By ANDREW GILL
TopSports.News
With senior star Isiah Johnson out due to an ankle injury, Ken Darting’s Shawnee Heights boys basketball team struggled to find a rhythm in Thursday night’s United Kansas Conference home 46-41 win over Leavenworth.
But Darting was pleased with his team’s ability to create second and third-chance shot opportunities, which ultimately won T-Birds the game.
T-Bird's Jaye'son Jones lead his team in scoring with 11 points against Leavenworth. Photo by Rex Wolf / TSN
“That’s effort and attitude,” Darting said.
The athletic Pioneer defense kept the T-birds from getting penetration offensively and between that and a fullcourt press, Leavenworth made things very difficult for Darting’s squad, which gave up 17 turnovers on the game, 11 in the second half.
But despite its offensive woes, Heights led almost the entire game, but every time it looked as if the T-Birds might run away with it the Pioneers answered right back.
JaiKuan Darthard was Leavenworth’s top performer, scoring a game high 16 points, and the junior added 9 rebounds, 8 of which came from the offensive glass.
Heights earned its own share of offensive rebounds, with senior Andrew Rantz snagging 7 of the team’s 14 and Rantz also contributed 8 points.
Sophomore Jaye'son Jones came off the T-Bird bench to lead his team in scoring with 11 points while junior Nathan Pewe and senior
Harvey Davis added 10 points each
Junior Jarin Sanders chipped in 6 assists and 5 steals.
Shawnee Height's Adysen Burghart scores 18 points against Leavenworth. Rex Wolf / TSN
LEAVENWORTH GIRLS 53, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 40
Both teams got off to a slow start in Leavenworth’s 53-40 win over Shawnee Heights as it took almost two and a half minutes for the first points to be scored.
And although Heights led 11-5 at the end of the first quarter, once the T-Birds gave up the lead in the second quarter, they never got it back.
Kaylee McLain helped extend the Pioneer lead with back-to-back 3-pointers to start the second half. The junior hit 3 of her 6 treys in the third quarter.
Other than senior Adysen Burghart’s 18-point effort, Bob Wells’ group simply could not get much going offensively, with Heights hitting just 15 for 43 attempts from the field. Burghart made the Lady T-Bird’s only two 3-pointers on the team’s 12 attempts.
Shawnee Heights played excellent defensively until its aggressive play style got the T-Birds into foul trouble.
Burghart picked up three quick fourth to start the fourth quarter and fouled out with two minutes left to play.
McLain finished with a game-high 20 points as she shot 55 percent from 3-point land and added 4 rebounds.
Senior Aleshia Jones earned a double-double by contributing 17 points and 10 rebounds for Leavenworth.
LEAVENWORTH GIRLS 53, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 40
Leavenworth 5 17 18 13 -- 53
Shawnee Heights 11 9 11 9 -- 40
Leavenworth -- Jones 6 4-5 17, Posch 0 1-5 1, McLain 6 2-4 20, Gardner 1 1-2 3, Wright 1 2-2 5, Thomas 0 5-7 5. Totals: 17 11-22 53
Shawnee Heights -- Brown 1 5-10 7, Burghart 7 2-2 18, Canady 2 0-0 4, Fleischer 1 0-0 2, Hawkins 2 1-2 5, Showalter 1 0-0 2, Schulte 1 0-0 2. Totals: 15 8-14 40
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS BOYS 46, LEAVENWORTH 41
Shawnee Heights 14 12 7 13 -- 46
Leavenworth 13 6 10 12 -- 41
Shawnee Heights -- Pewe 3 4-7 10, Sanders 0 1-2 1, Rantz 4 0-0 8, Ginter 1 0-0 2, Davis 4 2-2 10, Showalter 1 0-0 2, Jones 4 3-4 11, Beier 0 2-2 2. Totals: 17 12-17 46
Leavenworth -- Darthard 7 1-4 16, Chatmon 0 1-6 1, Walltower 3 0-1 6, #24 (name not listed on roster) 3 4-6 12, Mateski 1 0-0 2, Cannon 1 1-2 4. Totals: 15 7-19 41
