Park Hill takes driver's seat in conference race

After sweeping their three games last week against Lee’s Summit West, Park Hill South, and William Chrisman, the Park Hill Trojans improved to 9-3 on the season and 5-0 in conference play as they head into the Basehor-Linwood Tournament this week. With victories against all five members of the Suburban Big-Six Conference, Park Hill now holds an upper-hand and controls their own destiny in regards to obtaining their first conference championship since 2002.

In a classic rivalry matchup between in-district foes last Wednesday at home, Park Hill was able to edge out Park Hill South in overtime 69-63. The Trojans were led with another strong performance from Justin Leathers and his 27 points, which has become fairly reliable other recent weeks. Chris Nsenki added 16 and Austin Kepler posted 11 points.

Traveling to William Chrisman presented a challenging road test for the Trojans, as they played the defending conference champions last Friday night. A neck and neck battle left the score tied at 30 going into halftime, but building a ten point lead in the third quarter put the Trojans up for good as they were able to pull out the victory 72-62. It was Nsenki this time leading Park Hill as he put on a clinic with 27 points, 15 coming from behind the arc with five three-pointers along with the 13 rebounds the junior shooting guard pulled down. De’Aris Flint contributed 11 points while Leathers added another ten.

Park Hill now looks to a series of games in Basehor-Linwood’s Bobcat Invitational before traveling to St. Joe Central on January 26th to face the Indians, the only opponent Park Hill has not yet played in their district. After that, a three week stretch will lead into the district tournament starting on February 22nd. Although in first place in the conference race, Park Hill won’t be able to relax going forward as they’ll play their second round of conference games against high-quality opponents in the coming weeks. Fortunately for the Trojans, two of the three key matchups will be at home against Truman and William Chrisman while their anticipated rematch against the Panthers will be played at Park Hill South on February 9th.

Park Hill Girls look to add aggressiveness to controlled offense

Park Hill Girls Basketball Coach Brian Rockers has a problem many coaches only wish they could have, a team fairly comfortable in running their offensive sets. So comfortable in fact, that Rockers sometimes thinks they’re not being aggressive enough in attacking the basket. While a patient and collected offense has led the Lady Trojans to an 8-3 record so far this season, Rockers thinks his team can be more aggressive when they have the ball.

“To a point we’re doing too much of it,” Rockers said. “We’re trying to instill these girls with that attack mode and getting the ball into the paint and to the basket.”

Their composure played to their advantage last week as they pulled out consecutive home game victories against Winnetonka on Thursday 42-28 and Lee’s Summit West on Friday 53-47. Both opponents featured teams focused on getting the ball to their post players, who had a size advantage over the Trojans. Winnetonka’s 6’1” center Ejehi Ehovuon presented an obstacle for the Trojans, but defensive efforts by Katy Plummer and Liza Hill along with an always present swarm of their teammates held her to just ten points. Park Hill’s Laura Bennett posted 12 points and Spenser Rhodus added eight in the victory.

“We tried to anticipate it and we knew they were going to throw a lot of lob passes to her,” Rockers said of guarding Ehovuon after Thursday night’s win over Winnetonka.

Both games involved a high amount of fouls, which led Park Hill to take advantage of their opportunities at the free throw line to seal their victories. Going 13 for 17 on free throws in the second half against Lee’s Summit West prevented the Titans from staging a fourth quarter comeback. Senior Emma Gossett’s standout play added to momentum for the Trojans as she seemed to be scrapping for almost every loose ball to occur. Not to mention, adding a three-pointer, drawing a charge, and pulling in several rebounds. Bennett continues to be the Trojans’ most consistent producer as she accounted for nine points. Helena Hudson and Plummer also added eight points a piece.

“I was very pleased with our balanced scoring for the game,” Rockers said. “Everyone that played had a part in this victory.”

Going into the Basehor-Linwood Tournament this week, the Lady Trojans will hope to gain the more aggressive attack their coach is looking for via the post with Plummer as Rockers continues to see improvement in her game.

“She’s making good moves and her time is going to come,” Rockers said. “She just can’t get anything to fall right now.”

After this week’s tournament, Park Hill will head into a crucial stretch where they will play William Chrisman, Oak Park, and then a highly anticipated rematch with Truman at home on January 29th. Truman defeated Park Hill earlier this year on the road, but a more confident Trojan team will look to come back strong as this game could play a role in the final conference standings.

