Park Hill South girls continue on winning path

Park Hill South girls basketball has blazed trails through the competition so far this season with an impressive 18-3 record. With few blemishes on their record, the Panthers came into last week’s matchup with undefeated Truman tied for a share of the conference leader board. It was a chance to gain what would likely ensure a share of the conference title, pending a second matchup February 21^st in the last regularly scheduled game of the season.

Over-sized by the Patriots, Park Hill South game planned to try to use their guard play and quickness to pick the pace of the game up. It worked well through one half of play with the Panthers taking a six point lead into the second quarter and a single point lead going into halftime, but Truman would bounce back in full force in the second half. It was enough to propel them to a 57-44 win over Park Hill South. Madeline Homoly led the Panthers in scoring with 14 points.

“They’re lineup is huge and we’ll look forward to the 21^st for the rematch,” Park Hill South coach Jenny Orlowski, “We learned a lot and we’ll see what happens.”

Hoping for a regain their winning ways, the Panthers bounced back with tenacity against Park Hill as they jumped on the Trojans early with a strong defensive effort which helped them build a 12-4 lead after the first quarter.

“We knew we needed to have a good defensive night and we did for the most part,” Orlowski said.

They would build a 42-23 lead going into the final quarter before expanding their advantage to a 56-28 final score. Homoly and Anna Courtney lead in scoring with 11 points apiece. Samantha Roy added 10 points of her own. Orlowski was glad they regained their winning way and was hoping her Panthers could bounce back at a time of the year where momentum is everything.

“Just regaining momentum and enthusiasm,” Orlowski said. “When you get to this point in the season it’s hard to regain that sometimes.”

While the Lady Panthers see success on the court, they’re also seeing success in the classroom. All five starters for Park Hill South last week, which include Homoly, Courtney, Roy, Courtney Claassen, and Jessica Lee have a cumulative grade point average of 4.0

“They’re pretty smart players most of the time and that translates over to the court,” Orlowski said. “They have great basketball IQ.”

Park Hill South (18-3) hosts St. Joe Central on Thursday night before facing Ruskin and Truman to close out their regular season next week. Park Hill falls to 3-17 and finishes their schedule out against Lee’s Summit West and St. Joe Central on February 21^st.

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.

South Girls end first half on hot streak

… finished the first half of their season with two impressive victories last week. The Lady Panthers improved their overall record to 8-1 going into the holiday break.

Despite going into halftime after St. Joe Central with a one-point deficit, Park Hill South pulled away in the fourth quarter for a narrow 44-39 victory behind some solid free throwing shutting in the final minutes. Jessica Lee led the Panthers with 15 points while Madeline Homoly pulled in 8 rebounds.

They wrapped the week up with a convincing 55-17 win over Grandview. Samantha Roy posted 19 points and seven steals in the victory. Homoly posted 10 points while Lee grabbed 11 rebounds.

Winter Preview: Park Hill South Girls Basketball

The youth movement Park Hill South has been going through the last couple years is one they hope pays off this year as the Lady Panthers return seven letter winners from a team that went 17-10 and finished third in conference last year. Excited for the opportunity to improve, the Panthers come into the season with a renewed sense of confidence and chemistry they hope to take to the next level.

“This is a chance to better our record from last year. From day one, they came in excited about the opportunity they have,” Coach Jenny Orlowski said. “Their goals are very realistic and number one on that list for everybody is districts.”

Among Park Hill South’s returning starters are First Team All-Conference selections sophomore forward Madeline Homoly and junior guard Samantha Roy. Homoly led the team in scoring with 10 points and six rebounds per game last season while Roy served as the team’s point guard and indispensible floor leader. Seniors Courtney Claassen (5 ppg, 2 rpg) and Jessica Lee (9 ppg, 4.5 rpg) will play valuable roles as will junior Morgan Keesee (5.7 ppg, 4.7 rpg) and sophomore guards Mackenzie Stout (6.8 ppg) and Anna Courtney (4.4 ppg).

Using their improved scoring abilities to create opportunities down low and around the three-point arc, the Panthers also hope to step it up defensively in the full court using their athletic lineup. With so many different weapons returning, the Panthers are faced with a good problem to have early in the season, which will be the amount of capable and deserving players eligible to start.

