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Tonganoxie High girls can’t get past Piper in substate title game

By Shawn Linenberger - | Mar 7, 2015

In Tonganoxie’s two regular season meetings with Piper, the Pirates handled their Kaw Valley League foe fairly easily.

That wasn’t quite the case in the third and final meeting of the year.

Piper had a tight contest with upstart Tonganoxie in the Class 4A Division 1 sub-state championship game Saturday in Kansas City, Kan.

PHS got a buzzer beater at the end of the first quarter to stretch its lead to 13-7, but THS stayed even with the Pirates on their home court in the second quarter and trailed, 21-15, at the half.

“We told them at half that they were in the ballgame,” THS coach David Hall said. “It’s hard to be somebody three times.”

The Chieftains cut the lead to four in the third quarter, but big runs in both the third and fourth quarters doomed Tonganoxie’s Cinderella state hopes.

Piper went on to win, 52-30, and earned a berth in next week’s state tournament at Salina’s Bicentennial Center. The Pirates improved to 17-5 on the year, while THS fell to 7-15.

Hall said Piper’s length caused Tonganoxie some problems, but the Chieftains also attacked the basket, something Hall said was part of the team’s game plan.

Sarah Ahart figured into that strategy often. Ahart drove to hoop repeatedly, finishing with 15 points, including five at the free-throw line.

Taylor Lee also was in double-figures with 11.

Tonganoxie cut Piper’s lead to four at 23-19 in the third quarter, but some THS miscues helped PHS to an 8-0 run and a double-digit lead.

Tressa Walker banked in a jumper in the lane late in the fourth that cut the lead to 31-21, but THS couldn’t assemble a rally in the fourth quarter.

The Pirates closed out the game on a 10-1 run.

Hall said he was proud of the Chieftains and their effort against Piper. In the teams’ first two meetings, Piper increased its leads enough that a running clock went into effect in both contests.

“Nobody ever expected them to be in the substate championship, at the beginning of the year, at the middle of the year, at the end of the year,” Hall said.

The coach said the team proved doubters wrong with a big victory in the substate semifinals Friday and Saturday’s effort.

He said several people told him after the game that the team was really starting to click.

He told his players after the game that they were one of only 16 teams of 32 teams in school’s class and division to still be playing on Saturday across the state.

Also scoring for THS on Saturday were Tressa Walker and Cheyenne Ford.

Saturday’s loss marked the end of the careers of three THS seniors: Walker, Ahart and Sophia Breedlove.

“I can’t overemphasize how great a group of kids we had this year,” Hall said, referring to the entire squad. “They believed in each other.”

And, he noted that the team made strides during the year.

“We’ve gotten better,” said Hall, who finished his first year as THS girls head coach. “They put everything into it. That’s all you can ask for.”

Game results

Score by quarters

THS 7 8 6 9 — 30

PHS 13 8 10 21 — 52

Individual scoring

Tonganoxie — Sarah Ahart 15, Taylor Lee 11, Cheyenne Ford 2, Tressa Walker 2.

Piper — Haley White 11, Lexsi Owens 10, Maya Morrow 4, Cali Wing 2, Jessica Wayne 17, Courtney Wagner 4, Angie Watkins 2.

THS 46, SUMNER 41

Steady wins the race.

The Tonganoxie High girls basketball team kept to a deliberate pace offensively much of its substate semifinal game Friday against top-seeded Sumner Academy.

THS jumped out to a 10-2 lead and held the lead until the final minute of regulation. Sumner forced overtime, but Tonganoxie prevailed in the extra stanza for a 46-41 victory.

Tonganoxie improved to 7-14 on the year, while Sumner’s season ended at 14-7.

The game had its share of twists and turns.

Sumner opened with a 2-0 lead, but Tonganoxie went on a run in the first quarter and maintained that lead until the closing minutes of regulation.

During that time, Sumner’s Akayla Brown was called for a technical foul after pushing Tonganoxie’s Taylor Lee during an in-bounds play. The referee had just talked to the players about some physicality.

Lee’s two free throws gave Tonganoxie the lead, 38-37.

Also in the closing moments of regulation, A Sumner player stepped to the line for a free throw, but the referee called a lane violation when a Sumner teammate broke the plane of the three-point line while the shooter was at the free-throw line.

In overtime, Sumner drew first blood on a Sydnei Patton three-pointer.

That gave the Sabres a 41-38 lead, but that’s all they would get the rest of the game.

All eight of Tonganoxie’s overtime points came at the free-throw line.

Hall said his team was confident at the end of regulation despite Sumner clawing its way back to force overtime.

“Heading into the overtime, the look on their faces was ‘OK, let’s get this thing done,'” Hall said.

Game results

Score by quarters

THS 12 7 11 8 8 — 46

Sumner 4 11 9 16 3 — 41

Individual scoring

Tonganoxie — Cheyenne Ford 2, Kaitlin Hall 7, Tressa Walker 11, Sophia Breedlove 2, Sarah Ahart 9, Taylor Lee 16.

Sumner — Dominique McDaniel 1, Samia Roark 12, Tremon Dodds 3, Elizabeth Vaughn 4, Sydnei Patton 15, Akayla Brown 6.