The undefeated start to the season for the Park Hill South girls’ basketball team (3-1) came to an end when the Lady Panthers were nine points shy as champions in the Gold Division Bracket in the 43rd Annual Winnetonka Invitational on Dec. 2.
Park Hill South has been known to have success in the Winnetonka Invitational, finishing top-3 in each appearance since 2018 and winning its division last year. The Lady Panthers were defeated by Truman (4-0) in the championship, 54-45.
From the closing minutes of the first quarter to the 1:18 mark of the fourth quarter, Park Hill South led in the championship game, but it lost the lead late and couldn’t recover. The Lady Panthers went up by as much as seven points in the final frame when Ava Miles sunk a deep right wing 3-pointer off a dribble handoff from Avery Simmons in the first 10 seconds of the quarter.
Park Hill South freshman Addison Bjorn scored nine of her team-high 21 points in the third quarter of the Winnetonka Invitational Championship loss to Truman on Dec. 2.
Addison Bjorn followed that with a trey from nearly the same spot with 5:07 left to put Park Hill South up 40-35, but Truman’s defense stepped up down the stretch, only allowing two more Lady Panther baskets the rest of the way. With right under three minutes to play, the Lady Patriots scored a layup and knocked down a shot from downtown on back-to-back possessions to retake a 44-42 lead.
From that point on, a free throw by Simmons and bucket from Regan Williams were the only points Park Hill South scored as Truman took advantage of its trips to the charity stripe to pull out the 9-point win. Miles sunk three shots from downtown to finish with 11 points and Bjorn led the squad with 21 points, scoring nine of Park Hill South’s 10 third quarter points.
Prior to the championship, Park Hill South matched up with North Kansas City (2-1) in the semifinals on Dec. 1, coming out on top by a score of 65-39. Before a 30-26 victory over North Kansas City in early 2021, the Lady Panthers had lost 12 straight in the series but has now won the last four matchups against the Lady Hornets.
Bjorn ended with 20 points – making two of her four shots from deep – along with four rebounds, four assists and two steals. Williams shot 66.7 percent from the field and 75 percent from downtown, scoring 13 points, grabbing four boards and snagging two steals.
The Lady Panthers forced 25 turnovers, shot 46.7 percent from the field and made six 3-pointers. Park Hill South will have a short break before taking on Blue Springs South on the road on Dec. 12.