“My biggest dilemma is I can start any of our seven returning players on a given night and not see a letdown. We’re about ten players deep on the bench right now.”

Capitalizing on mistakes from last year, Orlowski hopes to instill a more composed playing style that can endure tough situations and limit turnovers; especially those teams commonly find themselves later in the season.

“We’re working on poise and confidence. I think there were a lot of games down the stretch (last year) that we lost because we were immature and decision making wasn’t great. So we’re working on when to slow it down compared to running like crazy,” Orlowski said.

The Panthers will face a formidable conference with defending champ Truman and Lee’s Summit West presenting tough matchups, but by picking up where they left off with their lineup last year, Park Hill South feels they can play with anyone.

“If we can be cohesive and play together as one, we should be a tough challenger in any game we play this year,” Orlowski said.

Park Hill girls upset Park Hill South in NKC opener

The Park Hill Lady Trojans pulled off a mild upset of rival Park Hill South to kick off the North Kansas City tournament Monday afternoon by a score of 63-46. While Park Hill was aided by their leading scorer Kyleesha Weston, the difference maker could have been Bethany Sullinger's 24 points, 18 of which came from three-point range.

"We played really well, limited their offensive rebounds and made shots," Park Hill Coach Aaron Neeser said. "Beth shot the ball with a lot of confidence."

Park Hill South was led in scoring with ten points a piece from Anna Courtney and Morgan Keesee. Park Hill improves to 10-8 on the season while Park Hill South falls to 12-7.

Lady Panthers fall short in head coach's absence

It was only several hours before Park Hill South’s scheduled tip-off with conference opponent Fort Osage last Friday when junior varsity and assistant head coach Abby Disselhoff found out she’d be filling in for head coach Jenny Orlowski on the varsity level while she tended to a family matter. Disselhoff, a 2002 graduate of Park Hill South, is a former Panther standout who played four years on the varsity squad during her time as a student and is now in her third year as a teacher and coach at the school. Although coaching her first varsity game, Disselhoff found no reason for nerves.

“I didn’t approach it much differently than I do my JV games. Yes, the competition level is higher but my intensity remains the same. I’ve also been with all of the varsity girls since they were freshmen so I know them very well and didn’t need to take on another approach. They know me and I know them,” Disselhoff said.

Hours away, head coach Jenny Orlowski was very much present for the Lady Panthers though as she addressed the team via iPhone before the game just the same as if she was there in person. Despite the out of the ordinary pre-game remarks which Disselhoff says motivated the team, they fell behind Fort Osage in the first quarter, down 17-10 coming into the second quarter before narrowing the margin to 27-25 going into the locker room at halftime.

The third quarter brought the Panthers alive as they took the lead gaining a cushion of seven points at one point before heading into the final quarter. Fort Osage gained the lead back in the final minutes before Courtney Claassen drove to the lane putting up a lay-up giving Park Hill South a one point lead. The Panthers forced a turnover the following possession, giving them a glimpse towards the possible victory, but it wouldn’t last as a basket in the closing seconds gave Fort Osage the advantage and two free throws gave them the ultimate 45-42 victory.

While the Panthers have been spreading the ball around more, resulting in multiple threats, its one area they lacked in last Friday. Samantha Roy led the team with 14 points with Madeline Homoly and Jessica Lee both contributing nine a piece.

“Unfortunately the scoring wasn’t as balanced as it has been in previous games, which could be in part to why we didn’t pull it out,” Disselhoff said. “When we all play together and balance the scoring, everyone is a threat and the defense has to honor that. This allows for more open looks for everyone.”

As the 6-5 Lady Panthers participate in the Oak Park Invitational this week, the characteristics of a young team are still visible, but they’re progressing into what they hope is one that can compete come district time, which isn’t a surprise to their coach who’s watched them grow as players in recent years.

“Being that we are young, our inexperience tends to show up at the end of close games,” Disselhoff said. “There haven’t been any surprises because we have known and been excited about the potential of all of these girls since their 8th grade year or before. They are a talented group and we look forward to a great rest of the season and years to come.”

