So close, yet . . .

Alaina's team lost a tough game in the sub-state final 46-45 to Garden City. That means Garden City goes to Emporia for the state tournament and gets to play the No. 1 team in the state. We didn't play very well, but Alaina made a nice layin with 23 seconds to go to give us a 45-44 lead. We stole the ball back with 12 seconds to go. But on the ensuing inbounds play, our point guard got called for a charge (good call, bad decision). Then, when Garden City inbounded the ball with 7 seconds to play, we fouled them 90 feet from the basket. Oy! A girl who was 1 for 11 from the foul line in their last game made both ends of a one-and-one for a 46-45 lead. We had one last shot -- an open look from the elbow -- but it rimmed off at the horn. It was pretty tough.

Garden City had a 6-3 girl (perhaps the tallest Hispanic girl in the world) and another girl who was 6-2. We had trouble with them lobbing over the top to the 6-3 girl (poor weakside help). She scored nearly half their points. She really killed us when Alaina was out for a rest. Alaina had 14 points and 10 rebounds. Here's a link to some video of the game. The good news is that our top six players all return next year. We need to develop some quality depth, so if Neala wants to transfer here, we have an extra bedroom for her. The photo of Alaina, by the way, was taken at the start of the game, which was delayed because the tornado sirens were going off. Spring in Kansas.

Up next on our sports cavalcade is Laura's soccer season. We had our first practice today (it was 62 here today; it was 85 last Thursday) and play our first game on Saturday. We'll try to get some art of Laura on the site in her nifty pink uniform (our team is the Pink Ladies).