Winter Recap: Dec. 6-10

Park Hill South Girls Basketball
For the second week in a row the Lady Panthers played North Kansas City and Winnetonka last week. It was also the second week in a row where they fell to North Kansas City and beat Winnetonka. North Kansas City jumped out to an early lead and never looked back as they outscored the Panthers in every quarter of the 69-35 defeat for Park Hill South. Jessica Lee, Shannon Keith, and Stephanie Griffith led in scoring with six points a piece in what was a disapointing 30% shooting percentage from the field. A 44-21 victory over Winnetonka improved the Panthers record to 2-3 on the year, as Haley Shelton's four rebound, eight point performance led Park Hill South. Mallory Ross also had eight points. The Panthers play Grandview and William Chrisman this week before a meeting with rival Park Hill on Monday.

Park Hill South Boys Basketball
Park Hill South traveled an exciting path to the Blue Springs South Tournament Championship game last week. After a 55-47 victory over Columbia Hickman behind Rocky Benson's 18 and Christian Hildebrandt's 16 points, the Panthers faced off against host school Blue Springs South. The battle wasn't settled after four quarters, so it went into overtime. In fact, it took three overtime periods to decide the game and in the end it was the Panthers with a 84-80 victory.

"Our guys stayed focused and discipline throughout the entire game. Adam Schemenauer controlled the boards with 15 rebounds to go along with his 17 points. And Christian (Hildebrandt) was tough as nails down the stretch. He had eight points midway through the third quarter and finished with 33 points. Our guys never gave up and fought hard until the end," head coach Anthony Perry said.

In the championship game, Park Hill South fell to Rockhurst despite a hard-fought fourth quarter comeback 62-59. Hildebrandt scored 23 points. The Panthers are now 4-1 with a game at Winnetonka Friday night.

Park HIll Boys Basketball
Park Hill lost their first game of the season in the Blue Springs South tournament last week against Rockhurst. After holding a one point lead going into the second quarter, Rockhurst held Park Hill to only seven points the rest of the half, giving the Hawklets a 34-29 lead. Going neck and neck the rest of the way, Rockhurst was able to hold their lead in the end with a 71-61 defeat of the Trojans. Park Hill won their next two games in the tournament against Staley 63-40 and Lincoln Prep 70-62. Chris Nsenki led the Trojans in all three games with 24, 22, and 28 points respectively. Anthony Walter added 19 points in their victory against Lincoln Prep. Park Hill is now 4-1 with games against Belton and Kearney this week.

Park Hill Wrestling
After finishing second to Kearney in the Park Hill Invitational, Park Hill got a chance for redemption as the two faced off in dual competition last week at Kearney. Despite pins from John Erneste, Preston Crouse, Travis Marcum, and Nolan Smith, Park Hill fell once again to Kearney by a score of 38-32. The Trojans participated in the Walsh Jesuit Ironman Tournament over the weekend in Cuyahoga Falls, Ohio. One of the most notorious high school tournaments in the country, top teams from around the country have traveled far to compete in over the years. The Trojans finished 24th out of over 60 schools with 52 team points. They'll participate in the Midwest Wrestling Classic this weekend.

Park Hill South Wrestling
Park Hill South earned two team dual victories last week against Ray-Pec and Platte County. Bret Rounkles, Jimmy Carpenter, Alex Weatherly, Nick Gillespie, and Grant Kirschbaum pinned their opponents as the Panthers defeated Platte County 42-27. They went on defeat Ray-Pec 44-23 later in the week. Over the weekend, the Panthers placed sixth out of 16 teams in the Lee's Summit North Invitational with 177.5 team points. Just Haughenberry placed third in the 140 pound division, Rene Jiminez placed fourth in the 160 pound division, Nick Gillespie second in the 171 pound division, and Sam Eickhoff fourth in the heavyweight division.

Park Hill South Swim/Dive
Park Hill South bested Park Hill last week 123-57. The Panthers made state cuts in the medley and 200 Free Relays. Rachael Norfleet made state cuts in the 200 Free and 100 Free. Lyndsay Ryan made state cuts in the 50 Free and 100 Back along with Olivia McLain's state qualifying cut in the 200 Individual Medley.

Despite no team scores being kept in the Blue Springs Holiday Relay meet Park Hill South won 13 of the 16 relays. Shannon Brouk swam a state cut in the 200 Free, Mary Cate Reinert in the 100 Fly and Olivia McLain in the 100 Breaststroke. They qualified the 400 free relay team while also seeing improved times in the Medley and 200 Free Relays. They'll travel to St. Louis over the weekend to compete against the Mary Institute and Saint Louis Day School.