Trojans think their moment is now: Strong group of Park Hill seniors hope to blaze posteseason trail

Three and a half years ago Park Hill boys head basketball coach David Garrison took over a program that had not had a winning season in over five years. Looking to build a successful program, he turned most of his attention to the then varsity squad. Meanwhile, there was the optimistic comfort of seeing a freshmen team simply dominate at the lower levels that gave him hope there would be something special one day. A single loss to Lee’s Summit West in the postseason tournament was the only blemish on the young Trojans’ record that year.

Those Trojans are now seniors and have been part of a transformative change for the Park Hill program in recent years. It comes full circle Friday night as eight seniors play their final home game against the same Lee’s Summit West Titans who dealt them their only defeat three years ago, capping off a three game stretch over four days.

Following their freshmen year, the Class of 2011 played a role in gaining Park Hill its first winning varsity season in half a decade as sophomores. They took a huge leap forward last year as juniors, assuming four of the five starting roles, by racking up 19 regular season wins including an undefeated conference title, their first since 2002. As seniors, they’ve put together a 14-6 season so far while still undefeated in conference. Friday night’s game could clinch them a share of their second straight conference title and put them momentum for their ultimate goal: a district title and run through the Missouri Class 4 playoffs.

“Sky’s the limit. Our goal last year was to get to the Independence Event Center (quarterfinals), and we haven’t even mentioned that this year, because we know we want to go to Columbia (state),” Nathan Wilson said.

Wilson, Chris Nsenki, De’Aris Flint, Anthony Walters, Burt Taylor, Luke Bossert, and Travis Perry make up a group of seven that have played together throughout their high school years and even beyond as some competed both with and against each other throughout their youth. The eighth senior, transfer point guard Tre Durham, was welcomed with open arms this season, fitting in almost immediately.

“The thing about these seniors is that aside from Tre, you’ve got a group of kids who’ve been around each other forever, they’re like a family. They know each other’s quarks,” Garrison said. “It’s nice to get a guy like Tre who has just gelled right away.”

“He distributes and he doesn’t mind,” Wilson said. “We needed someone who can push the tempo and he can do all that.”

“I wish he would’ve been here last year. He’s kind of a missing piece,” Flint added.

Speaking of history, Flint and Wilson themselves have been best friends since middle school. The two recently committed to play football next fall at Northwest Missouri State.

“He’s the quarterback and I’m a receiver, we’ve got to be friends of some kind. We’re best friends and enemies at the same time,” Flint joked about the competitive nature they have between them.

On the court, Nsenki has been their top scorer for the better part of two years as he recently surpassed 1,000 points for his career. On any given night he can be a game changer. His knowledge of the game has allowed him to open up opportunities for his teammates, but one thing that can be said of this year’s Trojan squad is each player knows their general roll. While Durham, Walters, and Taylor provide a consistent presence at the point guard position and tenacious defense at the top of the key, Wilson and Flint provide an agile, but strong mid-post game threat to Nsenki’s scoring. Junior Connor Farmer at 6’6” contributes as Park Hill’s go to pure post player.

“We like to hang our hat on defense, we brag about steals and charges,” Wilson said.

“We know who the scorers are, Chris is going to get his points, but we come out and see who can get the most stats on defense,” Flint added.

While on the court is certainly important, Garrison pointed out that the entire class has contributed to this year’s success including Bossert and Perry who haven’t seen as much playing time due not only to the Trojans’ larger than average senior class, but also the depth of the team overall.

“I can’t say enough good things about them. They’re ultimate team players. During games, they’re like coaches, always looking for things that we need to do better. When they get an opportunity to play they make the most of it,” Garrison said.

The past several years will culminate in the next couple weeks into what the Trojans hope are their finest moments.

“That last week of February we’ll put all the chips on the table and see what happens,” Garrison said. “We’ve built the program on defense and blocking out. We just have to remind ourselves of what has helped us win games.”

While their coach is focused on the mental and strategic approach to the season’s final stretch, the players know exactly what they want and speak candidly about it.

