BY BUDDY TABLER

HESSTON — Cassidy Wachs delivered a banked-in, buzzer beater that buried the Hesston jinx 50-47 in Friday's Central Kansas League basketball game.

Larned's Taeten Reynolds passed to Wachs across half-court and she drilled a banked-in 3-pointer from 25 feet. About six feet beyond the 3-point line Wachs pulled up and fired away. The shot hit the glass and banked in and the Larned players and fans went into celebration mode.

A basket by Larned's Jadyn Crosby gave the Indians a 47-45 lead. Hesston's Jaden Williams tied the score at 47-47 on a driving shot with six seconds left and was awarded a free throw on a 'touch foul.' 

“I 'm so happy for our girls," said Larned coach Jerrod Smith. "We lost a buzzer-beater to Hillsboro that shouldn’t have been allowed, so I'm pleased we got this one. The girls were terrific defensively all night. We had a great comeback in the fourth quarter. Wachs’ shot finished it off.”

Larned (13-5, 2-2 CKL) was led by Crosby (13) and Lauren Sleder (11) and Brooke Simmons added nine points. Hesston (10-8) was led by Rhianne Grilliot with 11 points, Callie Yoder 10 and Jacy Proctor nine.

Hesston had led the tight game after each quarter, 14-11, 23-20 and 42-36 and pushed the lead to nine points. Larned clawed back with key baskets by Crosby, Brooke Simmons and Lauren Sleder. 

Both teams made 19 of 38 field goal attempts, but Larned made 8 of 17 3-point attempts for the difference in the game. Hesston made two. Hesston was 9 of 16 from the free throw line while Larned was 2 of 5.

Larned 11 9 13 17 — 50

Hesston 14 9 19 4 — 47

LARNED (13-5, 2-2)—Crosby 13, Sleder 11, Brooks Simmons 9, Reynolds 8, Wachs 5, Upson 2; Totals 19-38 (8-17) 2-5 50

HESSTON (10-8, 1-3)—Rhianne Grilliot 11, Yoder 10, Proctor 9, Martin 6, Williams 3, Warden 3, Lehman 2; Totals 19-38 (2) 9-16

HESSTON 56, LARNED 22 — Hesston's Ty Unruh scored 18 points and Luke Bartel added 10 points to power No. 2 state ranked Hesston past Larned 56-22 in Friday's Central Kansas Lague basketball game.

Hesston (17-1, 4-0 CKL) connected on 20 of 40 field goals and held Larned to 9 of 26 (31%). 

Larned (6-12, 1-3 CKL) was led by Andres Martinez with two 3-pointers for six points, Luke Krehbiel five and Anthony Gonzalez and Tristan Regan four apiece.

Larned’s attempt to control the tempo worked for a while. Hesston led 28-14 at halftime, but the Swathers went on a 14-0 run to start the third quarter.

Hesston’s full-court pressure defense created 20 Larned turnovers, limiting the Indians to just seven second-half shot attempts and just 26 for the game.

"Hesston is a very talented team, but we did not do a good job of taking care of the basketball," said Larned coach Luke Steinlage. "We got sped up and had too many turnovers and missed shots. Give their defense a lot of credit.”

Hesston took a lot of 3-point shots in the first half, missing most, and that limited their scoring. In the second half, coach Garrett Roth had the Swathers attacking the basket and it paid off as they connected on 9 of 11 shots in the third quarter as they outscored Larned 23-4 in that run.

Larned 6 8 4 4 —22

Hesston 14 14 23 5 — 56

LARNED (6-12, 1-3)—Martinez 6, Krehbiel 5, Tristan Regan 4, Gonzalez 4, Hagerman 2, Greene 1; Totals 9-26

HESSTON (17-1, 4-0)—Unruh 18, Bartel 10, Landes 8, Deering 6, Lumbreras 4, Humphreys 3, Larson 3, Williams 2, Haug 2; Totals 20-40