EL DORADO — Southern Coffey County High’s Lady Titans saw an era come to an end Friday night. Eight seniors on the SCCH squad had been the powerhouse of a four-year run by the Lady Titans.
Those seniors were on a mission to return to the Kansas Class 1A State Basketball Tournament. But it wasn’t to be.
Little River High’s Lady Redskins used an 18-7 run in the second quarter to claim the lead and never gave it up. The Lady Titans battled back to within three in the fourth quarter but got no closer and lost 50-41 in the Kansas Class 1A substate semifinal game.
Yates Center High’s Wildcats were in their first-ever Class 1A substate semifinal and were overwhelmed by undefeated Agronia 53-29.
Agronia High’s Lady Raiders powered to a 30-8 halftime lead. The Wildcats were held scoreless for the entire first quarter, 17-0.
Southern Coffey County
“What a great bunch of girls and we will miss our seniors,” said Jeff True, Lady Titan head coach.
“I really wanted it to finish up a different way for these girls.”
The Lady Titans have appeared in four straight 1A substate championship games. The eight seniors — Shelby Birk, Kristen Garland, Kaitlin Meyer, Laurie Ohl, Lauren Isch, Christina Osmundson and Ashleen Seabolt — have been apart of an 83-17 run by Southern Coffey County in those four years.
The Lady Titans were trying to get back to the state tournament. A year ago they were beaten in the first round at Hays by Dighton.
“We just didn’t have our A-game tonight. We missed a lot of free throws,” True said. The Lady Titans were 6 of 18 from the free-throw line.
“Our girls got the ball inside where we wanted but we just didn’t shoot a high enough percentage and missed foul shots.”
Southern Coffey County was up 8-6 after one quarter but were down 24-15 at halftime. It was 33-28 going into the fourth quarter. Little River outscored the Lady Titans 17-13 to get the win.
Junior Kristin Stephens had 15 points for the Lady Titans. Ohl added 14 points and seven rebounds. Birk and Meyer each had three steals and junior Samantha Jacob had four assists.
Breahna Gillespie led Little River (20-4) with 17 points. Megan Stagner had 12 points.
Yates Center
Under YCHS alum Abbie Collins, the “young” Wildcats doubled their win production of a year ago. The Wildcats lose one senior —Kassy Reynolds — of the 9-15 team.
“We had 25 turnovers and most came in the first half. They (Argonia) was a good team,” Collins said.
“We are on our way and the girls got better. We have more work to do but had a good season.”
Drew Spencer, a junior, scored the Wildcats’ first five points in the second quarter. She finished with seven points and five steals
Reynolds finished with nine points and 10 rebounds. Freshman Emily Baker fired in two threes on her way to eight points. Cherokee Shaffer had three blocked shots.
Southern Coffey County (8-7-13-13—41) (FG/3-pt): Gudenkauf 0/1-0-0-3, Garland 0-1-3-1, Birk 2-0-2-4, Jacob 0-2-1-2, Ohl 7-0-5-14, Stephens 6-3-2-15, Meyer 1-0-5-2. TOTALS: 16/1-6-18-41.
Little River (6-18-9-17—50) (FG/3-pt): Gillespie 5/1-4-4-17, A. Galyon 0-0-2-0, M. Galyon 1-2-0-4, Waters 3-0-1-6, Stagner 2/1-5-3-12, Barton 1-0-3-2, Baldwin 3/1-0-4-9. TOTALS: 15/3-11-17-50.
Yates Center (0-8-3-18—29) (FG/3-pt): Hartwig 0-0-3-0, Spencer 3-1-3-7, Reynolds 2-5-5-9, Douglas 0-0-5-0, Shaffer 0-0-1-0, Bruner 1-0-1-2, Estes 1-1-3-3, Baker 1/2-0-2-8. TOTALS: 8/2-7-23-29.
Argonia (17-13-11-12—53) (FG/3-pt): Simon 2-0-3-4, Daerr 0-0-2-0, Tracy 3-0-4-6, Brewster 5/1-2-0-15, J. Peetoom 2-4-3-8, D. Peetoom 3-2-0-8, Allen 0-0-1-0, Drouhard 0-0-1-0, Stansbury 1-2-0-2, Neifert 0-0-4-0, Boatright 1/1-3-4-8. TOTALS: 17.2-13-22-53.
