HHS travels to Liberal

2/9/2012

By RANDY GONZALES

rgonzales@dailynews.net

It's a long road to the WAC title.

At the halfway point, the Hays High School girls' basketball team leads the pack at 4-0. The Indians begin the second half of the conference slate on Friday, with a three-hour trek to Liberal. The HHS girls, ranked eighth in Class 5A, will play Liberal at 6 p.m., followed by the boys' game.

The Liberal girls (3-13 overall, 0-3 WAC) are coming off a 39-33 nonleague win over Guymon, Okla., on Tuesday.

"They're coming off a win, we're going to get their best effort," Hays High coach Kirk Maska said. "Hopefully, we get our best effort, not worry about the long trip.

"Just excited about going 5-0 in the WAC," he added.

Hays High (10-4, 4-0) won 39-26 at Dodge City on Tuesday. In that game, the HHS defense held Dodge City to 17 percent shooting from the floor and forced the Red Demons into 1-of-20 shooting from beyond the arc.

Offensively, the Indians got a career-high 10 points from junior forward Taylor Herman, and another 10 points from senior Paige Lunsford, who leads the team in scoring at 15.1 points per game.

In the teams' first meeting of the season, in Hays on Jan. 6, the Indians rolled to a 59-28 win over the Redskins.

Lunsford led HHS with 20 points, and junior forward Katelyn Schumacher added a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds. Junior guard Janae Gagnon added 10 points.

Liberal, which has been without star senior guard Justice Norah for most of the year with a knee injury, got eight points from sophomore Jai Chapman.

While the Indian girls are chasing a conference title, the Hays High boys (4-10, 1-3) will be hoping to snap a seven-game losing streak.

The HHS boys -- who lost 45-31 at Dodge City on Tuesday -- last won in the conference opener with Liberal.

HHS made 10 of 20 3-pointers in a 55-47 victory. Junior guard Derek Bixenman made four treys and finished with 19 points, and sophomore guard Jordan Windholz swished three from beyond the arc, and had 10 points.

Liberal (5-11, 0-3) is coming off a 64-51 win over Guymon.

In the first meeting with Hays High, the Redskins placed three players in double figures, led by sophomore Britton Abbott with 14 points.

Hays High boys' coach Rick Keltner has a youthful team this season, with the accompanying growing pains.

"It's new for a lot of our kids, being a varsity player going to Liberal," Keltner said. "We've had some great moments there.

"What a great gym, we've had some great games with them," he added. "Other than the bus ride, it's just a great opportunity to try to get better."