“He (Garrison) knows where we want to go. We talked about it, because we think we can go all the way,” Flint said.

South Wrestling on verge of being annual contender

With Park Hill South Wrestling’s 44-24 dual victory over Belton last week, Dan Dunkin’s Panthers have assured themselves at least a share of the Suburban Mid-Seven conference championship, the first in school history. Bret Rounkles, Jimmy Carpenter, and Sam Eickhoff led South with pins in their respective matches. While the achievement is something to hang their hat on, Dunkin sees the title as a step on the way to what he hopes is sustained success in coming years. The young wrestlers South sees filling their varsity spots is reason to believe the Panthers are on the right course.

“I don’t know if we’re ready yet,” Dunkin said of excelling into the area’s group of elite programs. “It’s coming and it’s on the horizon.”

Sophomores Carpenter, Adam Weatherly, and Chase Gray qualified for state last year as freshmen and didn’t perform as well as they would have liked leaving room for improvement and a burning desire to return again. Alex Fortuna and Eickhoff were one match away from qualifying last year, but fell short of advancing.

“It’s a very similar story for most of them,” Dunkin said. “But I expect big things from them now. We’re getting a nucleus of kids coming back with quality experience.”

Eickhoff is one of two seniors in the starting lineup for the Panthers. After leading in his state qualifying match last season, he got pinned, leaving him with a goal to be fulfilled in his final tour.

“Sam wants to beat if not emulate one of his older rivals from the past, since he’s not there anymore it allows him the chance to fill that void,” Dunkin said of his captain.

At the heavyweight position, South has had trouble finding a mainstay throughout the season, but feel they have a good candidate to compete for them in districts.

“We’re playing musical chairs with our heavyweights. At certain times we’ve had as many as five guys,” Dunkin said. “We’ve talked about it already and we’ve got some young, good looking guys, but they’re willing to give it to Cody Hodges, our senior.”

The Panthers have been battling injuries throughout the season, but hope to be getting healthy at just the right time. After accomplishing the goal of winning a conference title, Dunkin still believes he can get a solid group of wrestlers qualified for the state tournament in late February.

“I’m still focused on that right now (getting six to state), depending on how some of our injuries shape up,” Dunkin said. “The goal still stands.”

As he looked up at the banner that would eventually list their newly clinched title, Dunkin indicated they wanted to hold the title by themselves and could earn that this week as they complete their conference season against Winnetonka.

“That banner up there, I’d rather have the title outright than share it as co-champs. I’m greedy when it comes to things like that,” Dunkin said.

Winter Weekly Recap: Jan. 31 - Feb. 5

Park Hill South Girls Basketball
After weather caused the North Kansas City tournament to be moved back several days, the Lady Panthers of Park Hill South experienced a rough series of games last week as they went 0-3 in three consecutive days. A 59-43 loss to St. Joe Central in the opening round led to a rivalry matchup with Park Hill on Friday afternoon. The close matchups over the last two years between the two teams held true again as the game heading into overtime before Park Hill edged out a 53-50 win. Stephanie Griffith put in 12 points for the Panthers. Hoping to bounce back on Saturday, the Panthers lost another close one. This time to Oak Park 26-24. Park Hill South is now 7-12 with a home game against Kearney Thursday evening.

Park Hill Girls Basketball
Park Hill went 2-1 in their appearance in the North Kansas City Tournament. After falling in the opening game against the host team, Park Hill edged out an overtime victory against Park Hill South 53-50 as Michele Rupard had a career game with 22 points along with Kyleesha Weston's 20. Playing in the consolation game, Park Hill outscored St. Pius 56-39 to earn fifth place with Weston scoring 22 points and Dominique Broadus accounting for 17. The Lady Trojans are now 8-9 with a home game against St. Joe Central Thursday night.

Park Hill Wrestling
Park Hill placed fourth out of eight teams over the weekend at the Oak Grove Tournament after scoring 92.5 team points. John Erneste (103), Michael Olsen (112), Derek Rens (135), and Travis Marcum (285) all placed second. Conner Shene placed fourth in the 140 pound division. The Trojans now head into the district tournament this weekend at Lee's Summit High School. After winning their conference, assistant coach Joe Gonier says they have high expectations out of their wrestlers and team.

