By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights' girls basketball team avenged its only United Kansas Conference loss of the season Tuesday night, postin a 63-56 home victory over Piper.
“Majority of the time, we kept the ball moving and any time they would try to come double, we would move the ball out of their double teams and a lot of times we got layups because of it,'' Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells said. "I just liked their overall composure.
“We made substitutions to keep the girls fresh and avoid turnovers and came back and held their composure,which is a testament to them.”
“I liked how everyone just stayed calm and we knew that we worked on it and we knew that we had to do what we did in practice,” said junior KK Emmot, who led the T-Birds with 15 points.
Emmot started out strong in the first quarter, nabbing the game's first bucket and would push SHHS out to an early 6-2 lead.
Piper’s Giuliana Benedetto hit a triple to make it 6-5 but Emmot’s 3-pointer later in the quarter from the top of the key made it 11-5 and the T-Birds led by six after one quarter.
Both teams were playing 2-3 zone on defense, which caused some fits for both teams creating turnovers and rushed possessions. The T-Birds were able to get out and run a little bit when getting a steal and lead to some points on the other end.
Piper’s Faith McCallop trimmed Shawnee Heights' lead to two at 16-14 after a mid-range jumper, with the Pirates going on a mini 6-2 run.
One thing that helped Shawnee Heights stay ahead in the first half was offensive rebounds and creating second chances. Senior Reianna Vega was one example, following the shot of senior Aubrey Hamilton in the paint and banking it off the glass for two.
“That was something we had talked about, that I thought that rebounding was going to be a big part of this game,” Wells said. “I think our girls took that to heart and we did a good job rebounding for the majority of the time.”
After a steal from Emmot, the T-Birds were able to run in transition as freshman Bijou Schmidt finished for a bucket, pushing the lead to seven, 23-16.
Emmot nailed another trey to give Heights a 26-18 advantage with three minutes left before halftime. In the winding seconds of the quarter, both teams traded buckets and SHHS led 29-25.
The third quarter was Vega’s quarter, scoring six straight, but and despite a brief cold spell, the T-Birds took a 39-32 lead.
Shawnee Heights extended its lead with a Imani McGlory 3-pointer off an inbounds play on the left wing and then SHHS forced a turnover, leading to another bucket from the senior, with the T-Birds reaching a 13 point lead at 46-33 and going into the fourth up 46-35.
In the fourth, Piper went on a 8-0 run, forcing Wells to call a timeout with 6:18 left.
Emmot picked up her fourth foul shortly after the timeout and had to sit for a couple of minutes to avoid the fifth foul.
But Heights was able to stave off the Pirates, asMcGlory hit a clutch 3 with 4:45 to stop the Piper run, 53-45.
After that, junior Permella Carter put the nail in the coffin with a baseline floater and then it became the foul game for Piper as the T-Birds picked up their seventh win of the season.
“Everyone was hype because practically beating them means we win the league pretty much and that’s our goal and we knew we had to beat them to get there,” Emmot said.
“Everyone of them had opportunities and took advantage of it whether it was a perimeter shot or taking it to the basket and it was a great team effort in practice and in the game to get this win,” Wells said.
Emmot led the T-Birds with 15, while McGlory and Carter both had 13 points and Vega added 12.
Piper's Faith McCallop led all scorers with 28 points for Piper and Brylee Gerber added 11.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 63, PIPER 56
Piper 8 17 10 21 – 56
Shawnee Heights 14 15 17 17 – 63
Piper (6-3, 5-1) – Benedetto 3 0-0 6, McPerson 1 0-0 2, F. McCallop 9 8-12 28, H. McCallop 1 0-2 2, Hollinshed 3 1-4 7, Gerber 4 2-2 11.
Shawnee Heights (7-3, 6-1) – Emmot 6 1-2 15, Brees 1 0-0 2, McGlory 5 1-2 13, Schmidt 1 0-0 2, Carter 3 7-10 13, Baum 2 2-4 6, Vega 6 0-0 12.
3-point goals – Piper 3 (F McCallop 2, Gerber 1), Shawnee Heights 4 (Emmot 2, McGlory 2). Total fouls – Piper 17, Shawnee Heights 17. Fouled out – none. Technical foul -- none.
