On a rare night that saw a double header for the Park Hill South boys’ (14-10) and girls’ (22-3) basketball teams turned out to be the perfect send-off for the senior class as both squads ended with a tally in the victory column on Feb. 17.
It was senior night when Liberty came to town with the Park Hill South girls playing first and coming out with a 50-35 triumph. The Panthers went on to win 54-46 afterwards.
The Lady Panthers entered the Silver Division matchup with 13 straight victories with their only win in that frame that was by less than 10 points being against Liberty (13-10) back on Jan. 13. Park Hill South came out on top 44-37 in that contest and used a huge end of third quarter scoring burst to defeat the Lady Blue Jays a second time and move to a perfect 9-0 in conference on the season.
Park Hill South forward Mike Collins had a career-high 22 points against Liberty on senior night.
The Lady Panthers scored 10 of the first 12 points of the contest and went into the second quarter leading by a 10-5 margin. With the game being within three points in the final three minutes of the first half, Park Hill South pushed its advantage to 20-13 at the break.
Regan Williams scored the Lady Panthers’ first two buckets of the second half and the Lady Blue Jays cut the margin to 24-18 with 4:58 on the clock in the third quarter when the home team went on to score the final 16 points of the frame. Park Hill South freshmen Ava Miles and Addison Bjorn combined for all of those points down the stretch – with Miles having 12 and Bjorn scoring four – to blow the game away and put Park Hill South up 40-18.
Park Hill South held on to that lead in the fourth quarter and pulled the rest of its starters out with 1:49 left. Sophomore Ava Kells heated up late and scored six points by shooting three-of-three from the field in that time frame.
Bjorn and Miles both ended the night with 14 points and combined for six of the Lady Panthers eight steals. After that game, Park Hill South went on to beat Lee’s Summit North (8-14) to become undefeated conference champions on Jan. 20.
In the boys’ game, Park Hill South elected to start Alex Wells and Carson Mattson – who are seniors – over the regular duo of Colby Kiedrowski and Jaylen Lockhart. Liberty (11-13) took an early lead against the different lineup as the Panthers didn’t score a basket until Kiedrowski had a transition layup off an outlet pass from Sam Simmons Jr. with 1:02 left in the first quarter.
Park Hill South scored its first seven points from the charity stripe, falling behind as much as seven points in the opening eight minutes. Mike Collins had five points in the first quarter – capping it off with a 3-point play with 14 seconds left – but Liberty led 16-12 after Jackson Branstetter had a buzzer beating layup.
Four different Panthers scored one bucket in the first four minutes of the second quarter and a step-back jumper at the top of the key by Zahir Ragsdale put them back on top 22-21 with 4:11 on the clock, which was Park Hill South’s first lead since being up 4-2.
The Blue Jays immediately responded, and Collins scored the final five points of the half for the Panthers to give him 15 points entering the locker room with a 28-27 deficit. Collins also opened the second half with the first five points by either team – knocking down a triple from the left corner and a pair of free throws – and Park Hill South led the rest of the night.
The Panthers went into the fourth quarter with a 40-35 advantage and pushed the lead to double figures late in regulation. Park Hill South went on to win 54-46 behind a career-high 22 points by Collins.
Cahmai Crosby added 16 points on four-of-11 shooting, along with eight rebounds and an assist. Park Hill South forced 19 Blue Jay turnovers, including 10 steals which was led by Simmons, who tied a career-high and forced five steals.