Don't be remembered as the mouthy parent

As I watched some of the quality basketball matchups the William Jewell Classic offered a couple weeks ago, one thing I started to think about as I listened to the cheers and reactions from the crowd was the critical role players’ parents play in high school. For those of us who were active in high school activities back in the day, it seemed like we never fully appreciated their positive efforts whether it was the post-game snacks, booster club participation, or even the simple encouragement they gave us.

While the positive efforts of some parents sometimes don’t get the recognition they deserve, it’s usually hard to forget the negative actions of the few who go over the top. As we watched the games progress, a couple friends of mine started noticing a parent or two whose vocal expression leaned negative and was approaching slightly annoying. This led our discussion back to the one or two parents who acted in the same manner back when we were the ones playing on the court. I’m sure most of you can remember something similar or can at least spot out a parent that fits the mold at any sporting event. The ones who ridicule the referees beyond reason, criticize the coach for game management, and comment on anything else that might not present their optimal result. My main point is that these people may not even recognize their behavior as negative or inappropriate, but make the experience unpleasant for everyone else. Sometimes the odd glances or slight head shakes pointed their way never quite send the intended message.

I was lucky to have parents who were at every game, clapped in encouragement, and never felt it was their responsibility to tell me their opinions of the referees, my coaches, or my teammates. I always knew they were there when I looked up, but I never had to listen to their complaints during the game. Any parent thinking their role is different, isn’t only embarrassing themselves, but they’re sending the wrong message to their kids. It sends a message that a player doesn’t have to listen to a coach because a parent has already criticized their leadership; a player shouldn’t respect a referee because every time a foul is called (or isn’t called) it’s received with another sarcastic comment; and every time a player makes a mistake it’s alright to have a bad attitude because it was a factor outside of themselves which caused it to happen.

Are all of these actions directly related to a parent’s actions at a sporting event? No, a lot of it comes naturally in some sports with adrenaline, competition, and spectator interaction, but in high school it should be the right kind of interaction, positive. In the end the thing you may want to ask yourself is this; do you want to be the person your child’s friends talk about years after their playing days are over because of your negative presence at a sporting event?

Trojans show flashes of greatness, looking for consistency

Each Christmas season brings a great deal of quality basketball games to the metro as teams compete in tournaments across the area. With time off from school, it also gives coaches their last real chance to work with their teams extensively on certain areas of the game. But with Christmas over and the new year upon us, you’ll see high school basketball gear up for their conference schedule as they look forward to the all important district tournament.

Park Hill (6-2) starts their 2010 off with two very big games this week against Lee’s Summit West on Wednesday and Park Hill South on Friday night. They also happen to be home double-headers shared with the Girl’s Varsity team. Lee’s Summit West has not had a very good start to their season as they come in with a 2-6 record. It’s important to realize they’ve been playing against some of the best competition in the city of late, but have lost to two teams the Trojans have been able to win against, Lincoln Prep and Grandview. On the other hand, rival Park Hill South, comes into this week’s action with a strong 5-3 record after two very close loses to Rockhurst (46-42) and Hickman Mills (41-40) in another bracket of the William Jewell Classic last week. The battle between in-district foes could show us a possible favorite in the conference race as it heats up over the coming weeks and also be a possibly district match-up later on in the season.

After an upset victory over Grandview last week in the William Jewell Classic, Park Hill advanced to the semi-final round to play O’Hara with a record of 9-1. Unfortunately for the Trojans, O’Hara got out to a quick start in the first quarter putting up 16 points. Normally, that wouldn’t have been such a high number had the Trojans not posted a zero. As Coach David Garrison has been saying throughout this early season, it was a matter of consistency. Park Hill couldn’t get on the same page with each other on either side of the ball. Although it could be argued that Park Hill had more size and athleticism over the Celtics, O’Hara played a steady and composed game which didn’t allow the Trojans the turnovers they’re usually able to capitalize on. The margin stayed about the same throughout the rest of the game, never going below 13, before O’Hara pulled even further away to finish the game with a score of 80-55. Justin Leathers was the only Trojan to post more than ten points with his 22 in a below the bounds, clean-up man type fashion. O’Hara went on to win the tournament the next day by beating a very good Columbia Rockbridge team in double overtime.

