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By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

Shawnee Heights boys basketball was in danger of letting a 25-point lead get away Tuesday night, but the T-Birds were able to hold off No. 7-ranked Piper in the final seconds for a 72-70 home United Kansas Conference victory.

 

JaiMarion Cook led Shawnee Heights with 25 points in Tuesday's 72-70 UKC win over Piper. [File photo/TSN]

The two programs have had their battles with one another over the last couple of years, especially in the state tournament, and Heights was able to snap a five-game losing streak to Piper.

“The first half was great and we were beating a great team by over 20 points,'' Shawnee Heights coach Ken Darting said. "We played great, but these guys get tired, missing free throws, turning the ball over, the shot comes up short. We can’t work any harder, I promise you, we just got to get more guys playing.''

Darting said the T-Birds currently have a small rotation and when they play a game like Tuesday's, players get gassed. Ja'Veon Alston started cramping and while freshman Quincy Dixon left the game after falling hard on his back drawing a foul early in the game.

“First half I thought we played great, we played as a team,'' Heights senior JaiMarion Cook said. "The whole season we’ve had a problem with closing games. Every game we’ve lost has come by single digits. We just got to learn how to stay poised as a team and I trusted in my teammates tonight and that’s why we got the win.''

Senior Aiden Scott scored the first seven points for SHHS after hitting a triple, putting them up 7-2. Piper would draw within one at 11-10 but that’s the closest they got for the remainder of the half.

Cook hit a 3-pointer with four seconds left in the first quarter off an assist from junior Cam Ross to put the T-Birds up 21-13.

Cook then took off, scoring 11 of the 13 points in the second quarter, while hitting two 3s, putting Heights up 27-17. About a minute later, off an offensive rebound, Alston put one off the window, forcing the Pirates into a timeout with 3:21 left in the half after Heights claimed its biggest lead, 29-17.

Cook went on to score five points down the stretch of the quarter, hitting three 3s in the right corner pocket, helping SHHS to an eight point lead at halftime, 34-26.

In the second half, Cook picked up where he left off, hitting another shot from distance to put the T-Birds in front 39-28 and Heights kept increasing its lead. Alston scored in transition off a turnover that caused Piper to call a timeout with 5:19 left in the third quarter.

The T-Birds got their lead up to 25, 57-32, after another Cook 3 and headed into the fourth quarter up 58-42.

But then the Pirates pressed, trapped and doubled teamed anytime they could to cut the deficit and they accomplished that goal, getting it down to a 60-52 game until Ross hit two free throws to put it back up to 10.

“For me it was how I can keep this team together?” Cook said. “How can I keep us all calm because we’ve been in these situations so many times and this game was the first time we got one of these done. I was trying to get my teammates all on the same page. During free throws, I was talking to each one of them on how we have to communicate.”

Piper brought it down to just two with 1:39 left in the game after converting a three-point play, 66-64, but then Ross and Alston put up four straight for the T-Birds as they led 70-66. But then Piper would score again, making it a two-point game.

It was getting loud and the tension was growing knowing the stakes of this game and recent history. Cooper Crawford for Piper drove in for a two-hand flush as SHHS led 71-70. Ross was then fouled off the inbounds play, made one of two free throws with about 10 seconds left and Piper couldn’t get a shot off as time expired.

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By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

Shawnee Heights' girls basketball team avenged its only United Kansas Conference loss of the season Tuesday night, postin a 63-56 home victory over Piper.

 

“Majority of the time, we kept the ball moving and any time they would try to come double, we would move the ball out of their double teams and a lot of times we got layups because of it,'' Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells said. "I just liked their overall composure.

“We made substitutions to keep the girls fresh and avoid turnovers and came back and held their composure,which is a testament to them.” 

“I liked how everyone just stayed calm and we knew that we worked on it and we knew that we had to do what we did in practice,” said junior KK Emmot, who led the T-Birds with 15 points.

 

Emmot started out strong in the first quarter, nabbing the game's first bucket and would push SHHS out to an early 6-2 lead.

 

Piper’s Giuliana Benedetto hit a triple to make it 6-5 but Emmot’s 3-pointer later in the quarter from the top of the key made it 11-5 and the T-Birds led by six after one quarter.

 

Both teams were playing 2-3 zone on defense, which caused some fits for both teams creating turnovers and rushed possessions. The T-Birds were able to get out and run a little bit when getting a steal and lead to some points on the other end.

 

Piper’s Faith McCallop trimmed Shawnee Heights' lead to two at 16-14 after a mid-range jumper, with the Pirates going on a mini 6-2 run.

 

One thing that helped Shawnee Heights stay ahead in the first half was offensive rebounds and creating second chances. Senior Reianna Vega was one example, following the shot of senior Aubrey Hamilton in the paint and banking it off the glass for two.

 

“That was something we had talked about, that I thought that rebounding was going to be a big part of this game,” Wells said. “I think our girls took that to heart and we did a good job rebounding for the majority of the time.”

