Unbeaten Wamego defeats Panthers

The Concordia High School girls' basketball team suffered a 62-19 North Central Kansas League defeat to undefeated Wamego Thursday night in the Concordia Junior-Senior High School gymnasium.
Concordia trailed by just nine points, 17-8, after one quarter of play.
Wamego, ranked second in Class 4A, used a barrage of three-point shots and stifling defense to blow the game open in the second period.
“They are ranked for a reason. It is difficult when you are playing a really tough team like that and they catch fire shooting from outside,” Concordia coach Trey Kuhlman said.
A basket by Taylor McDaniel in the first 50 seconds of the game gave Concordia its only lead.
Wamego, 7-0 overall and 3-0 in league play, scored the next six points.
Concordia, 2-6 overall and 1-3 in the league, got a basket by Charlize Cash, and trailed just 6-4.
Scoring four straight points, the Red Raiders led 10-4.
Cianna DeLeon made two free throws to get Concordia within four points, 10-6.
Addison Denney tossed in seven straight points to push Wamego's lead to 17-6.
A basket by Carlie Carlgren left Concordia trailing 17-8 heading into the second quarter.
“I was pleased how we started the basketball game. I thought the girls came out ready to go,” Kuhlman said.
Unable to connect from the field and missing on all six free throws, the Panthers would go scoreless in that second stanza.
Wamego knocked down six three-point shots and poured in 25 points to pull away to a 42-8 halftime advantage.
“That second quarter hurt us. We just didn't get anything going offensively. We got a few looks, we just didn't capitalize,” Kuhlman. “When you are playing a really good team and they start hitting shots from everywhere, they are really tough to guard.”
Lexi Hecht connected on three of those three-point shots for the Red Raiders on her way to scoring a team-high 16 points.
Wamego scored the first two points of the second half to extend the lead to 44-8.
DeLeon halted Concordia's scoring drought by hitting a three with 2:08 gone by in the third quarter.
Wamego led 53-15 heading into the final eight minutes of play.
The Red Raiders scored eight points in the fourth quarter to four points for the Panthers.
DeLeon led the way for Concordia with seven points.
Carlgren added six points.
Wamego, led by Hecht, had three players score in double figures.
Denney scored 12 points and Trista Hoobler added 11 points.
Concordia will wrap up a three-game homestand by hosting Marysville on Tuesday.
The Panthers fell 50-39 to the Bulldogs in the first meeting between the two teams this season.

WAMEGO (61)
Hecht 6-1-4 16, McKee 1-0-0 2, Denney 4-2-3 12, Gallagher 0-3-1 3, Pierson 2-0-2 4, Wilber 0-0-1 0, Meinhardt 3-1-3 7, Hoobler 4-1-2 11, Springer 2-0-2 6. Totals: 22-8-18 61.
CONCORDIA (19)
DeLeon 2-2-2 7, Carlgren 1-4-2 6, Blackwood 0-0-1 0, Cash 1-2-2 4, McDaniel 1-0-2 2. Totals: 5-8-9 19.