After losing two of their last three games, the Park Hill South girls’ basketball team (12-6) put another mark in the win column on Jan. 26.
Park Hill South hit the road and took down Liberty (7-7) 51-36 after a strong first half. The Panthers had a big bounce back after losing a pair of tight games in the Nixa Tournament.
“I think we learned a lot from that tournament,” Park Hill South head coach Josh Dorr said. “The two games we lost we had won six of the eight quarters and just had one bad quarter each game, so I told them we have to learn from that and have that consistency of playing good ball all four quarters no matter who you play.”
The Panthers’ defense set the tone early to help propel to a double-digit margin. After leading 8-4 midway through the opening frame, the Park Hill South defense only allowed four made field goals by the Blue Jays for the rest of the half.
Park Hill South sophomore Regan Williams, above, finished with finished the contest with 19 points, eight rebounds and three steals against Liberty on Jan. 26.
“I feel like at the beginning of the season we were playing some great defense and as the season has gone on and we have been playing some better teams, it hasn’t been as fundamentally sound. We have been trying to concentrate on that and focus on the little things and that helped tonight,” Dorr said.
After jumping out to a 15-7 lead after the opening frame, a baseline jumper by Regan Williams continued the Panthers’ strong first half when Liberty only had 13 points at the break, opposed to Park Hill South’s 32. Williams capped off the second quarter with a 3-point play with 18 seconds left to give her 12 points and her sophomore counterpart Avery Simmons had seven points at the half.
“I think the biggest thing for them is consistency and I think that’s something you see a lot with younger classmen – you’ll see flashes when they have a great game, then not so much and then back-and-forth. I think what has happened since Christmas break for Avery and Regan is that they have started to be more consistent every game and started understanding what they need to do to stay on the court, and their talent is going to take over from there,” Dorr said.
Simmons outscored Liberty in the third quarter when she scored six points and the Blue Jays only scored five. Park Hill South was able to cruise in the second half to the 15-point victory.
Williams finished the contest with 19 points, eight rebounds and three steals, while Simmons had 16 points, three rebounds and two assists. The Panthers will be competing in the North Kansas City Tournament as the top-seed this week.