Lady Trojans, seniors finish with winning season

The Park Hill Lady Trojans approached last week’s district tournament as if it were a new season, a fresh start, and in the process hoped to find some of the flare displayed at the beginning of the season, which included a 5-0 start and Fort Osage Tournament championship. They were able to find that stride in the opening round with a victory against Park Hill South, but couldn’t capitalize against host school, St. Joe Central, in the semifinals as they fell to the Indians to conclude the Trojans’ first winning season in the last several years.

Playing against rival Park Hill South for the third time in three weeks, the No. 3 seeded Trojans jumped on the No. 6 seeded Panthers early and never looked back expanding a 27-19 halftime lead to a final of 57-35. The victory gave the Trojans the season series 2-1 behind Katy Plummer’s 14 points and Kyleesha Weston’s 12 points.

The Trojans knew they would have their hands full against St. Joe Central in the semifinals, but there were encouraging signs in the opening quarter as Spenser Rhodus sank a three-pointer putting Park Hill up 7-5 going into the second. Central, known to be able to put a high level of points on the board, came alive as they hit some key threes and took a 20-13 lead into halftime.

Going up against a high powered offense, the Trojans knew they had to be physical in order to keep the Indians away from the basket even if that meant committing a high level of fouls.

“We needed to muddy up the game a little bit, but it was physical both ways,” Rockers said.

Although held to just 41 points, it was enough for the Indians to advance to the championship game as they defeated the Trojans 41-29. In an area Park Hill had focused on throughout the year, the Trojans weren’t able to muster enough offense to compliment their defense as many of the quality shots they took just didn’t fall.

“We wanted to make sure we came out and competed and I think we really did that,” Rockers said of his team’s effort. “We just couldn’t buy a basket.”

A frustrating night wasn’t the way the Lady Trojans had hoped to finish their season, but Rockers talked about how proud he was of what his seniors had accomplished including a winning season, their first as a group, at 16-11.

“I congratulated them on a great year. That group of seniors did just awesome. Thrown into the fire as sophomores, they’ve gotten better each year and it’s shown. A big thank you to them for what they’ve done,” Rockers said.