By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Class 5A No. 3 girls seed Shawnee Heights faced No. 6 seed Basehor-Linwood for the third time this season Wednesday at Kansas City Kansas Community College, but this time the stakes were much higher, with the United Kansas Conference rivals squaring off in the state tournament.
Junior KK Emmot led Shawnee Heights with 18 points in Wednesday's 61-47 Class 5A quarterfinal win over Basehor-Linwood. [File photo/TSN]
Shawnee Heights, making its first state appearance since 2011, faced adversity almost immediately, but overcame the loss of a key player to advance to Friday's 5A semifinal with a 61-47 quarterfinal win over the Bobcats.
Just 49 seconds into the game, junior starter Pearmella Carter drove to the basket, was fouled, and went down hard. Carter had to be helped off the court by trainers and did not return to the game.
Losing their top rebounder and second-leading scorer forced the T-Birds to quickly adjust.
“For us to overcome adversity that happens 49 seconds into the game with Mella going out — and she’s been our top rebounder and our second-leading scorer all year long — for the girls to come through that was huge,” Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells said. “That’s what we told them. We led for most of the first half, and they just had to believe in themselves and believe they could do it.
"Everybody just kind of pulled together and got the job done.”
Senior Reianna Vega scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds in Wednesday's 61-47 Shawnee Heights win over Basehor-Linwood. [File photo/TSN]
Senior Reianna Vega said the team leaned on each other after the early injury.
“Coach kept telling us to play together as a team,” Vega said. “We’ve been through adversity a lot of times, and we’ve gotten this far. We can’t give up now, so we had to keep fighting.”
Late in the first quarter, Shawnee Heights knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:34 remaining to take a 15-12 lead.
Basehor-Linwood responded by drawing a foul at the buzzer and hitting both free throws to trim the lead to 15-14 after one quarter.
Scoring slowed early in the second quarter, but senior Imani McGlory eventually broke through with her first basket to make it 17-14.
The T-Birds followed with a 6-0 run while Basehor-Linwood struggled to finish at the rim.
However, the Bobcats answered by closing the half on a 7-0 run to take a 25-21 lead into the locker room at the half Shawnee Heights shot just 3 of 16 from the field in the quarter.
Vega came alive in the second half, scoring all 16 of her points after halftime.
Shawnee Heights repeatedly tried to regain the lead, but Basehor-Linwood continued to answer.
With 2:10 left in the third quarter, junior KK Emmot scored to tie the game at 36.
Emmot then knocked down a 3-pointer to give the T-Birds a brief lead, but Basehor-Linwood finished the quarter on a 5-0 run to go up 41-39 heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter belonged to Shawnee Heights.
The T-Birds opened the period on a 7–0 run. Vega tied the game at 41 with a basket, Emmot followed with a 3-pointer, and Vega scored again to make it 46-41.
Emmot and Vega added four more points before McGlory scored five straight to extend the lead to 57-45 with 1:05 remaining.
Freshman Bijoy Schmidt sealed the victory with two free throws with 37 seconds left as Shawnee Heights secured the 14-point win and advanced to the state semifinals on Friday at Wichita's Koch Arena.
The T-Birds shot 7 of 9 from the field in the fourth quarter and outscored Basehor-Linwood 22-6 in the final period.
“We tried to get things slowed down a little bit offensively so we could run some sets and be more under control,” Wells said about the fourth-quarter turnaround.
“Then we started getting shots that we’re capable of hitting instead of trying to run so much and taking shots that weren’t our best looks.”
Emmot said the team focused on protecting the ball and forcing turnovers down the stretch.
“We just had to keep going in transition and lessen the turnovers,” Emmot said. “We were winning the turnover battle, but in the third quarter we weren’t forcing many. In the fourth quarter we knew we had to lock in and not have any turnovers, and that was really the game changer.”
Shawnee Heights was led by Emmot with 18 points and Vega with 16 points and nine rebounds, while Sami Baum added 14 points and seven rebounds.
“Sami has shown it all year long,” Wells said. “We see it in games at times, but we’ve been seeing it all year in practice. She just keeps plugging away. And getting Reianna going in the second half really helped stabilize us because she’s kind of our big stabilizer out there.”
The T-Birds will now turn their attention to the semifinals against No. 2 seed Hays, which advanced with a 49-46 win over Kapaun Mt. Carmel. That game is scheduled for Friday at 3:30 p.m. at Wichita State's Koch Arena.
Basehor-Linwood was led in scoring by Alaina Schwisow with 13 points.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 61, BASEHOR-LINWOOD 47
Basehor-Linwood 14 11 16 6 -- 47
Shawnee Heights 15 6 18 22 -- 61
Basehor-Linwood (20-6) -- Schwisow 4-11 4-4 13, Wittkopf 4-17 2-2 12, McKnights 3-9 2-4 8, Christopher 2-8 3-3 7, Vandonge 1-6 0-0 2, Fitzgerald 1-6 1-2 3, Deters 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 16-59 12-15 47.
Shawnee Heights (22-4) -- Emmot 7-18 2-2 18, Vega 6-11 3-4 16, Baum 6-14 1-1 14, McGlory 2-6 3-3 7, Carter 0-0 0-0 0, Hamilton 1-1 2-2 4, Schmidt 0-0 2-2 2, Brees 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 22-52 13-14 61.
3-point goals -- Basehor-Linwood 3 (Wittkop 2, Schwisow), Shawnee Heights 4 (Emmot 2, Baum, Vega). Total fouls -- Basehor-Linwood 13, Shawnee Heights 15. Fouled out -- McKnights. Technical foul -- none.
