By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
After having five of its previous six games decided by four or fewer points, including a tough four-point loss at Basehor-Linwood Tuesday night, ninth-ranked (Class 5A) Shawnee Heights enjoyed a rare blowout Friday night, rolling to a 62-43 home United Kansas Conference win over Leavenworth.
Senior Emari Doby scored a game-high 18 points as Shawnee Heights rolled to a 62-43 UKC win over Leavenworth Friday night at Heights. [File photo/TSN]
"I think we set the tone in practice this week after coming home from the Basehor game and understanding that it's one game, it's not life or death,'' Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells said. "Lets just play this season out and play the best that we can play.
"We changed some things up in practice and played with a lot more freedom tonight.''
All five of Shawnee Heights' five losses have come by four or less points and Wells said it was important for the T-Birds to get a statement win Friday.
"I think that was eating on them that we were losing by three and that we were losing by four and all those games it was like a layup here, some free throws there, and that was leading to missing free throws and that was leading to missing some of those layups,'' Wells said. "Hopefully they're understanding that that's in the past and we can't change it now, so let's do our best to not let it happen in the future.''
Shawnee Heights, which improved to 10-5 overall and 8-3 in the UKC, led 18-12 at the end of the first quarter and used a 7-0 run at the end of the half to open up a commanding 37-18 advantage as senior Emari Doby scored 12 points in the first quarter and 14 in the opening half to power the T-Birds.
The T-Birds allowed the Pioneers (2-12, 2-8) to get no closer than 16 the resf ot the way while Shawnee Heights led by 21 points (51-28) at the end of the third quarter and led by as many as 25 points in the fourth.
Doby led Shawnee Heights with a game-high 18 points while senior Riley Showalter added 14 points with four 3-pointers.
Defenively, the T-Birds forced 23 Pioneer turnovers.
Senior Monece Thomas led Leavenworth with 14 points, including four 3-pointers, while junior Kylee West added nine points.
Shawnee Heights will be back at home on Tuesday to host Topeka West in a UKC game.
The T-Birds took a 42-33 win over the Chargers in the first meeting between the two city rivals.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS GIRLS 62, LEAVENWORTH 43
Leavenworth 12 6 10 15 -- 43
Shawnee Heights 18 19 14 11 -- 62
Leavenworth (2-12, 2-8) -- Garrett 2-8 1-2 6, McKinley 1-2 0-0 3, Reneau 4-4 0-2 8, West 3-6 2-4 9, Thomas 5-9 0-0 14, Gilman 1-1 1-2 3, Barker 0-1 0-0 0, Garcia 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-31 4-10 43.
Shawnee Heights (10-5, 8-3) -- Rottinghaus 3-4 0-0 6, Showalter 5-8 0-0 14, Doby 7-17 3-3 18, Canady 2-4 0-0 4, Fleischer 2-2 2-2 6, Hill 0-4 0-0 0, Schulte 2-3 0-0 6, Torrez 2-2 0-0 4, Brees 0-0 0-2 0, Rantz 1-1 0-0 2, Gonzales 0-0 0-0 0, Swift 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 25-47 5-7 62.
3-point goals -- Leavenworth 7 (Thomas 4, Garrett, McKinley, West), Shawnee Heights 7 (Showalter, Schulte 2, Doby). Total fouls -- Leavenworth 13, Shawnee Heights 14. Fouled out -- none.
