By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It wasn't real pretty, at least on the offensive end, but the No. 1-ranked Seaman girls basketball team achieved its only objective Friday night, bouncing back from its first loss of the season to get back on track with a hard-earned 30-27 United Kansas Conference victory at Shawnee Heights.
Sophomore Anna Becker led Seaman with 11 points as the top-ranked Vikings bounced back from a double-overtime loss on Tuesday to take a 30-27 win over Shawnee Heights Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Freshman Maddie Gragg (32) scored nine points and grabbed 13 rebounds in Seaman's 30-27 UKC win over Shawnee Heights Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"That's all that matters,'' Seaman coach Matt Tinsley said of the win. "Let's just say we had a very spirited practice the next day (after Tuesday's loss). I love our kids. They work so hard, they're good kids, and they want to do the right things.
"The loss hurt them and I could tell they wanted to get better from it. I'm just happy to get the win and happy for the kids because they had some adversity they had to overcome.''
Seaman had its six-game win streak snapped on Tuesday in a 74-71 double-overtime road loss at Basehor-Linwood and on Friday the Vikings ended Shawnee Heights' seven-game streak.
Seaman, which improved to 7-1 overall and 6-1 in the UKC, led 10-8 at the end of the opening quarter and led by eight points, the Vikings' biggest lead of the night, twice in the second quarter but Heights senior Emari Doby hit a 3-pointer to cut Seaman's halftime advantage to 18-13.
The Vikings pushed their lead back to seven (20-13) on an Anna Becker bucket at the 4:23 mark of the third quarter, the first points of the second half, but Heights fought back to within two points (20-18) on a Doby hoop before Seaman got baskets from Becker an Taylin Stallbaumer to push its lead to 24-18 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Shawnee Heights (7-2, 7-2) got within two points (29-27) on a Doby hoop with 1:29 left before Seaman's Kinley Wilhelm hit one of two free throws with 1:03 remaining to account for the final margin.
After Seaman missed the front end of a one-and-one situation with 27 seconds left Heights had one last chance to force overtime but missed a 3-point attempt as time ran out.
Shawnee Heights senior Emari Doby (13) scored a game-high 13 points Friday night against Seaman while junior Breezy Canady (24) added nine points. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Heights' Doby and junior Breezy Canady combined for 22 of Shawnee Heights' 27 points, with Doby scoring a game-high 13 points and grabbing nine rebounds.
"They have three good guards that can really play, that really can drive,'' Tinsley said of Heights. "I thought our guards were tremendous in stopping the drive. I'm really proud of our effort and that's where we hang our hat, is on the defensive end,''
Becker, a sophomore, led Seaman with 11 points while freshman Maddie Gragg added nine points and grabbed 13 rebounds.
"Maddie, you're not going to get two words out of her but she does her playing on the court,'' Tinsley said. "She's a gamer.''
Despite the loss, veteran Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells was proud of his team.
"We knew it was going to be a defensive battle because (the Vikings) defend their tails off and our kids work hard to defend,'' Wells said. "I thought it was going to be tough for us to score. I was hoping it was going to be hard for them to score. I'm just real proud of the girls.''
SEAMAN GIRLS 30, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 27
Seaman 10 8 6 6 -- 30
Shawnee Heights 8 5 5 9 -- 27
Seaman (7-1, 6-1) -- J. Stallbaumer 2-6 0-0 6, T. Stallbaumer 1-4 0-1 2, Becker 4-10 2-3 11, Gragg 4-10 1-3 9, Gormley 0-8 1-4 1, Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Schumann 0-1 0-0 0, Wilhelm 0-2 1-2 1. Totals 11-42 5-13 30.
Shawnee Heights (7-2, 7-2) -- Rottinghaus 1-8 1-2 3, Showalter 1-5 0-0 2, Doby 5-12 2-2 13, Canady 4-7 0-0 9, Fleischer 0-3 0-0 0, Hill 0-0 0-2 0, Schulte 0-1 0-0 0, Torrez 0-1 0-0 0, Rantz 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 11-37 3-6 27.
3-point goals -- Seaman 3 (J. Stallbaumer 2, Becker), Shawnee Heights 2 (Doby, Canady). Total fouls -- Seaman11, Shawnee Heights 16. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- none.