Lady Panthers pull out close win over Trojans

Pre-Christmas high school basketball isn’t always pretty as teams try to find their early season identities, but streaks of potential greatness can be seen at intervals for what their best might look like come February. This was the case Monday night when the Park Hill South Lady Panthers took on the Park Hill Lady Trojans.

South jumped out to an 11-2 lead early in the first quarter before the Trojans narrowed the lead to 13-10 going into the second. Park Hill narrowed the margin further to 23-22 going into halftime. A key matchup was Park Hill’s Dominique Broadus challenge to South’s freshman center Madeline Homoly. Homoly held her own with 14 points. Both played a big role pulling in rebounds in a rough game under the basket.

“Dominique is good at posting up down low and turning towards the basket while Madeline is a little quicker and can step out of the post,” South coach Jenny Orlowski.

Park Hill would jump ahead in the third as Kyleesha Weston’s scoring put the Trojans ahead for the first time. Up 30-26 with three minutes to play in the third quarter, Weston was called for her fourth foul and showed a slightly emotional disapproval resulting in a technical and her fifth foul, ending her evening. She finished with 13 points. With their top scorer out, guard Bethany Sullinger filled Weston’s void with several key baskets. Sullinger led all scorers with 16 points. Park Hill led 36-28 going into the fourth quarter.

“She was stepping up for a teammate,” Park Hill coach Aaron Neeser said of Sullinger.

Both teams wavered in their free throw shooting down the stretch, but it was a pair of baskets caused by full-court pressure that turned the game in the Panthers’ favor. On the back of aggressive defense and well-balanced offense, South took the lead with three minutes to play in the game, never relinquishing it. A one basket game until the end, Park Hill’s three-point attempts fell short in the closing seconds giving Park Hill South a 52-49 victory. Samantha Roy also scored 14 points.

Both coaches admitted room for improvement and mirrored each others’ concerns.

“I’m glad we’re at 5-4, but we have a lot of things to work on during break,” Orlowski said.

“They (South) played well; I’m not going to take that away from them. We missed free throws, didn’t execute, and lost our composure. We’ve got a lot to work on,” Neeser said.

PH South backcourt will power Panthers

Park Hill South’s 11-15 record in the 2010-11 season was a big improvement from their single digit win season the previous year, but this year is what head coach Jenny Orlowski is branding as a ‘fresh start’ yielding to the theme of the Panthers’ season: New year, new team, new attitude.

Confidence is high in the Panthers backcourt as they return their two starting guards from last year in sophomore Samantha Roy and junior Courtney Claassen as they will be a strong part of what Park Hill South does in the 2011-12 season. According to their coach, both have played well in practice leading up to the season opener with Roy improving her shot over the summer and Claasen building on her previous two varsity seasons.

A defensively solid Brandi Weymuth will serve as the Panthers only senior on a generally young team overall with post player and junior Jessica Lee joining Weymuth and Claasen as the only three upperclassmen on the squad.

“We’re young, so we have that fresh start kind of attitude,” Orlowski said.

Five of the team’s top eight will come from the sophomore and freshman ranks. Roy is joined by sophomore Morgan Keesee and freshmen Mackenzie Stout, Anna Courtney, and Madeline Homoly. While the freshmen will likely work their way more into the complete rotation as the season goes along, they’re very seasoned compared to most first year varsity players with the competitive AAU basketball experience they bring to the table. Still, how that past play translates into varsity results is yet to be seen.

“We don’t know where we’re going to be until those first couple games, right now we’re just looking to get experience early. We could have three or four players on the floor at any given time that haven’t played varsity before,” Orlowski said.

While depth and experience may not be a bedrock for Park Hill South, quickness and speed will be. Orlowski says her team has shown a desire to run in preseason workouts, something that plays well to their lack of a tall post presence.

“Quickness is definitely something we’ll have this year that we haven’t had in recent years,” Orlowski said. “We’re going to get up and down the floor a lot faster this year, our posts are generally shorter, but they’re quick defensively.”

Fresh starts come with their share of trial runs, but the Panthers hope it’s the new attitude along with their fast paced style of play that give them a chance this season at taking a step up from last year’s improvement.

