By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Shawnee Heights girls broke in an inexperienced basketball team Friday night and battled visiting De Soto to the end, falling 60-52.
The T-Birds stalled midway through the second period and fell behind by as much as 20 in the third quarter before rallying down the stretch.
Sophomore Reianna Vega led Shawnee Heights with 12 points in Friday's 60-52 UKC loss to De Soto. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells was not surprised by the slow start.
“A lot of it was the girls learning to play together at the varsity level,” Well said. “And having to do it against De Soto, which is a heck of a team. They’re well coached. They have got a lot of experience. I think that showed early on.
“But then our girls started having some success. We started feeling a little better about ourselves, and the basket got a little bit bigger.”
Shawnee Heights got up off the mat to put together a 16-3 run. With 3:42 left in the game, the T-Birds clawed back to within four points, 53-49.
The Wildcats regrouped to hold off the late rally, but the home team left with plenty to feel good about.
“Some of it was just believing in themselves. And without a doubt, during timeouts we were like, ‘We’re not looking at the scoreboard. I could care less what the point totals are. Let’s just compete every possession, period. If you’re in the game, go compete that possession. If we can get a score, stop, score, we can work our way back into this.’ And we got back into it that way.”
The T-Birds’ trio in the paint of Reianna Vega, Rachel Swift and Kaydence Torrez led the turnaround. Those three combined for 21 points in the second half, crashing the boards, hitting tough shots and drawing fouls on the Wildcats.
Shawnee Heights’ rally coincided with a fourth foul called on De Soto’s leading scorer, Makenzie Farmer. Farmer had 16 points before she was banished to the bench for several minutes. She scored just two points the rest of the way and the Wildcats struggled to take up the slack.
Shawnee Heights sophomore Reianna Vega (42) and T-Bird senior Rachel Swift (right) battle for a loose ball in Friday's 60-52 loss to De Soto. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Freshman KK Emmot scored nine points in her debut for Shawnee Heights Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Vega led the T-Birds with 12 points. Swift added 10 and Torrez finished with nine. Freshman KK Emmot also tallied nine in her first varsity action.
“I’m so proud of them hanging together. Because it would have been easy to get blown out by 30,” Wells said. “I think the big thing is, right now we’re still figuring out who we are. We’ve got two starters who didn’t even suit up for varsity last year. Now it’s about understanding what playing at this level is all about, and the intensity of it.”
De Soto was led by Farmer’s 18. Addison Tower and Amanda Tower each scored 11. The Wildcats hit 22 of 47 shots from the field, which pointed to some defensive deficiencies by the T-Birds.
“We gave up 60 points, so we’ve got to work some things out defensively,” Wells said. “I don’t care who we’re playing, you’re not going to give up 60 points and come out on the right side very often.”
DE SOTO GIRLS 60, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 52
De Soto 16 16 17 11 -- 60
Shawnee Heights 6 13 17 16 -- 52
De Soto (1-0) – Ad. Tower 4-15 1-3 11 , Farmer 6-13 4-5 18, Am. Tower 4-7 0-0 11, Conley 4-5 1-2 9, O’Brien 2-4 2-5 6, Kmiecik 2-2 0-0 5, Cinotto 0-1 0-0 0, Lawson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 22-47 8-15 60.
Shawnee Heights (0-1) – Emmott 4-12 0-0 9, Schulte 2-5 0-0 6, Canady 1-14 1-6 3, Vega 4-8 4-6 12, Swift 4-5 2-5 10, Torrez 4-6 1-1 9, Brees 0-4 0-0 0, Euwer 0-2 1-2 1, Bowers 1-4 0-0 2. Totals: 20-60 9-20 52.
3-point goals – De Soto 8 (Am. Tower 3, Ad. Tower 2, Farmer 2, Kmiecik 1), Shawnee Heights 3 (Schulte 2, Emmott 1). Total fouls – De Soto 20, Shawnee Heights 19. Fouled out – Emmott, O’Brien. Technical fouls – None.
