Park Hill guard McKenna Sosna has been a big part of the Lady Trojan’s winning five of the last seven games ahead of the postseason.
KANSAS CITY – In a rare winter that neither team finished above .500 through the regular season, the Park Hill boys’ and girls’ basketball ball teams will face an uphill battle in the postseason as lower seeds in tough districts.
Both sides of the Class 6 District 8 Tournament are tough, and Park Hill won’t have an easy first round matchup, rematching last year’s opponent. The Lady Trojans finished with an 11-12 record and the No. 7 seed, and the Trojans finish with 13 wins and losses, being placed as the No. 5 seed.
The Park Hill girls have picked up the pace lately, winning five of the final seven games, which includes the last three. Out of those five wins, three came against teams with winning records including rivals Park Hill South (13-11) and Class 6 No. 2 ranked Staley (24-2).
The win against Staley is the biggest one of the season by far, not only given to the level of team the Lady Falcons are, but due to the final score of 49-34. Park Hill shot 8-of-17 from downtown with Lydia Keller, McKenna Sosna and Taylor Finney all hitting two threes each.
Before that game, the Lady Trojans held off Lee’s Summit North (13-11) in overtime, coming out on top 54-52 on Feb. 15. That moved them to 5-5 in the Kansas City Suburban Conference Silver Division.
Sosna tied her career high 21 points on 11-of-12 shooting from the charity stripe in addition to three of the team’s four made 3-pointers. Keller made the other triple, scoring 12 points, and Boston Wand had her third double-double of the season with 10 points and 10 rebounds.
Park Hill will take on Liberty North (24-2) – which won by 28 points and 10 points in the two regular season matchups this year – in districts on Feb. 28 at 7 p.m. This is the same first-round matchup as a year ago when the Lady Trojans were the No. 6 seed and upset the No. 3 seed, 42-37.
For the Park Hill boys, this season is only the third time since 2015 that they didn’t enter the postseason with more wins than losses. The 8-game absence from temporarily injured senior Gavin Schaag – who averages 11.3 points and is second in the conference in made 3-pointers with 40 – is a big reason for the uncharacteristic win-to-loss ratio.
Without Schaag, the Trojans went 3-5 but some guys stepped up, such as Isaiah Caston who scored in double figures in five straight contests after only doing so three times in the first 13. Cameron Jones has emerged as a scorer after taking on a larger role as a junior, leading the team with 14.9 points, 1.4 blocks and 1.8 steals per game.
In two of the three wins without Schaag, Jones erupted for 30 points and 27 points, making a name for himself in the KC metro area. Desire Tonye-Nyemeck has been a reliable Trojan all year as well, averaging 10.1 points on an efficient 52.4 percent rate along with leading the team with 7.2 rebounds per game.
After splitting the two regular season matchups, Park Hill will take on Liberty (15-10) once again in the opening round of districts Feb. 29 at 7 p.m. The Trojans beat the Blue Jays by 10 points in that same game last season and would play the winner of Oak Park (23-3) and St. Joseph’s Central (9-17) in the semifinals if they repeat history with a postseason victory