Lady Buffs basketball to be in Pool Play at Newton Inv.; face Andover Central first

BUFFS ROUNDUP: Friday, Jan. 24, 2020

GIRLS BASKETBALL

The bracket has been announced for the 44th Annual Newton Invitational, and with just seven teams this year competing, there will be four teams in bracket play for the first two days while the remaining three teams will be in Pool Play beginning Wednesday, Jan. 29.

The Garden City Lady Buffaloes (7-3) will be the No. 4 seed and compete in the three-team Pool Play, and will face top-seeded Andover Central at 6 p.m. on Thursday, Jan. 30, and then take on No. 5 seed Wichita-Kapaun Mt. Carmel at 6 o’clock on Friday, Jan. 31.

Those three teams will then be placed in final brackets for Saturday’s concluding day based upon their standing after the round-robin games. Central and Kapaun will face each other on Wed., Jan. 29.

In the four-team brackets, beginning Thursday, No. 3 seed Dodge City will play No. 6 Olathe Northwest while No. 2 Bishop Carroll takes on No. 7 and host Newton at 8 p.m. The losers and winners of those two games will play Friday at 4 and 8 p.m.

The third place Pool Play team will play for fifth place at 2 p.m. Saturday, the second-place team will compete for third place at 4 p.m. with the Pool Play winner battling for the championship at 6 p.m. Saturday.

The Lady Buffs are coming off back-to-back 54-40 victories over Hays and Ulysses to enter the tournament with a 7-3 season record.

Perennial Class 4A and state powerhouse Shawnee Mission-Bishop Miege is not in the field this season, instead competing in the McPherson Invitational.