"We feel pretty good going into districts next week," Gonier said. "Our kids are wrestling well right now and we expect that to continue."

Park Hill Swimming
Breaking Lee's Summit West's streak of conference title streaks proved to be difficult for Park Hill last weekend as they finished second with 510 team points compared to the Titans 577. Park Hill junior Brynn Guardado repeated and held her conference title in the 200 and 500-yard freestyle. The state swim meet is next weekend, February 18-19th in St. Peters, MO.

Winter Weekly Recap: Jan. 24-29

Park Hill Girls Basketball
The Lady Trojans fell in a close game against North Kansas City late last week as they lost 46-44. Kyleesha Weston had a stellar performance as she scored almost half of the Trojans' points with 20 along with freshman Dominique Broadus's 10 points. With a 6-8 record, they are competing in the North Kansas City Tournament this week.

Park Hill South Girls Basketball
The Park Hill South Lady Panthers went through a week of give and take last week as they suffered a heavy 56-36 loss to Raytown earlier in the week, but came back in a big way by beating Ruskin 56-16. Stephanie Griffith led South in their loss to Raytown with 15 points while Tori Kerr scored 10 points in their victory over Ruskin. At 7-9, they are playing in the North Kansas City Tournament this week.

Park Hill/Park Hill South Boys Basketball
Leading up to last Friday's rivalry game, Park Hill South won an impressive 47-32 victory over Oak Park. The Park Hill boys weren't as lucky, as they fell just short of beating Liberty 48-47 after giving up a lead late in the game.

Park Hill South Wrestling
The lower weight classes of the Park Hill South wrestling team outlasted the heavier classes of the Lee's Summit West Titans last week as South took a hard fought 40-36 victory. With pins from Alex Fortuna (112), Bret Rounkles (119), Jimmy Carpenter (125), and Alex Weatherly (130), Nick Gillespie's pin in the 171 weight class carried the Panthers over the edge in a dual where Lee's Summit West's otherwise heavier wrestlers were racking up points for the Titans. They will compete in the Lee's Summit North Invite this weekend.

Head coach Dan Dunkin says this year the injuries have created even more opportunities for different athletes to wrestle on the varsity level including freshman George Barth and junior Nick Gillespie who have been able to step into varsity roles as needed. Usually at the JV-level, Cody Hodges picked up four varsity victories last weekend at the Liberty Invitational on his way to a sixth place finish. Fortuna placed third (103), Weatherly second (130), Chase Gray third (171), DJ Dewit fifth (145), and Bret Rounkles fifth (119).

Efficiency can counteract tuition increases

Last week I wrote that with today’s difficult budget situations, public colleges and universities in Missouri weren’t specifying any cuts they would make to match the increases in tuition they plan to implement at their schools in response to the state’s decreased funding for higher education. Governor Nixon confirmed in his State of the State address last week that the budget he sent to the state legislature for consideration includes a seven percent cut in higher education funding from the this year’s levels. While this is a blow to the state’s public colleges and will affect thousands of students, the importance of a college education can’t continue to gradually become less and less accessible to students because of increasing costs to attend. As is the case in many situations, the people most affected by these cost increases can’t control the rising costs, but they can do their best to create their own efficiencies and streamline their path to a college degree. Like anything, a well thought-out plan can save you time and money when it comes to making an education affordable.

One of the most effective ways to save money on college is to start before the student even leaves high school. Many local school districts partner with local colleges to offer high school students the opportunity to take what is known as dual credit courses during their junior and senior years. Paying a reduced rate, students are able to take college level classes in math, science, history, and language arts while earning their high school diploma. This takes out much of the overhead and extra fees colleges would charge a normally enrolled student. Since high school students are in class more during the week than college students, graduating high school seniors can sometimes graduate with as much as 30 credit hours already under their belt, equal to approximately an entire year of college. This varies based on the courses completed and whether the college will accept particular classes towards requirements in their degree programs. One reason to keep an open line of communication with high school counselors is so they provide specific information in regards to learning the specific requirements of individual colleges. They can research or at least provide guidance on where to find the appropriate answers.

