By KYLE MANTHE
Special to TopSports.news
For a team without any seniors, Senior Night might lose its importance.
But for the Highland Park girls (14-3 overall, 9-0 league), they spent Friday night celebrating something else -- the Meadowlark Conference title.
Sophomore Amelia Ramsey scored a game-high 22 points as Highland Park wrapped up the Meadowlark Conference title with a 68-38 win over KC-Sumner Friday night. [Photo by Tr
Highland Park coach Rob Brown talks to his Scots during Friday's 68-38 Meadowlark Conference win over KC-Sumner. [Photo by Trevor Falcon/Special to TSN]
The Lady Scots rolled past second-place Kansas City-Sumner Academy 68-38 to take the crown in their inaugural season in the conference.
“It was one of our goals coming into the year to win the league championship, so they did that and they are in the locker room partying and celebrating a little bit, but our main goal is to get to sub-state playing the right way when we get there,” said Highland Park coach Rob Brown.
Highland Park was led by sophomore Amelia Ramsey’s 22 points, but the young team got contributions up and down the lineup en route to an eighth straight victory.
“In that first five everybody was getting each other looks and we did a good job of doing that,” Brown said.
“It’s a good feeling (having a young team). I’m kind of bragging when I say that I have no seniors. I feel like people are surprised,” Brown said. “The future looks bright and we are going to get this thing rolling the right way.”
The Scots will hit the road in the final week of the regular season, taking on Harmon on Tuesday, Feb. 21.
It was an up-and-down fast-paced first quarter for both teams. The Sabres took an 11-9 lead but Highland Park scored the next seven points to create some separation and lead 16-14 after one.
MyLeah Brown hit a layup to begin the second quarter and tie the game for Sumner Academy but after that point it was all Scots for most of the quarter. Highland Park scored the next 13 points and four players got in on the action as the Scots' lead grew to double digits and a commanding 35-21 advantage at the half.
“It’s been a little bit of a weird week with the snow day, so the slow start didn’t surprise me,” Brown said. “We just needed to call a timeout and get to the second quarter and tell them, ‘Alright y’all, let’s play Highland Park basketball now,’ and get the ball moving around and start with our defense.”
After the break, Highland Park got some contributions from the bench, and the defensive effort from the second quarter carried over. Two back-to-back baskets from sophomore De’Asia Sanders pushed the lead over 20 points for the first time.
The Lady Scots continued to score and defend in the final quarter and ended the game with its largest lead of the game, 30 points, in the 68-38 conference-clinching victory.
In addition to her 22 points, Ramsey controlled the boards, allowing Highland Park to take more than 20 more shot attempts than the Sabres in the game. Sophomore Tahtionna Broils and junior Se’Onna Gowan-Britt each put in 10 points while Sanders finished with nine and junior Angelique Gowan-Britt added eight.
Brown led Sumner with 16 points, while sophomore Micaela Patrick added seven.
HIGHLAND PARK GIRLS 68, KC SUMNER 38
KC-Sumner 14 7 9 8 -- 38
Highland Park 16 19 16 17 -- 68
KC Sumner (13-6, 7-3) – McCleary 3-6 0-0 8, Lopez 1-4 0-0 2, Patrick 3-11 1-4 7, Hulse 1-5 0-2 2, Rivera 1-6 0-0 2, Brown 7-17 2-4 16, Cook 0-1 1-2 1, Ybarra 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 16-50 4-12 38.
Highland Park (14-3, 9-0) – Parker-Brown 1-3 0-0 3, A. Gowan-Britt 3-6 2-2 8, Sanders 4-17 1-1 9, Broils 3-14 1-4 8, Jones 3-3 0-0 6, S. Gowan-Britt 3-17 2-3 10, Chandler 0-0 0-0 0, Ramsey 8-14 5-5 22, Atkins 0-0 0-0 0, Heironimus 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 26-74 11-15 68.
3-point goals – Sumner 2 (McCleary 2), Highland Park 5 (S. Gowan-Britt 2, Ramsey 1, Parker-Brown 1, Broils 1). Total fouls – Sumner 12, Highland Park 9. Fouled out – Cook. Technical fouls – None.
