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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Saturday night probably wasn't one of the Shawnee Heights' girls best performances of the season.

But it was definitely the most important.

Shawnee Heights junior KK Emmot accepts the Class 5A sub-state trophy after Saturday's 60-47 win over Pittsburg. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Fighting off the upset bid by Pittsburg, Shawnee Heights pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 60-47 win in Saturday's Class 5A sub-state final at Heights, with the T-Birds earning their first state tournament appearance since 2011 as veteran coach Bob Wells picked up career win 350, all at Heights.

"You never know about the nerves of these kids and I told them from the very beginning, 'No. 1, you have to earn this and there's going to be some adversity and we're going to have to fight through that and you have to be mentally tough enough to do it,' '' Wells said. "And thank goodness we were.''

Shawnee Heights' girls basketball team poses for a team picture after clinching its first Class 5A state tournament berth since 2011 Saturday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Improving to 21-4 on the season, Heights advances to a 5A state quarterfinal game on Wednesday, with the pairings to be announced after the conclusion of all Saturday's sub-state finals.

Pittsburg (16-9) jumped out to an early 6-2 lead but Shawnee Heights answered with an 11-0 run, including a pair of 3-pointers from senior Imani McGlory and a trey from junior Sami Baum.

The T-Birds never trailed the rest of the night, but Pittsburg was within two points (29-27) at the half after fighting back from a 24-11 deficit and the Dragons were still within five (46-41) at the start of the fourth quarter.

But Shawnee Heights took control down the stretch, outscoring Pittsburg 14-6 over the final eight minutes, with the final score matching the T-Birds' biggest lead of the game.

McGlory led Shawnee Heights with a team-high 21 points and four 3-pointers, putting an exclamation point on a memorable night.

Shawnee Heights senior Imani McGlory is presented with a banner commemorating her 1,000-point milestone Saturday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

McGlory entered the night needing seven points to surpass the 1,000-point scoring milestone for her career and got that out of the way on a hoop with 15 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.

McGlory said she was aware of how many points she needed to reach 1,000 and said it was good to get the milestone out of the way early in the game.

 Senior Imani McGlory scored 21 points with four 3-pointers in Shawnee Heights' 60-47 sub-state win over Pittsburg Saturday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

"It was good,'' she said. "Then I didn't have to worry about it the rest of the game and just play basketball.''

McGlory said she felt like the T-Birds did a good job of keeping their composure even when Pittsburg threatened their lead.

"It's just another game and you've got to work through all the adversity throughout the game and just play hard,'' McGlory said. 

Senior Reianna Vega scored 15 of her 19 points in the second half Saturday as Shawnee Heights pulled away for a 60-47 win over Pittsburg. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Senior Reianna Vega was right behind McGlory with 19 points (two 3s), giving the T-Birds a big lift with 15 second-half points, including the first seven of the third quarter.

"I was really struggling the first half, and it was kind of getting to me and I knew that some of the other girls weren't doing too well, so I flipped the switch in the locker room and all of a sudden I started making (shots),'' Vega said. "And I started making it in warmups, so I knew I could do it.''

"They've done that all year,'' Wells said of McGlory and Vega. "These girls are all so capable. That's what makes it so fun.'' 

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By TODD FERTIG

TopSports.news

The Rossville boys earned a second straight trip to the state tournament by blitzing Kansas City Christian with defense and pace Saturday, winning the sub-state final at Mission Valley, 60-49.

Rossville senior Jakoby McDonnell hoists the Class 2A sub-state trophy after Saturday's 60-49 win over Kansas City Christian. [Photo by Todd Fertig]

Rossville boys basketball poses for a team picture after earning a second straight trip to the Class 2A state tournament Saturday night. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]

A few seasons ago, Rossville couldn’t have been much further from a tournament team. Now this Bulldawg team will be the seventh seed in the Class 2A field, drawing a match with Berean Academy at 7:30 p.m. next Wednesday in Emporia.

Rossville coach Brandon McDonnell said getting back to state will quiet the doubters.

“There’s a stigma that this might have been a fluke last year,” McDonnell said. “You gotta repeat it in order for it not to be that fluke. Ok, so be it. We’re not afraid of that competition.

“I want the boys to know that 10 years ago, we weren’t even in this conversation. We were in the conversation three years ago. And people didn’t expect that. Then, the year after that, we won it. Well, don’t make it a fluke. Go get it again. And now we’re here.”