There’s no use in taking college credit hours in high school if you waste them away once on campus. While few are able to simply turn a four-year program into a three-year college experience through dual-credit classes, it’s very possible and there’s no denying the cost savings of doing so. An extra class either in the evening, over the summer, or online on top of a regular course load every once in awhile can really make a big difference. The additional money not spent on rent, meals, and required fees that each semester contain can offer significant savings if avoided. On the other hand, extra semesters on top of the average four-year path to a degree caused by changing majors, failing classes, poor planning, etc. are wasteful and costly.

The advantages of dual credit are numerous and a cost effective head start to students. This gives them an early exposure to college level material while still in a familiar environment and the chance to save themselves thousands of dollars in additional student loans and interest. Buying textbooks online instead of at the university bookstore, working a part-time job a few hours a week, and taking advantage of some of the less expensive options that universities offer from time to time are a few more of the small things that can be done to decrease the cost of their overall education experience.

College institutions themselves may not be interested in simultaneously matching their tuition increases with new ways to efficiently provide a high quality education, but that doesn’t mean students can’t learn the valuable lesson themselves while going through the process themselves. Although I support Mark Twain’s idea of not letting school interfere with someone’s education, it’s a great time to have young adults see first-hand how planning ahead and looking for small savings can significantly benefit them.

Clash for a cause: Park Hill, Park Hill South primed for rivalry game that will raise money for the American Cancer Society

The Park Hill and Park Hill South boys basketball teams will face off on Friday night after coming off just barely missing out on tournament titles in the Basehor-Linwood and North Kansas City Tournaments this past weekend. Their second place finishes leave an unfulfilled gap of accomplishment for what will already be a contentious rivalry game between two of the hottest teams in the metro this season. Not only will the game itself be a matchup of two solid squads, but it will also bring together two fan bases for a worthy case as they raise money for the American Cancer Society.

“It’s a great chance for people to contribute along with our hoops club having a raffle,” Garrison said of the opportunities available to donate. “It’s the first year we’ve done it. The Great Kansas City Basketball Association has made it a goal to raise money for the American Cancer Association.”

"Friday’s game should be a fun night," Siouth head coach Anthony Perry said. "Park Hill is playing good basketball and it should be a competitive game.  Last year we had a game against Staley to raise funds for cancer and it was a great event for a great cause.  So I called David and asked him if he’d be interested in doing the same thing for our game and he agreed.  Everyone knows someone who has dealt with cancer and I’m excited about having the opportunity to help."

Park Hill (12-5, 4-1) and Park Hill South (12-6, 6-1) are two teams with considerable talent and experience. One key area to watch will be South’s Christian Hildebrandt and Park Hill’s De’Aris Flint, two of the most athletic players on the court. Hildebrandt’s three point capabilities make him a threat against what will otherwise be a physical and agile matchup between the two forwards. Another pair to watch will be Park Hill’s Anthony Walters and South’s Rocky Benson. The two point guards have displayed strong ball handling skills thus far along with the ability to be aggressive to the basket. Additionally, expect to see Benson handling defensive duties against Park Hill’s top-scorer Nsenki from time to time.

“It’s going to be a great game. They’re well coached and have got a good group back from last year and a good group of newcomers filling in,” Garrison said of Park Hill South’s squad.

The Trojans and Panthers featured similar paths to their respective tournament championship game appearances last weekend. Park Hill forced overtime in their semi-final game against Maryville before finally pulling out the victory 57-55 to advance to the title game against host school Basehor-Linwood. The home school crowd put the Trojans in a hostile environment, one in which they might not encounter all season with the nature of small-town Kansas basketball. A foul infested game, Park Hill simply was unable to rebound effectively and convert free throws to overcome Basehor-Linwood’s relentlessness. On top of that, the Bobcats were able to hold leading scorer Chris Nsenki to just 12 points. Despite not performing in several key areas, the Trojans were able to only be down by as much as 13 points in the second half before eventually falling 53-45 after cutting the lead to just three late in the game. De’Aris Flint led the Trojans with 13 points.