With little time to reflect, the Trojans were back just under 16 hours later to play in the third place game against Lincoln Prep. This time they showed up ready to play gradually building a 32-27 halftime lead before really turning up the heat in the third quarter when they added another six to their margin. Leathers posted 27 points in addition to Chris Nsenki’s 11 and De’Aris Flint’s nine as the Trojans captured the third place trophy with a 66-49 victory.

Park Hill Girls look to end streak, start anew

Before Monday night’s game against Belton, the Park Hill Lady Trojans hadn’t played a game in over two weeks. Those weeks have hardly been a break for Coach Brian Rockers team though. Several key areas they set out to focus on in practice last week was rebounding, cutting down on turnovers, and finishing shots. Park Hill started the season off on quite a hot streak by winning five consecutive games including a Fort Osage Tournament championship before dropping two in a row to Truman and Platte County the week before Christmas. They are now 5-2 on the season heading into the new year.

The Lady Trojans have been led offensively by leading scorers Laura Bennett and Katy Plummer. Sophomore Kyleesha Weston had run the offense at the point while senior Emma Gossett has provided a steady hand in the back court along with an aggressive defensive mentality. Among others, Helena Hudson and Michele Rupard have provided some quality minutes off the bench.

Park Hill will be sharing double-headers with the boy’s teams against Lee’s Summit West on Wednesday and Park Hill South on Friday. Lee’s Summit West is 2-5 coming into the week while Park Hill South comes in with a young squad at 0-5.

“They’re very capable opponents and it will be important to us to get the new year off to a good start and get off our two game losing skid,” Rockers said of this week’s games.

Park Hill puts themselves on the map

Park Hill’s Boys Basketball hasn’t had too many games where they’ve made statement in recent years. Going up against some of the top teams in the metro hasn’t produced the results coach David Garrison and his Trojans would have liked in the past. That’s all changed this season and was taken to the next level last Saturday in Park Hill’s inaugural appearance in the William Jewell Holiday Classic as they defeated Grandview, defending state runner-up, by a score of 70-59.

It was evident from the tip that Grandview would use their speed and size to play the Trojans full-court the entire game. Nothing came easy for Park Hill, but a composed and methodical breakdown of the Bulldog press allowed them to get some quality opportunities in the half-court. Even with a controlled offense, Park Hill found themselves down throughout the first half including a 16-10 deficit at the end of the first quarter.

“We weren’t moving very well,” Garrison said of their first half. “It took us awhile to get our legs underneath us.”

Grandview’s 6’7” power forward, Quentel Denson, was a big threat down low for the Trojans and when combining it with their fast style of play could have led to a detrimental scoring streak at any time, but the Trojans held steady with physical defense and went into halftime only down 33-25.

“We knew from watching him in the Hy-Vee Shootout what problems he could cause us,” Garrison said of Denson.

Coming out of the second half, the Chris Nsenki Show came alive as he racked up four consecutive three-pointers for Park Hill. A defense led by De’Aris Flint and Anthony Walters then rattled the Bulldogs allowing Park Hill to take a 45-43 lead late in the third quarter. The Trojans didn’t look back and squashed any potential momentum Grandview was looking to gain by playing fundamental defense.

One key to the Trojans sustaining their lead was their tenacity towards defensive rebounds and pulling the ball in on second and third chances that Grandview wasn’t able to. Park Hill took advantage of the energy as Justin Leathers converted a series of free throws and Brady Kreitzer finished consecutive lay-ins to extend the lead to 64-54 before finally pulling out the victory by a final score of 70-59. Four of Park Hill’s starters finished in scoring double-digits with Nsenki’s 18, Leathers’ 17, Kreitzer’s 16, and Walters’ 11 points.

Garrison talked about the significance of the victory, especially when playing in the tournament for the first time and the added exposure that comes with it.

“It’s new for our program, being in this tournament,” Garrison said. “This is their first time in this setting so to be playing in front of this many different people is something out of our element and it was a big win for us.”

As we went to deadline on Tuesday night, Park Hill (5-1) was playing O’Hara (7-1) in the semifinal round at William Jewell.

Park Hill and Platte County get physical

The Lady Trojans (5-2) and Lady Pirates (7-1) start their Christmas break this week as their next games won’t be until January 4th against Belton and Grandview. It doesn’t mean they won’t be working hard though as the break will provide for some important practice time to sharpen up on certain things as they head into the bulk of their season.

For Park Hill, one key will be decreasing the amount of turnovers they give up. It has been one area holding the Trojans back early this season and was a factor again last Friday as they played defending state champion Platte County.