The Bulldawgs came out with a fullcourt press that the Panthers did not figure out until late in the third period. The strategy helped produce a 32-8 run that spanned nearly all of the second period and more than half the third period. The Panthers led 10-8 early in the second period, but when the onslaught ended, they trailed 40-18.

McDonnell said he spent time watching film of Kansas City Christian. But he admitted the press wasn’t a product of the scouting report.

“That wasn’t the film part of it,” McDonnell said. “It was that we were getting bored, sitting back waiting for things to develop and then we get antsy and then start to do something like foul when we don’t need to. So, I said to get that antsy-ness out, let’s go ahead and get into our press, let’s accelerate our feet, accelerate our hands, accelerate our minds. Let’s see if we can get something out of it. And lo and behold, we had three stops right off the jump and they had to call a timeout.

“Usually I don’t keep them in (the press) for that long, but it was working. And I don’t fix it if it’s not broke. So, we stayed in it, and it worked out for us in the end.”

McDonnell’s son, Jakoby McDonnell, said the pressure counteracted the Panthers’ plan to slow the pace.

“They were trying to walk the ball up the court and slow us down,” the coach’s son said. “We’re more of a fast-paced team. We feed off each other’s energy. If one of us is getting steals, getting touches, we’ll all feed off of him.”

Jakoby McDonnell spearheaded the press and earned several fastbreak opportunities off turnovers. Late in the game, he also drew a number of fouls from the desperate Panther defense. In the second half, he deposited nine free throws to hold off a Kansas City Christian comeback bid. The point guard finished with 21 points to lead the Bulldawgs.

“For this particular (game), my son’s a senior,” Coach McDonnell said.” It was marvelous seeing him play and see what he does well and see him get tired and see him still trying to navigate. As a dad, that was phenomenal.

“As a coach, seeing every single one of (the Bulldawgs) going out there and knowing what the goal was…this is my family away from my family. So, seeing them play and take home what’s rightfully theirs, it’s amazing.”

Jack Donovan added 15 points, followed by Cameron Miller’s 13 and Connor Bush’s eight for the Bulldawgs.

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By TODD FERTIG

TopSports.news

The Cair Paravel Latin boys’ exhilarating run that included 19 straight victories came one step short of their goal: to make the school’s first trip to the state basketball tournament.

The Lions fell to St. Marys 67-47 in the Class 2A sub-state final at Mission Valley Saturday. The Lions were unable to keep pace with the efficient Bears, who hit 22-42 shots from the field and 15-19 from the foul stripe.

Cair Paravel Latin's boys basketball team poses for a team picture after Saturday's second-place Class 2A sub-state finish. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]

St. Marys had scored 88 and 89 points in its previous two sub-state tournament wins. Even holding the Bears to 67 points probably wasn’t going to cut it, Cair Paravel coach Chip Kueffer said.

“We gave up too many points. That’s asking a lot for us to score 70. You know, that’s not really our game. So, we had to guard better,” Kueffer said. “We played OK. It was kind of our type of game the first 12 minutes, but second half they started hitting 3-pointers and then it’s tough to scratch and claw back. There are no 20-point plays.”

The Lions trailed by just three points after one period, 15-12. They slipped a bit off the pace, but recovered to cut the St. Marys lead to 30-25 early in the third period. But the Bears outscored Cair Paravel 22-12 in the decisive third quarter.

“They are an exceptional team,” Kueffer said of the Bears. “When you’ve got six or seven guys who can all shoot the three-ball, it makes it tough to guard. I felt like in the first half, we did a really good job of guarding the 3-point line, but then what did that open up? Well, there wasn’t enough help, so they got a lot of curls on shuffle picks and then slips and things like that.”

Kueffer said that when the Lions tried to adjust, St. Marys senior Ben DeVader found room to operate, and he scored 17 points, including four 3-pointers, in the second half. DeVader finished with 23.

“I certainly think we knew personnel and schematics well enough,” Kueffer said. “But if you would have given me two or three weeks, I’d have taken it because they are a tough team to get ready for.”

Lucas Marichal led the Lions with 17 points, nine of which came from the free throw line. Chase Hastert scored 10, and Blaine Durbin and Drew Fay each added eight.

“I don’t want to discredit what (the Lions) accomplished. This year was an exceptional year,” Kueffer said. “It’s one of those games that you kind of wish you could tip the ball again and restart. But life doesn’t work that way.

“It’s over now. We want to just make sure that we focus on all the good things that we did do between November and March. And it’s cool that we got to play in March. That’s a lot better than ending your year in February.”

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