“I think we lost rebounds 11-2 in the fourth quarter and that’s when you have to do your best,” Coach David Garrison said. “When one part is off, you can’t have another off. We have to play through things, whether that is the crowd or a call. We can’t let that affect us when we’re playing against the hometown team. We can’t let things beyond our control affect our game.”

Garrison said the opportunity to play in Kansas against teams they’re not familiar with was a good thing.

“I think it’s a good break between the beginning of the conference season and the end,” Garrison said. “It’s a good chance to play teams you usually don’t see and is a nice change of pace.”

For Park Hill South, it wasn’t the semifinal game, but the title game that required overtime against Truman. In what appeared to be a tight game throughout, Park Hill South faced a 26-25 halftime deficit before regaining the lead going into the fourth quarter by just a point at 40-39. Over time was forced in the fourth, but the give and take experienced the entire game ended in the Patriots’ favor with a close 55-54 Truman victory. Christian Hildebrandt has 23 points along with Adam Schemenauer’s 14.

Winter Weekly Recap: Jan. 17-21

Park Hill/Park Hill South Wrestling
Park Hill South dominated their mid-week dual against William Chrisman as they pulled out the team victory 54-15 with wins coming in the form of pins from Alex Fortuna (112), Jimmy Carpenter (125), George Barth (130), Chase Gray (171), and Sam Eickhoff (215).

The always competitive Winnetonka Tournament was held this past weekend. Park Hill and Park Hill South finished behind first place medal winner Blue Springs and their 320 team points. Park Hill finished second with 260.5 points while Park Hill South finished sixth with 201.5 points. Park Hill's Michael Olsen (112), Bricker Dixon (125), Preston Crouse (145), and Nolan Smith (285) won their respective weight divisions. Park Hill South's Jimmy Carpenter finished second in the 119 weight division.

Park Hill South Girls Basketball
The Lady Panthers went 1-1 last week in the North Kansas City tournament with a loss to Oak Park and a victory against Belton. They came out slow in both the first and fourth quarters to Oak Park in a 46-27 loss. Samantha Roy lead the Panthers with five points. Against Belton, the Panthers led throughout and held the Pirates scoreless in the second quarter (18-0) and added another 14 points to their advantage in the third quarter (22-8) before going on to win 59-18. Tori Kerr led the Panthers with 14 points along with Haley Shelton's 13 and Courtney Claassen's 11. Now at 6-7, they play against Raytown South on Thursday.

Park Hill Girls Basketball
The Lady Trojans defeated the home town host Basehor-Linwood on day to advance to the tournament semi-final after a close 35-32 victory. Tied going into the fourth quarter, Park Hill led by Kyleesha Weston's all-tournament performance of 16 points edged the Bobcats by three to advance on to play Ottawa. Despite a 16-4 deficit against Platte County, Park Hill spent the entirety of the game battling back before falling 55-47. Weston led with 14 points in the loss. Another close game didn't turn in the Trojans favor as Ottawa stayed just in front of Park Hill throughout the game to slide to a 43-37 victory. Weston led once again with 23 points. At 6-8, they play North Kansas City Thursday night.

Despite funding cuts, yearly tuition increases are the easy way out

Shortly after taking office in January 2009, Governor Jay Nixon announced an agreement with public universities and colleges in the state of Missouri to preserve their funding despite what would likely be several years of state budget cuts. The agreement promised to maintain the previous year’s level of funding for higher education if, in return, university officials promised there would be no tuition increase. The 2009-2010 school year was the only time in the last decade there has been no tuition increase for Missouri public universities. It provided temporary relief from funding cuts that have increased compared to inflation over the last two decades.