“We’re really young and we’ll probably make some mistakes right out of the shoot, but I think we have potential on any given night,” Orlowski said.

Lady Trojans advance to semi's

It wasn’t a pretty first round district game for the Park Hill and Park Hill South girls basketball teams, but few of the recent games played between these two rivals have been. On Monday, both were hoping to advance to a second round matchup Tuesday evening with first seed Staley.

Park Hill South kept up with the Trojans throughout the first half leaving Park Hill with a 17-14 halftime advantage. Despite, not seeing a normally strong shooting performance, the Panthers had some luck in their half-court game. On the other hand, Park Hill’s full-court pressure created problems for South which allowed the Trojans to find success on the baseline against the Panthers’ zone defense.

“Our outside scoring was sketchy at best. But overall, we shot real well from the free throw line,” Park Hill South coach Jenny Orlowski said.

Park Hill instituted a 1-3-1 defense on the Panthers to start the second half looking to slow their outside shooting causing a little disruption of South’s offense. While at times, they were able to drive through the defense, their shots simply weren’t falling.

“We thought it might help us out a little bit and maybe give them some fits. It worked at times,” Park Hill coach Aaron Neeser said of the 1-3-1 defense. “We just wanted to slow down their outside shooting and keep some girls out of foul trouble.”

Throughout the third and fourth quarter, the Panther offense continued to struggle allowing Park Hill to increase their lead to as much as 12 with fewer than six minutes to play. Some timely converted free throws kept Park Hill South in the game, allowing them to attempt a comeback. A technical foul on Orlowski with 4:30 to play in the fourth quarter seemed to spark play eventually bringing the Panthers to within five points, Park Hill leading 34-29. The comeback was cut short though, as Park Hill’s Kyleesha Weston hit several key free throws in the final minute to widen the margin for a 40-31 final in the Trojans’ favor. Weston and Bethany Sullinger led Park Hill with 11 and 10 points respectively while Stephanie Griffith led South in scoring with nine points.

Park Hill South’s season ends with a 9-15 record while Park Hill advanced to Tuesday night’s semifinal game against Staley. As of deadline, the game had yet to be decided, but Park Hill knew they would be in for a battle quite different than the one they went through Monday night.

“Staley is very fast, very good, and we’re going to try to limit their possessions. We want to make it a half-court basketball game,” Neeser said. “It’s more about our kids and I think if we have the belief, go out and execute, we’ll have a chance.”

Winter Weekly Recap: Feb. 7 - Feb. 12

Park Hill Boys Basketball
The Park Hill boys basketball team came into last week in the driver's seat of their suburban conference title hopes, but three games later they come into this week out of contention and on a three game lossing streak. A close loss on the road against St. Joe Central 60-58 was followed by a home loss against Ruskin 70-59. It was their hope that they could close out the week on Senior Night with a win against Lee's Summit West. Park Hill came out slow as they fell behind 14-4 going into the second quarter. A contentious crowd and high emotions led the Trojans to a series of turnovers and fouls in the second and third quarter falling down by as much as 23 points. While the Trojans were able to cut the lead in the fourth quarter, the Titan clock management on offense eventually created some easy baskets against a frustrated defense to extend the lead to a final score of 67-46. Top scorers Chris Nsenki and De'Aris Flint were held to just 12 points a piece on the night. Park Hill is now 14-9 and will conclude the season at Belton Friday night before the district tournament begins next week at Oak Park.

Park Hill South Boys Basketball
After a victory against Raytown earlier in the week, the Park Hill South boys were hoping to make it a sweep of the district when they went against Raytown South last Friday night. It wasn't meant to be as the Cardinals gradually expanded their lead throughout the game to eventually win 68-57. Adam Schemenauer scored 19 while Christian Hildebrandt added 15 points. The Panthers are now 13-8 on the season with a regular season finale scheduled Friday night at home against Winnetonka for Senior Night.

Park Hill South Girls Basketball
A 57-48 win over Belton earlier in the week didn't create any momentum for the Lady Panthers against Kearney later in the week. While South only trailed 13-8 at the start of the second quarter. They were shutout in the second quarter and held to a single point in the third before matching the Bulldogs' 15 points in the fourth quarter of what ended up being a 48-24 loss. Brandi Weymuth led in scoring with six points. South is now 8-13 and will conclude the regular season at Raytown before heading into the district tournament next week.

