Manhattan High girls basketball coach Scott Mall knew Great Bend was not like the other two teams his Lady Indians had faced in the first two rounds of the Hays City Shoot-Out tournament.

Manhattan’s defense had carried it to wins over TMP Thursday and Newton Friday, earning a spot in the title game Saturday, but the Lady Panthers threatened MHS with offensive weapons not seen earlier in the weekend.

Fortunately for Mall, whatever worries he had over Great Bend’s offense vanished quickly.

Forcing Great Bend into seven first-quarter turnovers, Manhattan claimed the 2015 Hays City Shoot-Out tournament championship with a 57-27 rout of the Lady Panthers, a game MHS seized control of from the word “go.”

The defense that turned Great Bend over 18 total times didn’t allow a Lady Panther not named Carley Brack to score until late in the second quarter. Brack logged her team’s first 10 points before Camryn Dunekack took the weight off Brack’s shoulders with a layup.

By then, though, Manhattan had already built a sizable lead. The margin was 15 in the final seconds before the half, but freshman Garrin Williams acrobatically tipped a ball into the basket as she fell to the hardwood before the buzzer shrieked.

The Lady Indians entered the break with a 30-13 advantage.

Senior Madison Mittie, who along with junior Gigi McAtee was named to the All-Tournament team, carded six of her 12 points in the first half, including a triple in the first frame. She said shutting down Brack was an emphasis early on.

“We thought that we could make her go left, but obviously she kept driving on us,” Mittie said. “And then we got in foul trouble, so we couldn’t foul her whenever she drove.”

The foul trouble began to mount in the third period when Mittie was whistled for her third. She took a seat on the bench moments later, but the damage had been done: even when the senior sat, her team led 42-17.

That was the luxury Manhattan enjoyed Saturday evening. With McAtee too playing with two fouls, the Lady Indians were able to find other ways to extend their lead, even with the advantage on the scoreboard.

Those ways were named Kia Wilson and Haleigh Harper. The freshmen, on top of forcing the issue on defense, kept the offense humming. Wilson posted four points in the third frame, and Harper made her statement in the fourth.

Riding her team’s 44-21 lead entering the period, Harper tallied all 11 of her points in the fourth frame, several of which came via breakaway layups in the closing minutes.

Mall was pleased with the production he got Saturday from the four freshmen on the roster.

“I thought all those freshmen came in and did good things. It was good to have a chance tonight to let Taylor [Johnson] play a little more,” Mall said. “[Harper] did a really good job, I thought, in the fourth quarter of being aggressive but staying under control. And then Garrin made big plays, just like she did the first night, made big plays for us tonight.”

As satisfied as Mall was with the freshmen, however, he was also pleased with senior Tarrah Bammes’ defensive presence over the weekend.

“I think Tarrah Bammes should have been on the All-Tournament team,” Mall said. “Her defensive work, especially the first two nights, was probably the best defensive work of anybody in the tournament. The fact that she didn’t make it means other people don’t recognize that she took the best player from TMP out of the game the first night; she took their point guard away from getting the ball the second night, and made some huge plays and got some rebounds and stuff tonight.”

Bammes’ only points were a triple in the first quarter, but her defense contributed to her team’s offense. On more than one occasion, she came up with a steal that led to an MHS layup in transition, one of which featured McAtee as the beneficiary.

“[We were] just taking those and pushing them,” McAtee said. “We needed those easy layups… That just creates more confidence.”

The Lady Indians will be fresh off a championship in Hays next Saturday when they take on Dodge City on the road, another school more than two hours removed from Manhattan. Mittie, however, said she doesn’t mind the hours on the open road.

“I think we kind of like the bus rides,” she said. “We get to bond with each other and grow closer, so it’s kind of fun.”

But for now, the Lady Indians get to rest.

And relish a perfect 3-0 start and a championship, of course.