1:25 to play, their last lead. Kimora Fagan converted two freebies with 48 seconds left to make it a 61-60 game. The Lady Saints got the ball back down three with 30 seconds to play but a turnover essentially iced the game as the Conqs used free throws to get away with the win.

Marchino led Seward with 18 points to go with five rebounds and four assists. She had six turnovers. Fagan had 13 points and seven steals, Tyniah Smith posted a double-double off the bench with 11 points and 11 rebounds.

Dodge City's Manuela Piljevic finished with 32 points and seven rebounds.

Both teams had 20-plus turnovers in the game. Seward shot just 2-15 (13.3%) from distance while Dodge City put in 11-28 (39.3%) from three. Each team converted 22 field goals with Seward shooting 22-53 (41.5%) and Dodge City 40% (22-55). Points in the paint went the way of Seward, 34-22.