Although the tuition freeze saved students from increases in 2009-2010, it was short lived. For 2010-2011 the University of Missouri System, comprised of campuses in St. Louis, Columbia, Kansas City, and Rolla, increased tuition for out-of-state undergraduate students and professional students. With more cuts in higher education scheduled for the 2012 fiscal budget, university officials have indicated an increase just below 10% is almost inevitable for all students.

As school districts across the country work to balance their budgets with cuts across the board, it was interesting to find there were few, if any, comments on any cuts the universities themselves were intent on making. When universities speak about tuition they lead you to believe it is all inclusive, when it really is not. A University of Missouri student taking a 15-hour class schedule would pay about $3,700 in tuition. This doesn’t include ‘required student fees’ which could add an additional $1,000 dollars to your bill. These can include fees for information technology, student activities, health center, and recreation center along with any additional fees the specific area of instruction wants to add. These fees are also scheduled to increase. These costs are before you even get to campus and don’t include marked-up books you buy and living expenses.

In difficult budget times, higher education is usually the first to get their funding cut. This is because they have more ability to generate revenues than other state-funded programs. In addition to students that pay to attend, universities generate a great deal of income through athletic programs, bookstores, selling food and other merchandise, and collecting donations from alumni. They’ve got the revenue part down, but in tough budget situations, you have to also find ways to reduce expenses. It’s easy to find new fees to impose and increase tuition every year, which had been done every year at public universities in Missouri prior to Nixon’s 2009 agreement. College campuses and people involved in academia have a wealth of knowledge and should be fully capable of producing solutions to overcome cuts in funding other than calculating what each year’s tuition increase should be over the Consumer Price Index.

Kansas City business executive Warren Erdman, a member on the University of Missouri Board of Curators, was recently reported to have said that a rise in tuition would lead potential students to believe the school is more prestigious and therefore would see an increase in enrollment. MU Chancellor reinforced this thought by claiming more than 200 more students would attend with an increased tuition. Despite having no evidence to support it, he doesn’t factor in the possible decrease in enrollment due to the same tuition increase. These blue-blooded comments are beyond unreasonable to accept for the thousands of Missouri high school students who will be enrolling in their freshman year of college this Fall, likely having to add more debt to student loans that will already hold back young adults financially for years after they graduate. If higher education really is about preparing students for careers and life beyond campus, then ensuring students can actually afford that education would help make that more of a reality.

Panthers experience change of pace

Run and gun.

A fast paced basketball approach of quick scores from aggressive offense and applying tough pressure on defense.

This is the style Anthony Perry and his Park Hill South Panthers have played for the better part of a decade. Last year, it led them to a Final Four appearance in the Missouri Class Five playoffs. With three core players returning from last year’s team and several players stepping up into strong supporting roles, South has now switched from the role of David to Goliath. But in the heart of a tough conference schedule, the Panthers have had to do something they haven’t done in quite a while: slow down.

With the loss of starting point guard Anthony Woods for the season, shooting guard Rocky Benson has moved to the top of the key to run the Panther offense. One of the Panthers’ top scorers, Benson’s role will now change with a newly oriented Panther offense.

“He’s had to change the way he plays. Usually our two-guard scores and plays defense against the other team’s best player,” Perry said. “With him at the point, we can’t wear him out on defense. His has to make sure the offense runs the way it’s supposed to.”

Plagued by injuries, the Panthers don’t have the depth they usually need to run their high-paced offense. The return of 6’3” Kendrick White to the lineup, which Perry describes as part of the heart and soul of his team, allows the Panthers to turn their focus to more of a half-court approach and use their size to attack the basket down low. Along with White, 6’9” center Adam Schemenauer and 6’4” forward Christian Hildebrandt make up a sizable and athletic post combo.

“Especially when you have the size we have. We’d be dumb not to look to the inside. You notice it more now because we’ve lost a transition guy,” Perry said.

