Park Hill girls fade against tough Staley squad

Coming into the fourth quarter of their district semifinal against St. Joe Central, the Park Hill Lady Trojans found themselves down 11 points. Mounting an impressive come from behind effort anchored by Kyleesha Weston, who had 20 points on the night, Park Hill edged the Indians 37-36 to advance to last Friday’s district title game against Staley.

The energy and momentum from the previous night’s effort must have carried into the first quarter as Park Hill held Staley, one of the city’s top teams, scoreless for the first five and a half minutes of the game, building a modest 7-0 lead. That’s when Staley turned on the burners though, as they finished the quarter on a 9-0 run, taking the lead, one they would not give up.

 “We got off to a really good start. Probably had a little bit of the home crowd behind us,” Park Hill Coach Aaron Neeser said. “Had some bad possessions at the end of the first quarter and beginning of the 2^nd quarter, they (Staley) settled in and couldn’t ever really get them out of their rhythm.”

Park Hill would continue to battle, but would be unable to overcome Staley, who was able to hit some big shots in the second half to smother any comeback efforts and go onto a 52-37 victory.

“We got beat on the boards and gave up too many second chance opportunities,” Neeser said. “They’re a really good team.”

Park Hill ends their season with a 16-11 record, a successful improvement for an outgoing senior class and foundation builder for Neeser, who concludes his second season at the head of the program.