The season came to end for the Buhler High School girls basketball team with a 54-34 loss to No. 1 Wellington in the Class 4A girls sub-state finals Friday at Wellington.
Wellington led 8-5 in the “Battle of the Crusaders” after one quarter. Wellington went on a 20-3 run in the second quarter to lead at halftime 28-8.
Buhler outscored Wellington 16-14 in the third quarter to make the score 42-24. Wellington outscored Buhler 12-10 in the fourth quarter.
Lyndi Barton scored 20 points for Wellington and Kirstyn Gregory added 12 points.
Tori Tustian led the Buhler girls with 7 points and 7 rebounds. Kenzie Polk and Kenna Lackey each scored 6 points.
Harlie Terrell and Maddie Stallman each scored 4 points. Kinley Combs added 3 points. Nyah Sewell had 2 points and 6 rebounds. Zoey Dick tallied 2 points.
Addy Keller, Kaia Edmund and Ella Voss played but did not score for the Buhler girls. Voss pulled down 4 rebounds.
Buhler made 13-of-45 field goal tries (29%), including 3-of-23 in the first half (13%). Wellington made 24-of-54 shots for the game (44%).
Buhler outrebounded Wellington 34-29. Wellington had 11 offensive boards and Buhler had 10. Buhler committed 27 turnovers to Wellington’s 11.
Wellington, the defending Kansas 4A girls state champions, improved to 22-1. Buhler finished the season with a 12-13 record.
In addition to Wellington, other girls programs qualifying for the 4A state tournament are Rock Creek (22-3), Eudora (21-3), Topeka Hayden (19-6), Andale (17-6), Bishop Miege (17-8), Chapman (16-9) and Concordia (14-9).
Quarterfinal matchups will take place on Tuesday at sites to be announced. Wellington is the No. 1 seed at the 4A state tournament and will play Concordia, Topeka Hayden plays Andale, Rock Creek plays Chapman and Eudora plays Bishop Miege.
The winners advance to the Final Four semifinals on Thursday at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
The semifinal losers play for third place on Friday at the Hutchinson Sports Arena and the winners play for the state title on Saturday.