Park Hill Girls Basketball
The Park Hill girls had a tough week last week after two losses to Oak Park and St. Joe Central. A close 37-31 loss where Kyleesha Weston led with nine points must have motivated the Lady Trojans to come out strong against St. Joe Central. Park Hill got in front of the Indians early as they took a four point lead into halftime against a talened Central team before a 180 degree turn in the second half left the Trojans again on the wrong side of a 45-31 score. Park Hill went scoreless in the third quarter. Weston led with 11 points. The Trojans are now 8-13 and will play Ruskin on Thursday for Senior Night.
"Senior night will be fun and a very rewarding experience for the kids," first year coach Aaron Neeser said. "They have bought into me and what I am trying to do with the program from day one. I appreciate their leadership and energy that they have brought to this team. I wish them well in the future."

Park Hill/Park Hill South Swim & Dive
State swim meet this weekend at the St. Peters Rec Complex in St. Peters, Missouri.

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).

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.

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.

Winter Weekly Recap: Jan. 3-8

Park Hill Boys Basketball
The Park Hill boys added two victories to their total last week to improve to 9-3. The two Suburban Middle Six victories against North Kansas City and St. Joe Central make the Trojans 3-0 as they head into an important three week stretch featuring a heavy conference schedule and the Basehor Linwood Tournament. En route to an 85-73 victory early in the week against North Kansas City, the two teams went into the fourth quarter tied at 66 before earning the final margin in a 19-7 final period for the Trojans. Chris Nsenki scored 31 along with Anthony Walter's 17, De'Aris Flint's 13, and Connor Farmer's 10 points. Park Hill was firing on all cyclinders Friday night against St. Joe Central as Coach David Garrison said it was one of the best performances his team has turned out all year as they defeated the Indians 77-60. The Trojans got out to a 36-22 halftime score before eventually extending it to as much as 22 in the third. Nsenki led in scoring again with 21 points along with Walter's 19 and Flint's 18. Park Hill benefitted from a tough defense that defended the paint fairly aggressively.

"It was really two things, our perimeter defense did real well at keeping the ball out of the paint, but then when it did get to the point we were working our tail off defending it," Garrison said.

With the loss of senior Brady Kreitzer for the season, Garrison says there are two players that he'll look to fill the void with Connor Farmer and Tre Durham.

"Between those two guys, just depending on the kind of matchups looks like, they'll be the guys that need to step in and play," Garrison said. "He's (Farmer) gonna sit on the block for us, he's going to rebound and score at the basket while Tre's a ball handle and will play the point for us, which takes pressure off Anthony (Walters), so he can score for us more."

With anywhere from 7-9 players that could start for the Trojans, depth has not been a problem. Garrison tries to use his players in situations that allow them to be most effective.

"It's a chess match, sometimes we try combinations that don't work, but other times its great. One thing we know with the people we have here, they're going to battle and not take any plays off," he said.

Park Hill Girls Basketball
After a 40-12 win over Liberty North earlier in the week, the Lady Trojans hoped to gain their first conference win against Truman last Friday night. A 23-11 halftime deficit put the Trojans behind in the first half, but they closed the margin in the third to narrow the lead to just 32-25. After playing a man defense in the first half, the second half was when Truman threw a zone at Park Hill. Although reacting to the defense and running their sets fairly under control, they weren't able to penetrate the basket enough to score as much as they would have liked.

"We didn't have the confidence to step up and make a shot," coach Aaron Neeser said. "We gave up the same number of buckets, they just got to the line more."

An intense fourth quarter cut the lead to as close as four, but the Patriots pulled away for a 42-30 victory. The Trojans are now 5-5 with a game against Lee's Summit West Thursday evening.

"I think what I'm most satisfied about is that they really care about each other. Usually when you have a new coach, you have a transition period where you struggle a little bit, but they're really buying into what we're doing. I like how hard we compete, we just have to get better at the little things," Neeser said.

