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Tonganoxie girls’ furious rally falls short against Atchison

By Shawn Linenberger - | Mar 9, 2016

Midway through the second quarter, things looked bleak for the Tonganoxie High girls basketball team. Behind an offensive rebounding onslaught, Atchison opened up a 39-15 lead midway through the second quarter.

“The way our team has been all year is if we play a half court game, we have a tough time because we don’t rebound well,” head coach Matt Frost said.

The Chieftains have had their fair share of lopsided losses this year, and their effort once the score was out of hand was sometimes questionable, but that certainly wasn’t the case on Thursday.

In the third quarter, the Chieftains used a full-court press to make a frantic comeback, and they even tied the game at 47 early in the fourth quarter. But Tonganoxie was never able to get over the hump, and Atchison escaped with a 67-61 victory, ending Tonganoxie’s season in the first round of substate.

“I think a couple loose balls went the other way,” Frost said about the end of the game. “I didn’t think we gave up or ran out of gas at all.”

Junior Taylor Lee, who had been on fire as of late, had 14 points, but she was just 4-of-11 from the field. Senior Kaitlin Hall also added 14 points despite being saddled with foul trouble in the second half.

Atchison was able to build its 39-15 lead behind 11 first-quarter points from senior Shantel Johnson, and sophomore Chesney Downing, who was simply too much for Tonganoxie to handle down low. Atchison’s ball denial gave Lee fits, which made it difficult for Tonganoxie to score.

However, Tonganoxie hit back and closed the half on an 8-0 run, pulling within 39-23 and gaining some momentum.

In the third quarter, the Chieftains used a full-court press to outscore Atchison, 21-7. Tonganoxie was playing with so much energy that Atchison was struggling to get across half court without committing a turnover. The Chieftains had 13 steals, and most of those came during the third quarter as they were playing like a desperate team.

“That’s just effort,” Frost said. “That wasn’t anything I drew up. We didn’t do anything special that we haven’t done all year. We just told them ‘this is it. Either go take it or not.’ They played their butts off.”

The Chieftains also began to rebound better, led by seniors Mackenzie Price and Cheyenne Ford. Ford had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds, and Price almost matched her, with eight points and eight rebounds.

“Cheyenne and Mackenzie in the second half decided they were going to box people out,” Frost said. “They saw the end of the line and decided they didn’t want it to end.”

To start the fourth quarter, the Chieftains completed the comeback and tied the game at 47 with six minutes remaining. Tonganoxie had chances to take control of the game, but after a few missed layups and turnovers, Atchison sophomore Dezmen Duncan took control of the game. She scored six straight points as her team pulled away from Tonganoxie down the stretch.

Despite the loss, Frost was very proud of his team, and he was encouraged they finally showed the type of effort he had been waiting to see all season.

“That’s how we have to play,” Frost said. “We haven’t seen it for a full game all year, and we needed it for a full game tonight.”

THS finished the season 6-15. De Soto defeated Atchison in the substate finals.