Park Hill starts season with impressive performances

It was an exciting first week of the season for the Park Hill Boys Basketball team. They started off against a formidable opponent in tradition-strong Liberty. The Trojans knew coming into the game that it would be a key game early in the season to give them an idea of where they are and where they could be by the end of the season. With four starters in double-figures including Chris Nsenki’s 25, Justin Leather’s 14, Brady Kreitzer’s 13, and De’Aris Flint’s 10 points, the Trojans came out swinging. No team wants to lose, but the 73-68 score that left Liberty on top in the end was something the Trojans wanted to build on coming into their home-opener last Friday against Winnetonka.
The Trojans didn’t get the rhythm they wanted in their offense during the first half, but with a tenacious defense led by De’Aris Flint and an overall solid rebounding effort they went into halftime only down 21-17. Things started clicking in the second half when the momentum shifting to the Trojan’s favor when Chris Nsenki erupted for a series of three-pointers. The first gave Park Hill their first lead of the game mid-way through the third quarter and gave the crowd something to get behind.

“He has stretches where he can take over a game,” Coach David Garrison said of Nsenki’s shooting ability.
With the offensive runs they went on in the fourth quarter came a renewed intensity on the defensive end. Flint took a fast break pass and finished it with a dunk to open the fourth quarter to put the Trojans up by ten at 44-34. Winnetonka did not go quietly into the night though, as they went on a run that cut the lead to one at 48-47 with three minutes remaining.

“They’re very fast and they’ll make you pay for it,” Garrison said of some of the troubles Winnetonka gave the Trojans.
The Trojans’ high-energy defense frustrated the Griffins into fouling down the stretch, as Park Hill was able to make several key free throws to seal the victory. Justin Leathers, was key in putting the game away as he was able to make four free throws and a layup in the last minute to lead the Trojans to a 63-51 victory.

“Defensively, I’m happy with what we were doing,” Garrison said. “We just have to be consistent.”

Trojans bring home tourney championship

The Park Hill Girls Basketball team is off to quite a start after winning the Fort Osage Tournament this past week to start the season 3-0. A 69-44 victory over Ray-Pec in the first round featured a strong performance from the starting five as they all score in double-figures with Laura Bennett, Spenser Rhodus, and Helena Hudson all scoring ten points apiece along with Kyleesha Weston’s 11 points and Katy Plummer’s 17.

“We played well for our first game,” coach Brian Rockers said. “I was very pleased with our balanced scoring and total team effort.”

Next, the Trojans faced off against the host team, Fort Osage, in the second round. A second half adjustment to full court man to man defense allowed the Trojans to pull away after a close first half to win 53-41. Bennett hit two three-pointers on her way to 20 points added in with Weston’s 11 and Plummer’s 12 points.

In the championship game, Park Hill went up against Kansas City Central. And what a title game it was, with the two teams neck-to-neck the entire game. Central took a 21-18 lead going into halftime in what would be a low-scoring, defensive-oriented game. Going into the fourth quarter the Trojans had narrowed the margin to a score of 30-28 with Central still ahead, but an unusual strategy was taken by Central on offense as they held the ball for nearly four minutes to force Park Hill out of their half-court zone defense. The Trojans were eventually able to force a steal and convert it into a score to tie it up. Central sank two free throws to go up by two with 23 seconds remaining in the game, but sophomore Kyleesha Weston came up big when she received an inbounds pass with 3.2 seconds and hit a three-pointer to win the game along with bring home the championship trophy. The three-pointer was the only of the game for Park Hill and made up for three of Weston’s seven points. Plummer contributed 11 points and Bennett added 8.

“Gutsy effort from our girls as they held on and fought through some strange things to pull it off,” Rocker said.

They’ll come home to play Ruskin this week in their first home game, then play two tough conference games at Oak Park and Truman next week before playing a key game against Platte County on Dec. 18th.