Park Hill South Girls Basketball
The Lady Panthers improved to 4-6 on the season with a win on Thursday night against Belton 56-44. South outscored Belton in three of the four quarters before widening the margin with an 18-10 final quarter. They'll travel to Fort Osage on Friday night.

Park Hill South Boys Basketball
The Park Hill South Panthers hit a rough patch this week with two tough opponents in the likes of Liberty and Raytown who both dealt them close losses. The Wednesday night effort at Liberty left the Panthers with a 65-60 defeat. Traveling to Raytown on Friday evening, the Panthers found themselves with a 10-point fourth quarter deficit, but battled back before falling 66-63. Christian Hildebrandt led in scoring with 20 points along with Adam Schemenauer's 19. South is now 8-5 with a home game against Belton to conclude the week on Friday night.

Park Hill and Park Hill South Swim/Dive
Park Hill South ran away with their own invitational this past weekend at the Park Hill Aquatic Center as they racked up 298 points in the 15 team field of competition. Park Hill finished fifth with 105 points.

Top performers for the Panthers were first place finishes from the 200 yard medley relay team of Lyndsay Ryan, Rachael Norfleet, Mary Cate Reinert, and Mariah Bryant, Bryant in the 50 yard free, Hannah Bortnick in the one meter dive, the 200 yard free relay team of Shannon Brouk, Olivia McLain, Miranda Henderson, and Bryant. South will attend the Center Invitational over the weekend.

Top performances from Park Hill came from Brynn Guardado with first place in the 200 yard free and third in the 100 yard free, and Eleanor Parrott with third in the one meter dive. Park Hill has a meet at Raytown Wednesday evening and another next week at St. Joe Central.

Lady Panthers come off break slow, but show fight in near comeback against Chrisman

After a two week winter break to work on tuning up their fundamentals, the Park Hill South girls didn’t come out of the gate Monday night against William Chrisman like they wanted. An athletic and aggressive Chrisman team jumped out to an early lead that eventually led to a 29-11 halftime score. The combination of South’s poor shooting performance and Chrisman’s ability to convert on second chance points was tough to overcome for the Panthers in the first half.

“I think our first half we just played tentative and scared, not sure if it was the break or what,” Coach Jenny Orlowski said. “They (Chrisman) rebound very well; they kind of push up from behind the basket and position themselves real well.”

Down 18 points, Park Hill South had to change it up in the second half. While the general approach to stopping a fast team is to slow their pace down, it didn’t work in the first half for the Panthers. So they came out in the second half needing something different. With more pressure on the Bears, including a full-court man press, they forced pressure on Chrisman at every opportunity.

“We tried to slow the game down in the first half by staying back in the zone and it didn’t work very well, so when you’re down 18 points you have be a little more aggressive,” Orlowski said.

Initially, this also put more pressure on the weight of South’s young guards to prevent the margin from widening and the key bench players needed to run such a defense. Frustrating at first, the Panther defense stuck with it and slowly but surely narrowed the margin to 48-41 with less than four minutes to play in the game. Additionally, the shots began to fall as Tori Kerr and Stephanie Griffith’s timely scoring put the Panthers in a position to mount a comeback. Griffith converted 3 three-point plays in the fourth quarter as part of an impressive 19 point performance.

“Stephanie is a solid player for us, not real flashy, but gets things done when we need it,” Orlowski said of her senior guard.

As the seconds ticked off the clock, the momentum wasn’t quite enough as Chrisman took advantage of several late fast break layups to increase the final score to 63-47.

“A lot of our bench players really stepped up tonight, that’s what we want in broad terms of a total team effort,” Orlowski said.

While Monday was only the first game of 2011, South will be looking to build throughout the second half of the season upon the things they discussed over the break.

“We talked about turning things around and beating a team we’re not supposed to beat,” Orlowski said. “They can play with Chrisman, and they believed that in the second half. It’s about believing in themselves.”

The Panthers are now 3-6 on the year with home games against Belton on Thursday followed by Winnetonka on Monday.

