By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
Trailing 37-36 after three periods, the Shawnee Heights girls exploded for a 17-0 run to pull away from guest Seaman 60-42 Tuesday. It was just the T-Birds’ second win over Seaman in the last 13 meetings.
Shawnee Heights junior Pearmella Carter scored 12 of her 23 points in the fourth quarter Tuesday as the T-Birds pulled away for a 60-42 UKC win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Fueling the decisive run was Shawnee Heights junior Pearmella Carter, who scored 12 of her 23 points in the fourth quarter. Carter hit all six shots she attempted in the crucial final period.
“We made a few slight adjustments on some things we were doing, and it opened some passing lanes and some driving lanes,” said Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells. “And then, all of a sudden, we were feeling a lot better about moving and catching and shooting, getting the ball inside to Pearmella. She did a great job. when she couldn’t muscle it up there, she kicked it out and then we started hitting some threes.
“You know how momentum goes. One person hits them. Then they all started smiling, and they all started hitting.”
The Vikings led by as much as seven points in the second period. The T-Birds clawed back to take the lead briefly in the third period, but Seaman clung to a lead going into the fourth quarter, thanks in large part to seven third-quarter points by Cara Beaton, who led the Vikings with 12.
Junior KK Emmot (1) scored 14 points in Shawnee Heights' 60-42 home UKC win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman has thoroughly dominated the rivalry for the past decade, a fact that made the win all the more enjoyable for the T-Birds.
“It’s huge,” Wells said. “I told the girls we could not take Seaman for granted no matter what their record was. They can really shoot the ball. You let them hit some threes and start feeling good about themselves. It took us a little fortitude to come back and really change things and make the game go a different way.”
Shawnee Heights juniors Pearmella Carter and KK Emmot both reached the 1,000-point milestone for their careers Tuesday at Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
Carter’s huge fourth quarter led her past a milestone. Carter and fellow junior KK Emmot both eclipsed the 1,000-point mark for their careers Tuesday.
“It was really cool for us both to do it in the same game,” Carter said. “KK was my teammate all the way back in (youth basketball), so to do it together was fun.
“At Highland Park, I was kind of the main player expected to get points. Coming here, with the whole team scoring, it was kind of different. But it was still fun to accomplish a goal. I only thought about it because KK was coming close to it. I thought I had about 800 when I left Highland Park, so I knew I was close to it.”
Wells did a significant amount of research to establish both girls’ point totals.
“We knew KK was getting real close, so we started adding things up,” the T-Birds coach said. “And then we did the same with Pearmella, trying to dig up her past scoring. We found that KK needed 11 and Pearmella needed 21. It’s incredible that they did it in the same game.”
The T-Birds stayed atop the United Kansas Conference by improving to 11-1 in the league. They face a rugged schedule the rest of the way with games against De Soto, Basehor-Linwood, Turner and Seaman ahead, all on the road.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS GIRLS 60, SEAMAN 42
Seaman 13 10 14 5 -- 42
Shawnee Heights 11 13 12 24 -- 60
Seaman (8-8, 7-5) – Dreher 2-3 0-0 4, Spencer 3-5 1-2 10, Beaton 5-16 0-2 12, Puvogel 2-7 0-0 6, Gragg 3-11 0-0 7, Frickey 1-1 0-0 2, Ketron 0-0 1-2 1, Alfen 0-0 0-0 0, Hale 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-43 2-6 42.
Shawnee Heights (15-4, 11-1) – Emmot 6-13 0-0 14, McGlory 5-11 0-0 13, Carter 10-12 3-5 23, Baum 1-4 0-0 2, Vega 3-5 0-0 6, Brees 0-0 0-0 0, Schmidt 0-1 0-0 0, Hamilton 0-1 0-0 0, Karlyle 1-1 0-0 2, Hamilton 0-1 0-0 0, Pierce 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-49 3-5 60.
3-point goals – Seaman 8 (Spencer 3, Beaton 2, Puvogel 2, Gragg), Shawnee Heights 5 (McGlory 3, Emmot 2). Total fouls – Seaman 7, Shawnee Heights 8. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
