The Chieftains dropped their final home game of the season to Piper, 52-41.

Down 12 points in the fourth quarter with just more than four minutes remaining, THS put together a 9-1 run but couldn’t cut the Pirates’ lead below four.

Junior Danielle Miller scored off a cut to the paint to kickoff the final push and less than a minute later, Tonganoxie (6-14 overall, 4-9 Kaw Valley League) cut its deficit to seven when freshman Jenny Whitledge scored and drew a foul to set up a three-point play.

On the Chieftains’ next possession, senior guard Andie Jeannin stroked two free throws and Whitledge hit two more with 2:23 to go, making Piper’s lead 45-41.

However, those were the last points THS could score as PHS closed the game with a 7-0 run.

The game was tied at halftime but the Pirates held Tonganoxie to three third-quarter field goals — a three from Hannah Kemp, an elbow jumper from Tavia Brown and a bucket inside from Whitledge.

Whitledge almost single-handedly kept the Chieftains in the game in the second quarter, when she scored 12 of her team’s 15 points (senior guard Lauren Hall helped her out with a three-pointer).

The postseason begins Monday at 7 p.m. for THS as the team travels to Hoyt to take on Royal Valley (10-10) in a first-round sub-state game.

Score by quarters

PHS 6 17 15 14 — 52

THS 8 15 7 11 — 41

Tonganoxie scoring

Andie Jeannin 0-8 2-2 2, Lauren Hall 2-8 0-0 5, Danielle Miller 1-4 1-2 3, Jenny Whitledge 7-13 8-9 22, Lindsey Fatherley 1-2 0-0 2, Hannah Kemp 2-4 0-0 5, Tavia Brown 1-2 0-0 2.