Park Hill’s McKenna Sosna brings back the most experience this season.
KANSAS CITY – The Park Hill girls’ basketball team had an up-and-down season last year yet was on the verge of a district championship appearance before losing a heartbreaking overtime game by three points.
Park Hill upset Liberty North in the opening round of the Class 6 District 8 Tournament and nearly knocked off second-seeded Staley in the semifinals, ultimately coming up short 53-50. The Lady Trojans will return three starters from last season: senior point guard McKenna Sosna, junior guard Lydia Keller and junior post Boston Wand.
“Upsetting the No. 3 seed last year proved to our girls that they had the talent to hang with the great teams in the city,” Park Hill girls’ basketball coach Kennedi Dorrell said. “This year, we’re looking to build on the things that we did last year. Returning both of our leading scorers from last season will help with our success for this year.”
Last season Sosna led Park Hill in scoring and passing with 8.7 points per game and 2.4 assists. Wand averaged 8.1 points and 6.9 rebounds in addition to a block and 1.2 steals.
“Our athleticism is going to help us a lot this season, we want to run and control the pace of the game. We return McKenna and Boston who both received all-conference honors last year and will be big parts of our offense this year,” Dorrell said.
There are eight total players who lettered last season who will be back. Sosna, Keller and Wand will be out on the floor with several different lineups.
“Paige Barry was our sixth man from last year; she adds speed and great defense to our starters. Juniors Anna Anderson, Izzy Petznick and Brooklyn Bronston-Byrd and sophomore Taylor Finney could be potential starters this year,” Dorrell said.
Park Hill finished above .500 every year from 2019 to 2022 before taking a step back last season. After the Lady Trojans finished 2023 with an 11-15 record, they will look for improvement this winter.
“We’re looking to grow from where we left off last year. This group is very close, and they have the drive to do some great things this season. Most importantly, we need to be able to use our speed to our advantage and to take care of business on defense,” Dorrell said.