By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Veteran Shawnee Heights girls basketball coach Bob Wells saw plenty of things Tuesday night against Leavenworth that his T-Birds still need to work on.
But Wells couldn't complain about the final result, a 50-38 United Kansas Conference victory over the Pioneers at Heights.
Shawnee Heights trailed just once, at 2-0, and the T-Birds led by 11 points (26-15) at the half and by 14 (34-20) midway through the third quarter, but Heights also had to withstand several runs by Leavenworth and overcome 23 turnovers while improving to 4-2 overall and 1-1 in the UKC.
Heights bounced back against Leavenworth after dropping a tough 67-61 home decision against undefeated Lansing last Friday.
"I think the Lansing loss had a lot more positives to it than negatives,'' Wells said. "I think (the girls) figured out that, 'Hey, we can did this.'
"Now we just need to fine tune it and dial it in a little bit.''
Shawnee Heights built an 11-4 first-quarter advantage and went up 13-4 before Leavenworth (2-4, 1-1) rallied to within two points at 17-15.
Shawnee Heights junior Emari Doby (right) scored a game-high 15 points as the T-Birds improved to 4-2 with a 50-38 UKC win over Leavenworth Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Heights quickly regained control, however, ending the half with a 9-0 run, capped by an Emari Doby 3-pointer.
Heights went in front 34-20 on a hoop by senior Abby Schulte with 3:45 left in the third quarter but Leavenworth cut its deficit to six (34-28) at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Pioneers got within four points (38-34) with 5:37 remaining, but Heights outscored Leavenworth 12-4 the rest of the way to put the game away.
Shawnee Heights senior Zoe Oczko scored 10 points, grabbed nine rebounds and blocked multiple shots in the T-Birds' 50-38 win over Leavenworth Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Junior Abby Fleischer scored 10 points on five of six shooting in Shawnee Heights' 50-38 win over Leavenworth. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Doby led Shawnee Heights with 15 points while junior Abby Fleischer added 10 points on five of six shooting from the field and 6-foot-3 senior Zoe Oczko had 10 points, nine rebounds and multiple blocked shots.
Leavenworth, which committed 27 turnovers, was led by senior Kianna James with 14 points, but no other Pioneer had more than eight points.
Shawnee Heights has two games remaining this week, hosting Blue Valley Northwest on Thursday before traveling to Turner on Friday.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS GIRLS 50, LEAVENWORTH 38
Leavenworth 4 11 13 10 -- 38
Shawnee Heights 11 15 8 16 -- 50
Leavenworth (2-4, 1-1) -- McLain 2-9 1-2 6, K. James 7-11 0-0 14, DeLeon 0-0 0-0 0, Gardner 1-8 2-4 4, Wright 0-4 2-2 2, Barker 3-6 0-0 8, J. James 0-2 0-2 0, West 2-3 0-2 4. Totals 15-43 5-12 38.
Shawnee Heights (4-2, 1-1) -- Doby 6-13 2-3 15, Schulte 1-7 2-3 4, Canady 1-8 0-0 2, Fleischer 5-6 0-0 10, Oczko 4-9 2-5 10, Showalter 2-6 0-0 4, Rantz 0-0 0-0 0, Rottinghaus 2-2 1-2 5, Hill 0-0 0-0 0 . Totals 21-51 7-13 50.
3-point goals -- Leavenworth 3 (Barker 2, McLain), Shawnee Heights 1 (Doby). Total fouls -- Leavenworth 14, Shawnee Heights 12. Fouled out -- none.