On display last Friday, they hosted an outmatched Belton Pirate squad. Focusing on the post early and often, South guards looked twice, sometimes three times into the post to get the right look they needed. Although this only left the Panthers with a 10-8 lead after the first quarter, it was hard to shake old habits as they naturally turned to their fast-paced full-court game which extended their lead to 26-10 at the half. The second half was perhaps a leading example of how dangerous Park Hill South could be down the stretch as they combined their new post focus and potentially explosive full-court game with the athletic ability of Hildebrandt, one of the most difficult match-ups for an opposing team. South extended the lead to a final 54-19 victory. Hildebrandt scored 24 points, outscoring the entire Belton team. Benson and Schemenauer contributed eight points along with White’s seven.

“He does a good job, very unselfish player. He could come down and shoot the ball every single possession, but he picks out his opportunities. He allows his teammates to get into the flow of offense before he chooses his shots,” Perry said of Hildebrandt.

The key to seeing success when districts come around is combining their multiple threats with the ability to compose themselves and make the decisions necessary to carry them out.

“Force ourselves to be mentally disciplined is our goal. We understand what we need to do offensively and defensively,” Perry said. “Now it comes down to every possession being disciplined enough to do it.”

Winter Weekly Recap: Jan. 10-15

Park Hill Boys Basketball
The day off of school due to snow affected Lee's Summit West more last Tuesday as they hosted Park Hill in a suburban conference battle. Park Hill trailed by a score of 28-20 before mounting a 21-5 third quarter leading them to a key 62-49 victory. Connor Farmer has emerged as a scoring presence for the Trojans as he posted 17 points along with Chris Nsenki's 17. De'Aris Flint added 12. To close the week, Park Hill had a chance to knock off a talented Truman team, but were unable to gain any momentum as the Patriots outscored the Trojans in each quarter for a 60-5 win. At 11-4, Park Hill will be in a conference battle with Truman and Lee's Summit West down the stretch as their second meetings could make a difference in who claims the title. Park Hill will compete in the Basehor-Linwood Tournament this week followed by what is sure to be a great matchup at Liberty on Tuesday and rival Park Hill South on Friday.

Park Hill South Boys Basketball
After two tough losses the prior week, the Park Hill South Panthers came back strong last week as they scratched out a nail-biting victory against conference opponent Raytown South 50-49. Christian Hildebrandt scored 16 along with Adam Schemenauer's 13. Outmatched in almost every aspect, the Belton Pirates received a tough task in traveling to South last Friday night. Although, close in the beginning the Panthers held Belton to just 19 points the entire game. Hildebrandt scored 24 points in an impressive performance that outscored the entire Pirate roster. The Panthers are now 10-5 and are playing in the North Kansas City tournament this week before facing off against Oak Park Tuesday and Park Hill next Friday night.

Park Hill Girls Basketball
The Lady Trojans only game last week as a rough one as they suffered a defeat at home against Lee's Summit West 63-38. Facing a tough Titan team, the Trojans fell to a 36-13 halftime deficit after West outscored the Trojans 23-7 in the second quarter. Park Hill's top average scorers, Kyleesha Weston and Helena Hudson, weren't able to break double digits with nine and eight points, respectively. The Trojans were able to turnout a better second half, going toe to toe with Titans in the third and fourth quarters, b the damage was done. Park Hill is participating in the Basehor-Linwood Tournament this week. They are now 5-6.

Park Hill South Girls Basketball
The Park Hill South Girls lost a close one last Thursday night against Fort Osage 34-30. Taking a 12-11 halftime lead, the Panthers extended their lead to six going into the final quarter, but Fort Osage's 14 points compared to South's four in the fourth quarter hurt the Panthers most. Stephanie Griffith led South with seven points along with Courtney Shelton and Mallory Ross's five points.

Park Hill Wrestling
After some frustrating dual losses early in the season, the Park Hill wrestling team bounced back in a huge way last weekend as they brought home the Capital City Wrestling Title from Jefferson City. Competing in a field of 11 teams from across the state, Park Hill racked up 238.5 team points and won four of the five championship matches they wrestled in. First place medals were awarded to Michael Olsen (112), Bricker Dixon (125), Russel Coleman (130), and Preston Crouse (145). John Erneste lost a hard fought dual in overtime at 103 for a second place finish. They compete in the Winnetonka Tournament this weekend.