CHS girls tumble to Wamego, 37-23

Going more than a week without playing a game did not prove to be beneficial for the Concordia Panthers.
Concordia, which had not faced competition since a home loss to Phillipsburg, was outscored 12-4 over final nine minutes in suffering a 37-23 North Central Kansas League loss to Wamego Thursday night in the Concordia Junior-Senior High School gymnasium.
The 23 points was the fewest scored by the Panthers this season.
Concordia was originally scheduled to play Wamego last Friday night and then complete the regular season by hosting Clay Center on Tuesday.
The Wamego game was rescheduled because of snow, and then inclement weather forced the cancellation of the Clay Center game.
Along with going more than a week without playing, the Panthers were also without starter Chloe Conway and top reserve Zoe Bechard for the regular season finale.
“We knew we were going to be playing a lot more minutes. We have kind of been limiting Karlee (Walmeier) because of a knee injury, and she was going to have to fight through that,” Concordia coach Michael Wahlmeier said, “Abby (Donovan) played a lot for us, and Genna Strait came in. We have confidence in them stepping up, and I thought they did a good job.”
Concordia (3-16) trailed Wamego 20-11 at halftime, and were down 22-11 early in the second half.
A basket by Donovan made it a 22-13 game, but the Red Raiders (11-8) answered with a three-point basket by Victoria Pettay to go up 25-13 with 5:04 to play in the third quarter.
Sophomore Kendall Reynolds scored inside and then connected on a three-point shot.
Senior Katlynn Miller buried a three, and the Panthers were down just 25-21 with 1:10 left in the period.
Miller, playing in her final home game, led all scorers with 12 points.
A layup by Paige Donnelly put the Red Raiders on top 27-21.
Reynolds picked up a fourth foul late in the third quarter, and was on the bench to start the fourth.
“With Kendall and Katlynn in there the defense can't key on one of them. So we need to do a better job of keeping them both out there,” Wahlmeier said, “Kendall is learning. She made so silly fouls, but I was happy with her energy when she was in there.”
Reynolds finished with five points, six rebounds and five steals.
Toree Hoobler scored the first two points of the fourth quarter to give Wamego a 29-21 cushion.
Concordia cut the deficit to six points, 29-23, on a basket by Donovan with 6:20 to play in the game.
The Panthers would not score again.
“We didn't throw the ball into our posts enough,” Wahlmeier said, “There were some times we had them backed down and didn't hit them, and then sometimes we just waited too long to pass it in there and let the defense recover. When you are shorthanded you can't make many mistakes, and we did.”
Wamego would score the final eight points of the game to capture the 14-point win.
Karlee Wahlmeier led Concordia with seven rebounds.
Kynzie Underwood paced a balanced Wamego attack with 10 points.
Both teams got off to a slow start offensively, and the Red Raiders had a 7-3 lead at the end of the first quarter.
“They were in the same boat we were. They can't practice when there is no school, and they have had the same days off as us. So they hadn't practiced since Monday. With the games getting called off Friday, that is just a lot of time out of the gym,” Wahlmeier said, “I think some of the missed shots by both teams were probably due to that.”
A three-point basket by Underwood stretched Wamego's lead to 10-3 14 seconds into the second quarter.
Consecutive threes by Miller pulled Concordia within a point, 10-9.
Wamego outscored the Panthers 10-2 the rest of the way in the quarter to go up 20-11.
The Panthers got back within four points in the third period, but were unable to sustain the momentum.
Concordia, seeded eighth, plays top-seeded Clay Center on its home floor in the opening round of the Class 3A sub-state tournament at 7 p.m. Monday.
“It always seems to come down to them (Clay Center), and we have got to find a way beat them if we want to go on,” Wahlmeier said.

WAMEGO (37)
Alexander 0-3-2 2, Hoobler 2-0-0 4, Donnelly 2-0-2 5, Pettay 1-0-2 3, Beachler 2-2-2 7, Underwood 4-1-2 10, Hamman 1-1-1 3, Kueker 1-0-0 2. Totals: 13-7-11 37.
CONCORDIA (23)
Donovan 2-0-1 4, E. Wahlmeier 0-0-3 0, Reynolds 2-0-5 5, Strait 0-0-1 0, K. Wahlmeier 1-0-2 2, Rundus 0-0-1 0, Miller 4-1-2 12. Totals: 9-1-15 23.