Making their second state tournament appearance in the last three years, the Jeff West girls looked very comfortable and confident inside White Auditorium in Emporia on Thursday as they jumped to a 17-4 lead and never trailed in a 51-37 quarterfinal victory against Larned.  After making eight of their first 11 shots from the floor, the Lady Tigers were up 29-20 at halftime and pushed the advantage to as many as 21 points in the fourth quarter before improving to 19-4 on the season.  

Aaliyah Negonsott scored seven points in a row to begin the second half and had 9 of her 14 in that third quarter while Alyssa Garza had all 12 points in the first half and Jeff West dominated points in the paint.  Garza finished with 10 rebounds and Mariah Murdie also grabbed 10 boards to go along with her 8 points.  Faith Becker had five assists to go along with six points while Tayler Metzger added six points including an early trey.  

With two more games remaining the next two days, Coach John Malloy was able to get everyone in the game and keep his players fresh, although they did commit 22 turnovers in the contest.  Larned only shot 25 percent for the game and was 3 of 16 behind the arc as they ended their first state season since 1998 with a 13-10 record.  The #3 seeded Tigers will face #7 seed Andale (13-10) who knocked off the defending 4AD2 girls champs from Clay Center in overtime (47-36) earlier Thursday.  

The Jeff West semifinal Friday at 3:00 PM will be broadcast live on KNZA 103.9 FM.