By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Playing for the first time in 13 days and playing its first complete game without injured standout Zoe Canfield, Washburn Rural's girls basketball team struggled at times against Wichita Life Prep in Thursday's opening game of the Thunderbird Classic.
But the third-ranked (Class 6A) Junior Blues accomplished their only objective, advancing to Friday's semifinals with a 44-41 overtime win over Wichita Life Prep.
Senior Brooklyn DeLeye scores on a reverse layup in Washburn Rural's 44-41 overtime win over Life Prep Thursday night in the first round of the Thunderbird Classic. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Senior MaRyah Lutz hit seven of eight free throws as Washburn Rural advanced to the Thunderbird Classic semifinals with a 44-41 overtime win over Life Prep. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
"We competed and we found a way and we're still fresh off losing Zoe (knee injury) so we're still trying to find ourselves a little bit,'' Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. "We kind of squandered the lead at the start of the third quarter but we fought back and that's what I was really most proud of.
"We had a pretty good fourth quarter and then overtime I thought was pretty good. I wasn't too displeased with our defense for the most part. As far as their physicality I thought we answered that for the most part pretty good.''
Washburn Rural, now 8-2 with six straight wins, led 12-6 at the end of the opening quarter and shut out the Fire 5-0 in the second quarter for a 17-6 halftime avantage.
Life Prep came storming back, however, using a 15-3 third quarter to take a 21-20 lead into the fourth quarter.
The Fire went in front by three points early in the final period but Rural used a 12-0 run to take a 32-23 lead with 3:19 remaining.
Life Prep still trailed 36-32 with less than 40 seconds left but forced the overtime with a basket by senior Sofia Lopez that tied the game at 37 with 18 seconds left in regulation.
The Fire went up by three in overtime (40-37) and led 41-39 before Rural senior standout Brooklyn DeLeye converted an old-fashioned three-point play to give the Junior Blues a 42-41 adantage with 34.8 seconds left.
After Life Prep was whistled for a traveling violation senior Chloe Carlgren hit a pair of free throws with 19.1 seconds remaining to give Rural its final margin.
DeLeye finished with a game-high 21 points and grabbed nine rebounds while Carlgren added eight points and MaRyah Lutz and Kate Hinck seven points apiece.
Lopez led Life Prep (6-8) with 15 points while senior Awa Fane added 11 points for the Fire, who had three players foul out down the stretch.
Washburn Rural advanced to a 7 p.m. semifinal Friday to take on top-ranked (6A) Shawnee Mission South. The 9-0 Raiders received a first-round bye in the seven-school tournament.
WASHBURN RURAL GIRLS 44, WICHITA LIFE PREP 41 (OT)
Life Prep 6 0 15 16 4 -- 41
Washburn Rural 12 5 3 17 7 -- 44
Life Prep (6-8) -- Correa Torres 0-0 0-0 0, Komaszynska 0-1 0-0 0, Podrouzek 0-0 0-0 0, Lopez 5-15 5-6 15, Vergara 1-8 1-2 4, Fane 5-10 0-0 11, Wilk 0-0 1-2 1, Tomazuk 1-2 0-0 2, Martin 0-0 0-0 0, Akpotayobo 4-11 0-3 8. Totals 16-46 7-13 41.
Washburn Rural (8-2) -- Lutz 0-5 7-8 7, Hinck 2-6 3-6 7, Carlgren 2-5 2-2 8, Bunck 0-3 1-2 1, DeLeye 7-9 6-10 21, Ochs 0-0 0-0 0, Schroeder 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-28 19-28 44.
3-point goals -- Life Prep 2 (Vergara, Fane), Washburn Rural 3 (Carlgren 2, DeLeye). Total fouls -- Life Prep 26, Washburn Rural 14. Fouled out -- Fane, Tomazuk, Akpotayobo.
WICHITA SOUTH GIRLS 31, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 28 -- After Thursday's 31-28 loss to Wichita South, Shawnee Heights has now lost three straight games to teams that are currently state-ranked by the KBCA by four or fewer points.
But while Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells knows the losses are weighing on the minds of his ninth-ranked (Class 5A) T-Birds, he just had one piece of advice for his team -- relax and have fun.
"We want to get back to having fun,'' Wells said. "This is a game that's being played by teenagers and we want them to have fun when they're out there playing and not play so tight -- just go out and play and not think the whole game is resting on their shoulders.''
The T-Birds, who fell to 7-4 on the season, were locked in a 15-15 halftime deadlock and Shawnee Heights led 21-19 late in the third quarter before South sophomore Danasia Smith canned a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give the Titans a one-point advantage.
Heights senior Emari Doby put the T-Birds back in front with a basket to open the scoring in the fourth quarter and the game was tied at 27 with 1:28 left after a hoop by Doby, but junior Zion Butler scored with 1:10 left to put the Titans ahead to stay.
A Taylor Rottinghaus free throw with 37.9 seconds left cut Heights' deficit to a point but junior RaMya Kennedy scored for South to account for the final margin as the Titans improved to 9-2.
Shawnee Heights had one last try to try to force overtime but Doby missed a long 3-point try after Wells' attempts to call time out went unheeded by the officials.
Doby led Shawnee Heights with a game-high 12 points and she also grabbed eight rebounds while Rottinghaus added seven points.
R. Kennedy led Wichita South with 11 points while Z. Butler added 10 points.
Shawnee Heights will play a consolation game at 4 p.m. Thursday against Shawnee Mission North, a 48-23 first-round loser to Hutchinson.
Wichita South will play a 5:30 p.m. semifinal against Hutchinson.
WICHITA SOUTH GIRLS 31, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 28
Shawnee Heights 7 8 6 7 -- 28
Wichita South 10 5 7 9 -- 31
Shawnee Heights (7-4) -- Rottinghaus 3-8 1-2 7, Showalter 2-3 0-0 4, Doby 3-12 5-7 12, Fleischer 0-2 0-0 0, Canady 0-4 1-3 1, Hill 0-2 0-0 0, Schulte 0-1 0-0 0, Brees 0-0 0-0 0, Rantz 2-4 0-0 4, Swift 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 10-36 7-12 28.
Wichita South (9-2) -- Z. Butler 4-13 1-2 10, M. Butler 2-11 0-1 5, A. Kennedy 0-2 0-2 0, Smith 2-4 0-2 5, R. Kennedy 4-5 3-7 11, Dean 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 12-37 4-14 31.
3-point goals -- Shawnee Heights 1 (Doby), Wichita South 3 (Z. Butler, M. Butler, Smith). Total fouls -- Shawnee Heights 13, Wichita South 15. Fouled out -- none.
