By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Shawnee Heights girls took the next step in the United Kansas Conference race Tuesday night by beating up on visiting Leavenworth, 53-18.
Junior Reianna Vega scored 13 first-half points for Shawnee Heights in Tuesday's 53-18 UKC romp past Leavenworth. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The T-Birds improved to 5-3 in a league that features three of the top seven Class 5A teams in the state according to the most recent Kansas Basketball Coaches Association poll in Seaman, Piper and De Soto.
Shawnee Heights left no doubt against the Pioneers, building a 14-0 lead before the visitors got on the board with 2:16 left in the first period. The second period followed the same script, with Leavenworth getting its second bucket with 2:30 left before halftime. At the break, the T-Birds led, 31-7.
“We wanted to come out of the gate and get a good start,” said Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells. “We’ve had some times where we struggled a little bit at the start, or that we’ve had a dead spot in the third quarter. We wanted to make sure we didn’t have those dead spots. And I thought the girls really responded.”
Leading the first half charge was junior Reianna Vega, who scored 13 points before the intermission. The 6-foot forward demonstrated the ability to face the basket, knock down perimeter shots, handle the ball and battle in the paint.
“I think I am growing as a player, watching myself improve each game,” Vega said. “I set goals for myself each game, and when I achieve them, I feel (I’m improving).”
“I think she can play an even bigger role,” Wells said of Vega. “We are looking to her to score and now she’s stepping forward in games and starting to put up some numbers like we think she’s capable of doing.
“For somebody that’s basically 6-feet tall who can handle the ball, who can shoot from the perimeter or go inside and battle with the bigs, that really helps us. With that size, she’s able to see over the defense and that makes a big difference looking at what’s going on with the offense.”
Sophomore KK Emmot scored a game-high 21 points in Tuesday's 53-18 home UKC win over Leavenworth. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Pacing Shawnee Heights for the game was sophomore KK Emmot with 21. The T-Birds were an efficient 21-42 from the field and 6-8 from the free throw line.
Wells said the United Kansas Conference presents a lot of tough challenges. He believes Tuesday was another step toward being able to play with the best.
“We’ve got a lot more things that we’ve got to work on, but I think we’ve made some strides in the last week,” Wells said. “And looking at the schedule that we’ve had so far, playing Piper twice and playing Hayden and playing De Soto, we’ve played everybody but (5A top-ranked) Seaman. I think we’ve learned to stand up and not be afraid to play against the hard teams.”
Vega said the T-Birds, who played just two seniors on Tuesday, are growing through the battles.
“I see that we have a lot of potential,” Vega said. “We’re quite a young team and we’ve had our rough days. But there’s a lot of days ahead of us and we can go beat teams that we haven’t beaten before. I think we’re proving to a lot of people that we are better than what they think we are.”
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS GIRLS 53, LEAVENWORTH 18
Leavenworth 2 5 6 5 -- 18
Shawnee Heights 16 15 15 7 -- 53
Leavenworth (3-8, 2-6) – Garrett 0-3 0-0 0, N. Walker 1-6 0-0 2, A. Walker 0-4 0-0 0, Brown 0-4 1-2 1, Bagosbah 0-2 0-0 0, Sherman 4-5 1-2 11, Spencer 1-1 0-0 2, Fanning 0-3 0-0 0, Huewitt 0-3 0-0 0, Allen 1-4 0-0 2, Graham 0-1 0-0 0, Little 0-0 0-2 0, McIntyre 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 7-37 2-6 18.
Shawnee Heights (5-4 5-3) – Emmot 7-11 4-4 21, Euwer 1-2 1-2 3, Bowers 2-5 0-1 5, Torrez 2-4 1-1 5, Vega 6-14 0-0 13, Hamilton 1-1 0-0 2, Hanshaw 2-5 0-0 4, Brees 0-0 0-0 0, Karlyle 0-0 0-0 0, Scherer 0-0 0-0 0, Moeder 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-42 6-8 53.
3-point goals – Leavenworth 2 (Sherman 2), Shawnee Heights 5 (Emmot 3, Bowers 1, Vega 1). Total fouls – Leavenworth 11, Shawnee Heights 6. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.