Lady Trojans and Panthers take another one to the wire

Last year the Park Hill and Park Hill South girls battled each other in two close regular season games with the road team winning each time. This year both teams were hoping to go into the holiday break with a victory as one team would be able to say they completed the first third of the season at a .500 winning percentage or better with Park Hill coming into the game with a 2-3 record and South at 4-4.

Playing at Park Hill, the teams played neck and neck nearly the entire game. The Trojans held merely a 16-15 lead over the Panthers at the half, but South would go on a five point run to start the half before Park Hill’s Kyleesha Weston turned a fast break into a lay-up to tie the game at 24 in the third quarter. Timely baseline scoring from Helena Hudson helped Park Hill maintain a narrow lead into the fourth quarter before South regained momentum when Tori Kerr converted a lay-up with 5:30 to tie it at 32. South took the lead when a well executed give-and-go from Haley Shelton to Samantha Roy put the Panthers up 38-37 with just under three minutes to play. Shelton and Roy along with Stephanie Griffith have been strong for the Panthers up to this point.

“Samantha’s stepped into a starting role as a freshman point guard and played under composure. Stephanie Griffith is always kind of our go-to person along with Haley Shelton. They work really well together,” Park Hill South Jenny Orlowski said.

Park Hill retook the lead and could have sealed the victory with some crucial free throws, but was unable to cushion their 43-42 lead.

“We usually shoot pretty well, just tonight we didn’t and that’s ok,” Park Hill coach Aaron Neeser said of the free throw shooting.

After a missed free throw, South called timeout with ten seconds to play. Shelton inbounded the ball and immediately streaked to the hoop before receiving it back. The play was executed with precision and while the look was there, the bounce was not, leaving the Panthers on the wrong side of a 43-42 loss to Park Hill.

Understandably, Neeser was relieved about getting out of Monday’s game with a victory.

“We’re just really happy to walk out of here with a win,” Neeser said. “Defense and not giving up those easy buckets is something we need to work more on.”

Asked whether the close game was the rivalry or similarity between the teams, South’s Orlowski said it was a little of both, but the loss withstanding, she is proud of her team’s progress.

“This year we’re both pretty close talent wise (to Park Hill), but style of play is a little different,” Orlowski said. “I told them in the locker room before the game that when we were in this game last year we were 0-8, so I’m very proud of them.”

Preview: Park Hill South girls basketball looking to build from ground up

This year’s Park Hill South Lady Panther basketball team will be building from the bottom-up after last year’s 3-19 season. Head Coach Jenny Orlowski comes into her third season ready to mix things up and start anew with what will be a 2010-2011 Panther squad made up of players ranging in experience. That means out with the old and in with the new.

“We started from scratch after last season because when you hit bottom you know you can’t keep doing the same things that got you there, you have to change,” Orlowski said of this season’s fresh start.

Park Hill South will combine the experience of returning starters Stephanie Griffith, Kinsy Kuhn, and Haley Shelton who bring back a combined average of 15 points a game. They’ll lead some talented sophomore guards in the likes of Courtney Claasen and Tori Kerr. Also making consistent contributions will be sophomores Jessica Lee and Brittany Perry along with seniors Mackenzie Williams and Shannon Keith, the Panthers’ most improved player last year.

“We’re going to play a lot of kids. I told them there’s going to be a lot of cross over between JV and Varsity. A lot of the younger kids will get time at both,” Orlowski said.

Part of gaining back their competitive edge starts on the practice floor where the Panthers believe they’re further ahead than they were at this time last year and it starts with having the confidence to attack the other team.

“You’ll find they’re going to be a lot more aggressive and cutting to the basket more. They really see each other on the floor,” Orlowski said. “Overall, we’re a lot quicker and I think we’ll be an exciting team to watch.”

An area to keep your eye on throughout the season will be the Panthers’ maturity and composure. Their ability to mesh their senior leadership with their younger players to build a cohesive team could yield positive results.

“I think we have a maturity factor to overcome. Even though we have five seniors, we’ll have a lot of younger kids on the floor at times. We tend to forget things when our adrenaline starts pumping,” Orlowski said. “If we combine our new outlook and the hard work that must be done, we should be much improved over last season and will probably surprise some teams.”

The Panthers will look to compete will strong conference opponents William Chrisman, Raytown, and Belton.