By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights' girls had both good and not so good stretches in Friday's United Kansas Conference game at Topeka West.
But the T-Birds ended the 2024 portion of their schedule on a high note, riding a big first half to a 57-40 win over the Chargers.
Sophomore KK Emmot (1) led Shawnee Heights with 23 points in the T-Birds' 57-40 UKC win at Topeka West Friday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"To come in on the night of Christmas break I didn't know if we would have any focus of if they would have any focus and exactly how this game was going to roll,'' Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells said. "I'm just glad that we got rolling in the first half.
"I was a little disappointed in our second half, but we just need to work on the mental part of that and not get caught up in some of the stuff that we let affect us.''
Shawnee Heights, now 3-1 overall and in the UKC, ended the first quarter with a 7-2 run to take a 15-7 advantage and outscored West 17-6 in the second quarter to take a commanding 32-13 into the locker room at the half.
Topeka West, 0-4, 0-4, came to life in the second half, however, holding Heights without a field goal in the third quarter and outscoring the T-Birds 11-5 in the stanza to get as close as 11 before trailing 37-24 at the start of the final quarter.
West, which got a huge second half from junior Imani McGlory, got as close as nine twice in the fourth quarter before the T-Birds built their lead back to 19 before taking the 17-point win.
Shawnee Heights senior Kaydence Torrez scored 12 points in Friday's 57-40 win at Topeka West. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Junior Reianna Vega (42) scored 12 points for Shawnee Heights in Friday's 57-40 UKC win over Topeka West. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Sophomore KK Emmot led Shawnee Heights with 23 points while senior Kaydence Torrez and junior Reianna Vega added 12 points apiece as Emmot and Vega both connected on a pair of 3-pointers.
Junior Imani McGlory led Topeka West with a game-high 25 points in Friday's 57-40 loss to Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
McGlory finished with a game-high 25 points but the Chargers didn't have any other players with more than six points.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS GIRLS 57, TOPEKA WEST 40
Shawnee Heights 15 17 5 20 -- 57
Topeka West 7 6 11 16 -- 40
Shawnee Heights (3-1, 3-1) -- Emmot 7 7-10 23, Brees 1 0-0 2, Euwer 0-2 2-2 2, Torrez 4 4-12 12, Vega 4 2-2 12, Hamilton 1 1-2 3, Bowers 1 0-0 3. Totals 18 16-28 57.
Topeka West (0-4, 0-4) -- I. McGlory 9 6-6 25, VanDyke 2 0-2 4, Keeling 2 2-2 6, Hall 0 3-4 3, Gonzales 0 0-0 0, Allen 1 0-0 2, A. McGlory 0 0-0 0, Franklin 0 0-0 0, Kutina 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 11-14 40.
3-point goals -- Shawnee Heights 5 (Emmot 2, Vega 2, Bowers), Topeka West 1 (I. McGlory). Total fouls -- Shawnee Heights 16, Topeka West 24. Fouled out -- Keeling, Hall, Allen. Technical foul -- none.
