Park Hill South pulls away from Park Hill for 14th win

The Park Hill and Park Hill South girls basketball teams came into Monday night’s game having two different kinds of seasons. Park Hill with their 2-11 record has a roster sporting a young group of inexperienced varsity players while Park Hill South’s 13-1 record represented a talented squad coming off an Oak Park Tournament title last week.

For one quarter though, they were almost equals. The Trojans hit some early shots and came out with a burst of aggressive energy where they swarmed the Panthers defensively to gain a 9-3 advantage early in the game. Park Hill South would refocus and battle back at the end of the first quarter as Erica Timmerman banked-in a three point basket at the buzzer to give the Panthers their first lead of the game 11-10.

The Panthers wouldn’t look back as they would steadily increase their lead the rest of the way leading 27-15 at halftime before cruising to a final score of 62-34. South’s Madeline Homoly led all scorers with 19 points.

“I thought our energy level was good, we came out aggressive, then the wind kind of came out of our sails,” Park Hill coach Aaron Neeser said. “We executed, played hard, did the little things, then we just got tired. 20 turnovers kind of does that to you.”

Park Hill will prep for the North Kansas City Tournament next week with a conference game against Ruskin on Thursdasy.

“We’re getting better, little by little,” Neeser said. “The young pups as I call them, are taking steps towards getting them to where they need to be.”

With the victory, Park Hill South improved their record to 14-1 on the season and is looking forward to conference play where they will battle an undefeated Truman team twice in coming weeks. Coach Jenni Orlowski says taking the season one game at a time has really helped keep their focus away from their record.

“I think when we were 12-1, it kind of hit me at that point,” Orlowski said. “Until then, we’ve kind of had our nose to the grindstone. I haven’t been 14-1 as a coach, so this is a first. We’re starting to get some press, we’re ranked 10^th in the state. I have a great group of kids that work hard and take things game to game.”

It hasn’t been without its challenges though as the Panthers lost guard Mackenzie Stout for the season earlier in the year, which has left them with the feeling they have been shorthanded.

“We’ve had some challenges, when we lose Mackenzie,” Orlowski said. “We kind of feel like an underdog since we’re short one that we planned on having.”

Even with a potent offense, the Panthers have relied on their defense for strength and as their record improves it will be valuable in closer games down the stretch of their season.

“Defense has produced offense for us. We’ve probably got the quickest guards out of all the teams we’ve played so far,” Orlowski said. “For every win you have, there’s more on the line. You don’t want to lose, but as you get more wins there is more pressure that comes with that.”

Park Hill South plays Lee’s Summit West before competing in the North Kansas City Tournament next week.