“I think it’s more mental because we’re getting more pressure put on us. They’re unforced and uncharacteristic turnovers,” Coach Brian Rockers said. “It’s going to be one our focuses over break.”

The Pirates visited the Trojans in a battle of two bordering school districts. Park Hill came swinging out of the gate to gain a 13-9 lead with the help of three-pointers from Laura Bennett (2) and Michele Rupard over the Pirates’ zone defense. Bennett led all Trojan scorers with 14 for the game. Platte County was able to close the gap to 17-15 going into the 2nd quarter with a steady dose of close range jump shots.

Shortly after the start of the second quarter, the Pirates sparked their momentum when Kelsey Knox dove into her own bench in a successful effort to deflect a ball over a Trojan defending out of bounds. Platte County took their first lead of the game shortly after at 21-17 as the game speed picked up. The Pirates went into halftime with a 28-27 lead. Once again, Platte County came out of the break with momentum taking a 35-27 lead midway through the third quarter. Both teams displayed defensive intensity throughout the game, but outstanding performances from Lady Pirate Taylor Johnson with 30 points and Kelsey Knox with 17 points was too much for the Trojans as they were only able to come within three points late in the fourth quarter before falling 60-52.

It was an unusually physical game, but even this early in the season, when two teams with high expectations meet against each other the stakes are higher.

“It was just two teams getting after each other,” Rockers said of the physical play. “We aren’t necessarily a real physical team, but our girls didn’t back down.”

It was the second loss in a row for Park Hill as they lost to Truman last Thursday 40-31, in a game that could mean something in the conference standings the next time they meet.

“We played catch up the whole game, but if we played the way we did tonight (vs. Platte County) then we could have taken care of business,” Rockers said. “Our conference race is wide open and we’ll see them again.”

Player’s death has left positive legacy through alumni game

Sometimes when people experience tragedy it isn’t necessarily the initial event that people remember, but what comes out of it and whether it can be turned into something positive. Darren Floyd, a junior at Park Hill High School, was involved in a car accident that claimed the life of him and classmate Brandon McPherson in the spring of 2004. Unfortunately, the accident hit home for me as both were good friends of mine and we had only left minutes apart on our ways home. The effect their deaths had not only on me, but parents, teachers, family, and friends was enormous. It isn’t death and sadness I want to focus on though, but how the tragedy has resulted in the creation of something special at Park Hill High School that will be on display this Saturday night in the school’s gymnasium.
Darren, an avid athlete, had previously finished his junior basketball season by receiving team awards for his high three-point shooting percentage and the team leadership award for his outstanding character and attitude. Knowing about his love for the game, parents and friends decided to name a scholarship fund in his memory. Not only would they start the scholarship, but they would fund it by putting together an exhibition basketball game featuring former players in a friendly hoops game. The first game was held in January of 2005 and a crowd usually un-seen at regular varsity games filled the gymnasium in an outpouring of support. Thousands of dollars would be raised over the next three years; eventually it was enough to officially endow the Darren Floyd Memorial Scholarship with the Park Hill Education Foundation and an additional scholarship to be awarded to a graduating member of the boy’s basketball team for college. In 2007, Darren’s #14 was retired by the program and remains the only basketball player to have had that privilege.
After the scholarship had been endowed and Darren’s number retired, there were some who thought there wasn’t a need to continue the game as an annual event. What they hadn’t realized though, is the game in and of itself had become something meaningful in ways the inaugural organizers had not envisioned. It was something former players started to look forward to each year. As it tends to be the case with high school, some alumni didn’t have any other reason to come back, but would for a worthy cause. For recent graduates, it was something they had come to expect to participate in as new alumni. Even those who weren’t familiar with the original circumstances or the person for which the game is named would have at least one thing in common, a love for the game. With the demand so high, a new energized group of current basketball parents and friends put forward their time to make sure the alumni game stayed alive along with the different symbolic meanings it had for each person involved.
With that in mind, one of the only events of its kind in the area is set to tip-off again this Saturday. The fifth annual game features the largest contingent of returning alumni players yet. The game will once again be a reminder of how fragile life is, but also how positive things can result from the most tragic of circumstances. It wouldn’t be able to happen if five years ago a committed group of people didn’t try to do the right thing and bring a community in mourning together. The feeling those in the gym on Saturday night will experience can be credited to Darren because of the 17 years of life he lived and also a reflection on us in the previous five years he’s been absent.

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.”