By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Saturday night probably wasn't one of the Shawnee Heights' girls best performances of the season.
But it was definitely the most important.
Shawnee Heights junior KK Emmot accepts the Class 5A sub-state trophy after Saturday's 60-47 win over Pittsburg. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Fighting off the upset bid by Pittsburg, Shawnee Heights pulled away in the fourth quarter for a 60-47 win in Saturday's Class 5A sub-state final at Heights, with the T-Birds earning their first state tournament appearance since 2011 as veteran coach Bob Wells picked up career win 350, all at Heights.
"You never know about the nerves of these kids and I told them from the very beginning, 'No. 1, you have to earn this and there's going to be some adversity and we're going to have to fight through that and you have to be mentally tough enough to do it,' '' Wells said. "And thank goodness we were.''
Shawnee Heights' girls basketball team poses for a team picture after clinching its first Class 5A state tournament berth since 2011 Saturday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Improving to 21-4 on the season, Heights advances to a 5A state quarterfinal game on Wednesday, with the pairings to be announced after the conclusion of all Saturday's sub-state finals.
Pittsburg (16-9) jumped out to an early 6-2 lead but Shawnee Heights answered with an 11-0 run, including a pair of 3-pointers from senior Imani McGlory and a trey from junior Sami Baum.
The T-Birds never trailed the rest of the night, but Pittsburg was within two points (29-27) at the half after fighting back from a 24-11 deficit and the Dragons were still within five (46-41) at the start of the fourth quarter.
But Shawnee Heights took control down the stretch, outscoring Pittsburg 14-6 over the final eight minutes, with the final score matching the T-Birds' biggest lead of the game.
McGlory led Shawnee Heights with a team-high 21 points and four 3-pointers, putting an exclamation point on a memorable night.
Shawnee Heights senior Imani McGlory is presented with a banner commemorating her 1,000-point milestone Saturday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
McGlory entered the night needing seven points to surpass the 1,000-point scoring milestone for her career and got that out of the way on a hoop with 15 seconds remaining in the opening quarter.
McGlory said she was aware of how many points she needed to reach 1,000 and said it was good to get the milestone out of the way early in the game.
Senior Imani McGlory scored 21 points with four 3-pointers in Shawnee Heights' 60-47 sub-state win over Pittsburg Saturday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"It was good,'' she said. "Then I didn't have to worry about it the rest of the game and just play basketball.''
McGlory said she felt like the T-Birds did a good job of keeping their composure even when Pittsburg threatened their lead.
"It's just another game and you've got to work through all the adversity throughout the game and just play hard,'' McGlory said.
Senior Reianna Vega scored 15 of her 19 points in the second half Saturday as Shawnee Heights pulled away for a 60-47 win over Pittsburg. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Reianna Vega was right behind McGlory with 19 points (two 3s), giving the T-Birds a big lift with 15 second-half points, including the first seven of the third quarter.
"I was really struggling the first half, and it was kind of getting to me and I knew that some of the other girls weren't doing too well, so I flipped the switch in the locker room and all of a sudden I started making (shots),'' Vega said. "And I started making it in warmups, so I knew I could do it.''
"They've done that all year,'' Wells said of McGlory and Vega. "These girls are all so capable. That's what makes it so fun.''
Pittsburg sophomore McKenzie English led all scorers with 24 points and also grabbed 11 rebounds. Freshman Kyndall Elkamil added 11 points for the Dragons.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS GIRLS 60, PITTSBURG 47
Pittsburg 11 16 14 6 -- 47
Shawnee Heights 17 12 17 14 -- 60
Pittsburg (16-9) – Reed 3-7 1-2 7, Jorge 0-2 0-0 0, Hertrich 1-7 0-0 3, Miller 0-1 1-2 1, English 8-20 7-11 24, Mantooth 0-0 0-0 0, Gober 0-5 0-0 0, Serrano 0-0 0-0 0, Elkamil 4-9 1-4 11. Totals 18-46 5-9 46.
Shawnee Heights (21-4) – Emmot 2-8 2-2 6, McGlory 6-15 5-6 21, Carter 4-8 1-2 9, Baum 1-5 0-0 3, Vega 7-14 3-4 19, Brees 1-2 0-0 2, Hamilton 0-0 0-0 0, Schmidt 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 21-53 11-14 60.
3-point goals – Pittsburg 4 (Elkamil 2, Hertrich, English), Shawnee Heights 7 (McGlory 4, Vega 2, Baum). Total fouls – Pittsburg 17, Shawnee Heights 17. Fouled out – Reed. Technical fouls -- none.
