By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights' girls ended a decade long league championship drought Friday at Seaman, with the T-Birds clinching their first United Kansas Conference title with a 54-41 win over the Vikings in a packed house on Seaman's Senior Night.
KK Emmot led Shawnee Heights with a game-high 19 points Friday as the T-Birds wrapped up the UKC title with a 54-41 win at Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Heights improved to 19-4 overall and 15-1 in the UKC with its eighth straight victory, with the T-Birds wrapping up the No. 2 Class 5A East sub-state seed.
"I'm super proud for these girls to get the league and super proud for them to come in tonight and play the way they did because this is an incredible atmosphere and Seaman played their hearts out,'' said veteran Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells, who is retiring after the current season. "They did everything they could to get us down and try to get us where we weren't playing at our best.
"We had some girls that stepped up and did what they needed to do.''
Shawnee Heights led Seaman by only a 14-12 count at the end of the first quarter, but broke the game open with a 21-10 second quarter, opening up a 35-22 halftime advantage.
The T-Birds made that 13-point lead hold up the rest of the way, with Heights and Seaman both scoring 19 points in the second half.
Wells said that Friday's tough game and the atmosphere was good for the T-Birds, resembling what Heights is likely to face in postseason.
"That's what we needed and the girls even commented during the JV boys game that, 'Man, this game's going crazy right now,' '' Wells said. "It was a great atmosphere and I'm just proud that our girls came out and after a slow start, we kind of kicked it into gear a little bit and made some things happen.''
Pearmella Carter scored 15 points and grabbed seven rebounds in Shawnee Heights' 54-41 win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Junior KK Emmot scored a game-high 19 points to lead three T-Birds in double figures, with junior Pearmella Carter adding 15 points and senior Reianna Vega 14.
Junior Brynn Spencer led Seaman with 13 points in Friday's 54-41 loss to Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Junior Brynn Spencer paced Seaman (10-13, 8-9) with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, while junior Cara Beaton added 10 points.
Shawnee Heights will open postseason at home Wednesday to host No. 15 East seed Kansas City-Sumner Academy (4-15) in a 6 p.m. sub-state semifinal. The Heights-Sumner winner will advance to a 5 p.m. sub-state final on Saturday to face the semifinal winner between No. 7 Pittsburg (15-8) and No. 10 KC-Washington (12-11).
Seaman is the No. 11 seed in the 5A West bracket and will travel to No. 6 Goddard Eisenhower (15-7) for a 6 p.m. semifinal on Wednesday. The Seaman-Eisenhower winner will advance to face the winner between No. 3 Maize South (19-4) and No. 14 Valley Center (7-16) in a 5 p.m. final on Saturday.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS GIRLS 54, SEAMAN 41
Shawnee Heights 14 21 9 10 -- 54
Seaman 12 10 9 10 -- 41
Shawnee Heights (19-4, 15-1) – Emmot 6-14 5-6 19, McGlory 2-8 0-0 5, Carter 4-9 5-8 15, Baum 0-4 1-2 1, Vega 6-10 0-0 14, Brees 0-0 0-0 0, Hamilton 0-0 0-0 0, Schmidt 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 18-45 11-16 54.
Seaman (10-13, 8-9) – Alfen 1-2 0-0 3, Beaton 4-5 1-1 10, Ayres 1-2 0-0 2, Miller 1-1 0-0 2, Gragg 3-14 1-2 7, Frickey 0-1 0-0 0, Ketron 0-0 0-0 0, Dreher 1-2 2-4 4, Spencer 4-10 2-2 13, Puvogel 0-1 0-0 0, Zurmely 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 15-41 6-9 41.
3-point goals – Shawnee Heights 7 (Emmot 2, Carter 2, Vega 2, McGlory), Seaman 5 (Spencer 3, Alfen, Beaton). Total fouls – Shawnee Heights 7, Seaman 15. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- none.
