By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
“Lansing is a darn good team,” Shawnee Heights girls basketball coach Bob Wells said after the undefeated Lions stepped up to hold Shawnee Heights late in the contest and emerge victorious, 67-61, Friday night at Heights..
The United Kansas Conference foes collided in a rollercoaster game, with several different lead changes throughout the four quarters.
Ultimately, Lansing hit clutch free throws and forced turnovers in crunch time.
“We had a lot of girls step up and contribute tonight,'' Wells said. "Unfortunately tonight we just had some untimely possessions that were just empty.''
Emari Doby led Shawnee Heights with a career-high 25 points in Friday's home UKC loss to Lansing. [File photo/TSN]
Lansing controlled the game early. In the first quarter, shooting the ball extremely well at a fast pace. Skylar Weaver, who had seven points in the quarter, hit a contested corner 3-pointer that built momentum for the Lions.
Emari Doby led the T-Birds in the first quarter with eight points. Doby had two 3-point shots, but that couldn’t put the T-Birds in the lead before the first quarter ended.
Opening the second quarter, Lansing led the way with solid shooting from the 3-point line. Caitlin Bishop hit three 3-pointers and McKenzie Moburg had one of her own.
Shawnee Heights came roaring back after being down by a nine-point deficit during the middle of the second quarter. The T-Birds got the spark they needed from Riley Showalter off the bench. Showalter had eight straight points that helped Heights cut its deficit to one point (34-33) going into halftime.
“We know they (Shawnee Heights' bench) are capable of stepping up. We have a couple of girls that came off of the bench tonight that were starters earlier in the season. Just because of matchup situations, we didn’t start them tonight. They came off the bench tonight with confidence and handled their business like they needed to,” said Wells.
A confident Heights team and a dominant Lansing team went toe to toe with slick shots and great defense in the third quarter. The teams were only separated by two points in the third quarter.
Shawnee Heights held the lead for six minutes in the fourth quarter, but Lansing would pull away late with terrific shooting from Kamryn Farris and automatic free-throw shooting from Skylar Weaver.
Shawnee Heights standout Doby led the Lady T-Birds with 25 points on the night.
“She (Doby) has been big for the team. She’s worked through a lot of things. Not only with her ACL (injury suffered October of 2020), but learning to play with the flow of the team. She’s doing a good job of scoring herself and making her teammates better,” said Wells.
Wells is satisfied with his team’s effort but believes the T-Birds have some work to do heading into Tuesday’s home matchup against Leavenworth.
“We still need to value the possessions more. Credit to Lansing, they got some hands on some of our passes, but we had some passes I’d rather us not throw. We also need to carry our offensive aggressiveness with us and I think that will be important for us heading into our next game,” said Wells.
LANSING GIRLS 67, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 61
Lansing 20 14 13 20 – 67
Shawnee Heights 13 20 15 13 – 61
Lansing (6-0, 1-0) – Farris 7 5-7 19, Weaver 4 8-10 15, Bishop 4 0-0 11, Moburg 3 2-2 10, Manthe 3 3-4 9, Jaccard 0 1-2 1.
Shawnee Heights (3-2, 0-1) – Doby 9 3-5 25, Showalter 5 2-2 14, Schulte 3 0-0 6, Oczko 2 1-2 5, Swift 2 1-1 5, Canady 2 0-3 4, Rantz 1 0-0 2.
3-point goals – Lansing 6, Shawnee Heights 6. Fouls – Lansing 16, Shawnee Heights 21. Fouled Out – Oczko.
