By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Veteran Shawnee Heights girls basketball coach Bob Wells was quick to admit that Friday wasn't one of the T-Birds' best nights.
But Heights was good enough to achieve to achieve its main, and really its only objective, taking a home 39-35 United Kansas Conference decision over Leavenworth in the T-Birds' final game before the holiday break.
Freshman KK Emmot scored a game-high 17 points in Shawnee Heights' 39-35 UKC win over Leavenworth Friday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Sophomore Reianna Vega (42) scored 11 points, seven in the fourth quarter, in Shawnee Heights' 39-35 UKC win over Leavenworth Friday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"I thought we did some nice things time and time again,'' Wells said. "We'd make a great drive, we'd make a move and have an open perimeter shot and we couldn't get the ball in the net. It would rim around and rim around and then I think it got in our heads a little bit.
"Thank goodness we had a couple of girls step up at the end and hit a few shots.''
After trailing 10-9 at the end of the first quarter, Shawnee Heights never trailed again after freshman KK Emmot scored the first bucket of the second period.
But Heights was never able to put the visiting Pioneers away, with the T-Birds leading by just a point at the half (15-14) and by only two points at the start of the fourth quarter (27-25).
Leavenworth and Heights were tied at 29 with 4:44 remaining but sophomore Reianna Vega canned a 3-pointer to break the tie and scored back-to-back baskets later in the quarter to give the T-Birds a 38-21 advantage.
Leavenworth made it a one-possession game at 38-35 late in the game but T-Bird senior Breezy Canady hit a free throw with six seconds remaining to clinch the victory.
"I kept looking at the score thinking that the way we were playing we were probably behind and we'd be up by one or up by three or something like that and that was a testament to our defense and our grit a little bit,'' Wells said. "Bottom line we're 4-1 (overall and in the UKC).''
Emmot led Shawnee Heights with 17 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, while Vega added 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds and senior Rachel Swift scored six points, including a big hoop early in the fourth quarter, and grabbed six rebounds.
Defensively, Heights forced 21 Leavenworth turnovers.
Senior Kylee West led Leavenworth with 12 points while senior Eva Clements recorded a double-double with 11 points and 12 rebounds.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 39, TOPEKA WEST 35
Leavenworth 10 4 11 10 -- 35
Shawnee Heights 9 6 12 12 -- 39
Leavenworth -- Barker 3-7 0-0 8, Garrett 1-5 0-0 2, West 4-9 4-11 12, Clements 5-11 1-2 11, Garcia 1-5 0-0 2, Walker 0-0 0-0 0, Bagasbah 0-0 0-0 0, Gelman 0-5 0-0 0. Totals 14-42 5-13 35.
Shawnee Heights (4-1, 4-1) -- Emmot 7-17 1-2 17, Schulte 0-2 0-2 0, Canady 2-8 1-4 5, Vega 4-11 2-2 11, Swift 3-6 0-0 6, Brees 0-0 0-0 0, Torrez 0-3 0-0 0, Euwer 0-0 0-0 0, Bowers 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 16-50 4-10 39.
3-point goals -- Leavenworth 2 (Barker 2, Shawnee Heights 3 (Emmot 2, Vega). Total fouls -- Leavenworth 12, Shawnee Heights 16. Fouled out – West.
