Lady Trojans look to big week ahead

Coming off a Fort Osage Tournament Championship run, the Park Hill Lady Trojans were back in action last Tuesday as they played their home opener against Ruskin. The Trojans built a gradually increased lead throughout the first half resulting in a 22-13 halftime score. Park Hill increased their lead in the second half to end up winning 41-30. Leading the Trojans in scoring were Laura Bennett with 11 points and Katy Plummer with 10.

After such impressing performances last week, Coach Brian Rockers felt his team could have played better.

“Overall, not one of our better performances so far this season,” he said.

Although they didn’t shoot very well from the field (32%) and had more turnovers than they would have liked(31), their defense was able to put up enough pressure to pull out the win.

“We have a lot to work on before a big week next week,” Rockers said of their upcoming matchups.

Those three big games will be a measuring stick of the season up to this point. They travel to Truman on Thursday to face a 1-5 Patriot team in a conference game, and then host defending state champions Platte County (6-0) on Friday night. Rockers emphasized the importance of both games in the pre-season and what potential wins against those opponents could do momentum and confidence-wise.

Park Hill Boys off to fast start

The Park Hill Boys Basketball team is off to one of its better starts in recent years after defeating Truman and Oak Park last week. The Trojans, now 4-1, won’t have much of a break though, because they’ll be preparing to take on highly ranked Grandview the day after Christmas in the first game of the William Jewell Tournament in Liberty. Grandview comes in with a record of 3-3 after beating Shawnee Mission East last weekend in the Hy-Vee Shootout at Avila University.

A win against Truman last week by a score of 76-65 was a big road victory as the Trojans were able to contain top guard Antonio Winn especially in the second quarter as they were able to go into halftime with a 33-19 lead. Justin Leathers turned in an outstanding performance with 35 points while De’Aris Flint added another 15. They were able to see gains from their defensive rebounding and control of the ball in their offensive sets. Chris Nsenki put up 13 points while battling a sprained wrist. He’s expected to return to the lineup next week.

Then last Thursday, facing a young and inexperienced Oak Park Northmen squad, the Trojans used their athleticism and active defense to take a steady halftime lead of 30-24. It was at that point when De’Aris Flint took center stage and went on to score 14 points in the third quarter which he capped off when he received a Steven Clark pass and took it in for a dunk. Flint finished with 26 points.

“It was a night when he was finishing it whenever he had a chance to get a shot off,” Garrison said of Flint.

“As a basketball player, when you get that moment when you have that kind of confidence, you have to go for it. Otherwise, you’re hurting yourself and the team,” Garrison said of some of his players’ ability to take over a game.

Park Hill only allowed three Oak Park points and had gained a 41-25 score going into the fourth quarter. The Trojans continued to pull away before posting a final score of 56-34.

“Nathan Wilson, Burt Taylor, Steven Clark all gave us some good minutes. Especially with Chris (Nsenki) out, we were able to overcome that. Anthony Walker stepped up and he can start for us if we need him to,” Garrison said of his team’s bench play of late.

Park Hill will now look to an early morning game on December 26 against Grandview who will pose some difficult challenges to the Trojans. Their reputation is one that includes a fast-paced style of play possibly not similar to any opponent Park Hill has seen.

“They’ve got some height and some kids who are very fast,” Garrison said. “They like to play in the full court.”

Park Hill looks to build momentum going into William Jewell Classic

The Park Hill Boys built on their first home victory by pulling out a win against North Kansas City last Tuesday. It was a quality win to build momentum coming into this week with games at Truman and then against Oak Park this Thursday before having a week off to prep for the William Jewell Tournament over Christmas break.

In the first half, the Trojans allowed themselves to get into foul trouble as Chris Nsenki, Justin Leathers, and De’Aris Flint all had two apiece, but went into the locker room at halftime with a 42-36 lead. Stepping up for their teammates in foul trouble was Brady Kreitzer who finished with 24 points and 8 rebounds along with Anthony Walter who added 13 points.

Nsenki and Leathers came back in the second half to round out a Trojan offense that presented a balanced scoring attack with 20 and 11 points respectively. Nsenki also grabbed seven boards.

The Hornets were able to cut the margin to three going into the fourth quarter. That’s went Park Hill went to work at the free throw line. As many coaches have said over and over again, free throws win games, and that was the story for Park Hill last week as they made 27 of 34 in the game. With that, the Trojans increased the margin to 82-73 for the final score.

“We did a great job of getting to the free throw line and converting,” Coach David Garrison said.

Park Hill is now 2-1 on the year as they’ll play key conference games against Truman who is off to an undefeated start to the season after winning the Blue Springs/Blue Springs South Tournament this past weekend. Oak Park at 2-3 then travels to Park Hill following a lose against Southeast last Friday night.

Lady Trojans start season undefeated, look to Platte County

Coming off a Fort Osage Tournament Championship run, the Park Hill Lady Trojans were back in action last Tuesday as they played their home opener against Ruskin. The Trojans built a gradually increased lead throughout the first half resulting in a 22-13 halftime score. Park Hill increased their lead in the second half to end up winning 41-30. Leading the Trojans in scoring were Laura Bennett with 11 points and Katy Plummer with10.

After such impressing performances last week, Coach Brian Rockers felt his team could have played better.

“Overall, not one of our better performances so far this season,” he said.

Although they didn’t shoot very well from the field (32%) and had more turnovers than they would have liked(31), their defense was able to put up enough pressure to pull out the win.

“We have a lot to work on before a big week next week,” Rockers said of their upcoming matchups.

Those three big games will be a measuring stick of the season up to this point. They travel to Truman on Thursday to face a 1-5 Patriot team in a conference game, and then host defending state champions Platte County (6-0) on Friday night. Rockers emphasized the importance of both games in the pre-season and what potential wins against those opponents could do momentum and confidence-wise.