 

After a steal from Emmot, the T-Birds were able to run in transition as freshman Bijou Schmidt finished for a bucket, pushing the lead to seven, 23-16.

 

Emmot nailed another trey to give Heights a 26-18 advantage with three minutes left before halftime. In the winding seconds of the quarter, both teams traded buckets and SHHS led 29-25.

 

The third quarter was Vega’s quarter, scoring six straight, but and despite a brief cold spell, the T-Birds took a 39-32 lead.

 

Shawnee Heights extended its lead with a Imani McGlory 3-pointer off an inbounds play on the left wing and then SHHS forced a turnover, leading to another bucket from the senior, with the T-Birds reaching a 13 point lead at 46-33 and going into the fourth up 46-35.

 

In the fourth, Piper went on a 8-0 run, forcing Wells to call a timeout with 6:18 left.

 

Emmot picked up her fourth foul shortly after the timeout and had to sit for a couple of minutes to avoid the fifth foul.

But Heights was able to stave off the Pirates, asMcGlory hit a clutch 3 with 4:45 to stop the Piper run, 53-45.

 

After that, junior Permella Carter put the nail in the coffin with a baseline floater and then it became the foul game for Piper as the T-Birds picked up their seventh win of the season.

 

“Everyone was hype because practically beating them means we win the league pretty much and that’s our goal and we knew we had to beat them to get there,” Emmot said.

 

“Everyone of them had opportunities and took advantage of it whether it was a perimeter shot or taking it to the basket and it was a great team effort in practice and in the game to get this win,” Wells said. 

 

Emmot led the T-Birds with 15, while McGlory and Carter both had 13 points and Vega added 12.

 

Piper's Faith McCallop led all scorers with 28 points for Piper and Brylee Gerber added 11.

 

SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 63, PIPER 56

Piper                        8 17 10 21 – 56

Shawnee Heights 14 15 17 17 – 63

Piper (6-3, 5-1) – Benedetto 3 0-0 6, McPerson 1 0-0 2, F. McCallop 9 8-12 28, H. McCallop 1 0-2 2, Hollinshed 3 1-4 7, Gerber 4 2-2 11.

Shawnee Heights (7-3, 6-1) – Emmot 6 1-2 15, Brees 1 0-0 2, McGlory 5 1-2 13, Schmidt 1 0-0 2, Carter 3 7-10 13, Baum 2 2-4 6, Vega 6 0-0 12.

3-point goals – Piper 3 (F McCallop 2, Gerber 1), Shawnee Heights 4 (Emmot 2, McGlory 2). Total fouls – Piper 17, Shawnee Heights 17. Fouled out – none. Technical foul -- none.

Details

Created: 13 January 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

TUESDAY'S GAMES

Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton, Topeka High

Hailey Schmidtlein, Hayden

TOPEKA HIGH (3-5, 0-1 Centennial) at HAYDEN (8-2, 2-0 Centennial)

Hayden is coming off a 38-35 Centennial League win at Washburn Rural last Friday while Topeka High had its three-game winning streak snapped by league foe Manhattan, 67-55. Sophomore Hailey Schmidtlein led Hayden with 17 points, including three 3-pointers, against Rural while senior Lauren Borjon added 8 points with a pair of 3s. Junior Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton led Topeka High with 21 points against Manhattan while sophomore Hailey Caryl added 17 points with three 3-pointers.  

SEAMAN (5-2, 5-1 Centennial) at TOPEKA WEST (1-7, 0-6 Centennial)

Seaman is coming off a 54-12 United Kansas Conference win over Lansing last Friday while Topeka West dropped a 69-36 conference decision at Basehor-Linwood. Junior Brynn Spencer led Seaman with 15 points against Lansing while Baylee Ayres and Lydia Dreher added 10 points. Seaman took a 45-26 win over Topeka West on Dec. 12. The Chargers will be looking to snap a seven-game losing streak.

Koralee Jones, Highland Park 

KANSAS CITY-SUMNER (2-6, 2-4 Meadowlark) at HIGHLAND PARK (2-5, 1-2 Meadowlark)

Highland Park dropped a 66-42 Meadowlark Conference decision to Atchison last Friday while KC-Sumner is coming off a 76-7 loss to KC-Wyandotte. Koralee Jones and Zayah Kincaid paced Highland Park with 14 points apiece against Atchison, with Kincaid draining three 3-pointers.

PIPER (6-2, 5-0 UKC) at SHAWNEE HEIGHTS (6-3, 5-1 UKC)

Shawnee Heights rolled to a 53-22 United Kansas Conference win over Leavenworth last Friday while league-leading Piper is coming off a 69-34 non-league loss to Blue Valley Northwest. T-Bird senior Imani McGlory scored 18 points with four 3-pointers against Leavenworth while juniors Pearmella Carter and KK Emmot scored 12 and 10 points, respectively. Piper handed Shawnee Heights its lone UKC loss on Dec. 9, 50-45.

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