Outscoring its rival 31 to 13 in the second half, the Park Hill South girls’ basketball team (7-1) defeated Park Hill (3-7) 54-32 to end the calendar year on a high note on Dec. 22.
Park Hill South freshman Ava Miles, above left, goes up for a layup over Park Hill guard Lydia Keller, above right, in the Lady Panthers 54-32 win over the Lady Trojans on Dec. 22.
While the Lady Panthers had a strong second half, the opening 16 minutes of action were tight. Park Hill’s home crowd was a factor as a 6-0 Park Hill South lead was quickly a tie at eight after Maddie Crump knocked down shots from deep from each corner and Boston Wand scored a layup off Lydia Keller’s pass.
“I think we had trouble getting on a run early on, but it’s a rivalry game and I’ll give them credit,” Park Hill South head girls’ coach Josh Dorr said. “They came out and played well so we told the girls that they’re not going to roll over, they’re going to play hard. If they hit a few shots, it’s going to keep them in the game, and we have to be ready for that.”
Park Hill South senior Tatum Kells (#44) tries to block a shot attempt by Park Hill sophomore Boston Wand (#10), above right, at Park Hill High School.
Ava Miles knocked down a pair of free throws on the other end to put the Lady Panthers back on top, but Keller responded with another Park Hill 3-pointer for its first lead, 11-10, with 3:07 left in the first quarter. Park Hill South junior Regan Williams made three of her four free throw attempts in the final 1:39 and Miles scored a putback layup with nine seconds left in the opening quarter as the Lady Panthers led 16-11.
After scoring the final six points of the first quarter, Park Hill South extended the run to nine unanswered points early in the second quarter and Park Hill called a timeout trailing 19-11. Keller came out of the timeout and knocked down a shot from behind the arc and Wand converted on an and-one opportunity right before the halftime buzzer when the Lady Panthers went into the break with a 23-19 advantage.
Miles came out of the second half hot, scoring the opening eight points and assisting on the next two Park Hill South buckets and suddenly, Park Hill trailed 37-22 with 2:48 left in the third quarter. Anaya Guess subbed in for Park Hill and scored the team’s first bucket at the 2:34 mark before her steal led to Keller making a trip to the charity stripe on the other end – splitting the shots – and Park Hill South went up 41-25 entering the final quarter.
Park Hill’s Paige Barry (#14) drives past Park Hill South’s Lauren Dittmer (#11), above right, in the first half on Dec. 21.
“I think our defense in the second half obviously stepped up a little bit more. We got the pressure on them like we wanted to do, and I think that helped a lot,” Dorr said.
The Lady Trojans failed to make a shot from the field in the final quarter, with all their points coming from the charity stripe. Park Hill has officially lost four consecutive contests after being 3-3 and Park Hill South is on a 4-game winning streak as both squads won’t have another game until the New Year.
“It’s more fun to go on the Christmas break on a win. You’ve got a few days off and they will come back and start practicing. It’s obviously a lot easier to come back off a win, that’s always nice,” Dorr said.
Addison Bjorn and Miles both finished with 13 points and three assists each, while combining for seven steals. Williams ended with nine points and two steals as Avery Simmons finished with seven points, five rebounds, one steal and one assist.
Park Hill will look to put another tally in the win column in the first week of the New Year with a road matchup with Liberty (5-2) on Jan. 5. Park Hill South will host Lee’s Summit (6-3) on Jan. 2.