By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights' girls basketball team suffered a 30-point United Kansas Conference loss at Seaman back on Jan. 12, one of the T-Birds' toughest nights of the season.
Shawnee Heights senior Breezy Canady (24), freshman KK Emmot (1) and their T-Bird teammates celebrate Tuesday's 57-51 UKC win over No. 2-ranked Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But the No. 7-ranked (Class 5A) T-Birds avenged that loss with their biggest win of the 2023-2024 campaign Tuesday night on their home floor, knocking off the No. 2-ranked (5A) Vikings, 57-51, to stretch their winning streak to nine straight games while handing Seaman its first UKC defeat.
"The mindset was really we had nothing to lose,'' Shawnee Heights senior point guard Breezy Canady said. "We were going in thinking they had it all to lose because they're at the top of the state (rankings) and we're not so we just wanted to play our hardest and not think about it.''
Seaman, 17-2 overall, 14-1 in the conference, led by a slight margin for the bulk of the first half, including a 17-13 first-quarter advantage and a 30-28 lead at the half, but Shawnee Heights (14-5, 12-3) opened the second half with a traditional three-point play and a 3-point hoop from freshman KK Emmot to take the lead and led 39-35 at the start of the final stanza after a 3-pointer from junior Taylor Brees.
"I think us having that flow and confidence the whole game, even though it went up and down we kept our energy and that's really what got through the whole game,'' Canady said.
Seaman scored four straight points to tie the game at 39 with 6:58 remaining but Emmot canned another 3-pointer and Canady scored off a steal to put Heights ahead to stay at 44-39.
"They're learning and they're growing and they're learning to believe in their teammates and in themselves some of the time,'' Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells said. "That's what I'm most proud of them is just sticking together and staying with it because it got tough there at the end and we knew it was going to get tough.''
Canady scored again to give the T-Birds up 49-41 with 3:16 remaining and hit a pair of free throws with 2:30 left to give Heights its biggest lead of the night (51-42).
Seaman got within three (52-49) on two Anna Becker free throws but Canady, after missing two charities, hit four straight free throws to give the T-Birds an insurmountable 56-49 lead with 30 seconds remaining.
"I just kept telling myself, 'It's going in, don't get in your head because therse are very important,' '' Canady said. "And if I got mad about those misses then all of them were going to be misses.''
Freshman KK Emmot scored a game-high 23 points in Tuesday's 57-51 Shawnee Heights win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Emmot finished with a game-high 23 points before fouling out with 2:20 left while Canady scored 19 points.
Becker led Seaman with 17 points while senior Taylin Stallbaumer added 13 first-half points with three 3s and junior Ava Esser had 10 points. The Vikings played without injured sophomore standout Maddie Gragg and lost junior Jaida Stallbaumer to an injury with 2:57 remaining.
Seaman coach Matt Tinsley said the Vikings have plenty to work on after Tuesday's disappointing loss.
"We were terrible on defense, we couldn't keep anybody in front of us,'' Tinsley said. "You can't win a game if you can't guard anybody.
"Our practices the last week or so haven't been very good and that's what happens. We had a spirited talk after the game and I challenged this team to come back and we've got to get better tomorrow. That's all I care about right now.''
Seaman will close out its regular season on Thursday at home against Kansas City-Turner while Shawnee Heights will host Piper on Friday.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS GIRLS 57, SEAMAN 51
Seaman 17 13 5 16 -- 51
Shawnee Heights 13 15 11 18 -- 57
Seaman (17-2, 14-1) -- J. Stallbaumer 3-12 0-0 6, T. Stallbaumer 5-15 0-0 13, Becker 6-10 5-5 17, Wilhelm 0-1 0-2 0, Esser 4-7 2-5 10, Miller 0-1 2-2 2, E. Stallbaumer 1-2 0-0 3, Moulden 0-0 0-0 0, Beaton 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 19-48 9-14 51.
Shawnee Heights (14-5, 12-3) -- Emmot 9-14 3-5 23, Schulte 0-2 0-0 0, Canady 5-6 8-13 19, Vega 2-7 1-2 5, Swift 0-0 0-0 0, Brees 2-2 0-0 5, Torrez 2-6 0-2 4, Euwer 0-3 0-0 0, Bowers 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 20-41 13-24 57.
3-point goals -- Seaman 4 (T. Stallbaumer 3, E. Stallbaumer), Shawnee Heights 4 (Emmot 2, Brees, Canady). Total fouls -- Seaman 19, Shawnee Heights 15. Fouled out -- Emmot. Technical foul -- none.
