The defensive game plan for the Northern Heights girls against Osage City Monday night was to use the full-court press to force turnovers and get easy points.
The defense nearly worked to perfection, but the Ladycats forgot the offense.
Northern Heights forced 27 Osage City turnovers and rallied from a nine-point fourth-quarter deficit to send the game into overtime but could not come up with enough shots to pull off the victory, as second-seeded Osage City defeated third-seeded Heights, 46-43, on the first day of pool play in the Flint Hills Shootout at White Auditorium.
“Part of our offense is our defense,” Heights coach Tim Riemann said. “But it’s not always the shots as much as getting yourself in position to take shots. We need to do a better job of executing.”
It’s not as if the Ladycats (5-4) didn’t get plenty of looks at the basket. In fact, they got a lot.
Heights took 56 shots but only made 14, shooting a dismal 25 percent from the field.
“We just didn’t do a very good job of getting into our sets,” Riemann said, “and when we did get into our sets, we needed to go up strong and finish, and we didn’t do that very much.”
Still, the Ladycats had a chance to win it after they forced overtime.
But to get to overtime, Heights first had to mount a furious rally over the final 5 minutes of regulation.
Osage City’s Kelsey Sturdy made 1 of 2 free throws with 4:49 left in regulation to put the Lady Indians (6-2) ahead, 35-26.
But over the next 4 minutes, 3 seconds, Heights held Osage City scoreless — the Lady Indians failed to get a shot off during the stretch — which helped the Ladycats rally to tie the game at 35 with a 9-0 run that was capped by a pair of Sarah Boline layups, the last of which came with 1:52 left.
Osage City snapped its scoring drought with a turnaround jumper by Carly Spicer that made it 37-35 with 46 seconds remaining, but two straight turnovers by the Lady Indians kept Heights’ chances alive. Heights missed two looks at the basket before Andrea Miller put in a layup off an Osage City turnover with 20 seconds left that tied it at 37, sending the game into an extra frame.
“We were just pressing on defense, and when we got those two steals, that really boosted our confidence,” Miller said. “We were determined to win going into overtime.”
It appeared Miller’s determination would be enough to lift the Ladycats to victory in overtime, as she scored on a putback 30 seconds in to give Heights its first lead at 39-37 since it led 22-20 with 4 minutes left in the third quarter.
However, Osage City went about attacking the basket, drawing foul after foul to not only get the Ladycats in foul trouble but also to earn numerous trips to the free-throw line.
Osage City did not make a field goal in overtime, instead getting all nine of its points by going 9 of 12 from the charity stripe to get past the Ladycats, who could only muster four points after Miller’s basket.
“This win was big for us,” Osage City coach Chris Kirkpatrick said. “We been in some close games, and we really haven’t handled it very well. But I thought we did a better job of that tonight, in the overtime especially.
“We knew coming into it that it was going to be a dogfight.”
Miller and Boline each scored 12 points for Heights, while Spicer led all scorers with 15 points.
In the other game of pool play, No. 1-seeded Herington avoided the upset by defeating fourth-seeded Mission Valley, 40-38, in overtime. Heights will play fifth-seeded Eureka at 6:30 p.m. Friday, while Osage City will meet Eureka at 3 p.m. today. Herington will meet No. 6-seeded West Franklin at 6:30 tonight.
Osage City girls 46, No. Heights 43, OT
Flint Hills Shootout
Monday at White Auditorium
1 2 3 4 OT
No. Heights 5 10 9 13 6 — 43
Osage City 6 10 15 6 9 — 46
Northern Heights (5-4) — Lee 1-8 1-3 3, Miller 3-6 6-7 12, A. Boline 3-8 2-2 8, DeLong 2-9 1-2 5, S. Boline 5-18 2-3 12, Baird 0-3 0-0 0, Hobson 0-2 0-0 0, Linsey 0-1 1-2 1, Dreier 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 14-56 14-21 43.
Osage City (6-2) — Schroeder 2-7 7-15 11, Paul 1-9 2-2 5, Sturdy 1-5 1-4 3, Fort 1-2 3-4 5, Spicer 5-11 5-8 15, Buenger 0-1 0-0 0, Prescott 1-2 2-3 4, Garland 1-4 2-2 4, Kimball 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-41 22-38 46.
3-point goals — NH 0-3 (Lee 0-2, S. Boline 0-1), OC 1-9 (Paul 1-6, Sturdy 0-2, Garland 0-1). Rebounds — NH 38 (Miller, S. Boline 8), OC 45 (Spicer 8). Assists — NH 5 (S. Boline 2), OC 4 (Four tied at 1). Turnovers — NH 17, OC 27. Total fouls — NH 25, OC 20. Fouled out — NH: Miller, DeLong, S. Boline.
No. Heights boys 81, Eureka 22
Perhaps the scariest thing about the Northern Heights boys’ 81-22 victory over Eureka on Monday night was that the Wildcats weren’t focused on forcing Eureka turnovers, if you believe Heights coach Lanny Massey.
If that’s the case, one could only imagine how bad it might have been for the Tornadoes had Heights actually tried to do just that.
The top-seeded Wildcats (9-0) forced fourth-seeded Eureka into a whopping 39 turnovers on their way to the 59-point victory on the opening day of the Flint Hills Shootout. Eureka actually had more turnovers than it did shot attempts, as the Tornadoes only made 10 of 36 shots from the field.
“We didn’t exactly do any of our pressing the way we normally do,” Massey said. “We didn’t execute quite the way I’d like with our press defense, because I know what it’s like when you’re down by that much. We played straight man all night.”
Eureka’s problems started practically from the tip-off. Eureka (0-6) missed its first two shots before turning it over on four straight possessions, while the Wildcats jumped out to an 8-0 lead, prompting the Tornadoes to call a timeout.
It didn’t help.
By the time Eureka made its first shot — a jumper by Kevin Hayes with 40 seconds left in the first quarter — Heights was enjoying a 16-2 lead, which would become 20-2 by the end of the first frame.
Heights outscored Eureka 17-8 in the second quarter to go up 37-10 at halftime. Then the Wildcats simply blitzed the Tornadoes out of the halftime locker room, going on a 30-8 run to push their lead to 67-18 heading into the fourth quarter. In the third period, Heights went 14-of-18 from the floor — at one point hitting 12 straight shots — and once the fourth quarter started, the running clock went into effect for the rest of the game.
Ten players scored for Heights, led by Haydon Parks’ 18 points and Levi Hizar’s 16.
Heights next will meet No. 6-seeded Mission Valley at 8:15 tonight, while Osage City and West Franklin will play at 4:45 p.m. In the other game Monday, Herington’s Dustin Geissert put in a layup with 4 seconds left to lift the Railers past Osage City, 45-43.
Northern Heights boys 81, Eureka 22
Flint Hills Shoutout
Monday at White Auditorium
Eureka 2 8 8 4 — 22
No. Heights 20 17 30 14 — 81
Eureka (0-6) — Colangelo 1-3 0-0 2, Spore 3-8 0-0 6, Barrett 0-5 0-0 0, Hayes 3-12 0-2 8, Lewis 2-2 0-0 4, Martell 1-4 0-0 2, Gabriel 0-2 0-0 0, Edgar 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 10-36 0-2 22.
Northern Heights (9-0) — Bronson 2-4 1-2 5, Symmonds 2-3 1-1 5, McClellan 4-8 0-0 8, Hizar 8-13 0-0 16, Parks 9-12 0-0 18, Murray 3-6 2-2 8, Hanks 3-5 0-0 6, Arndt 0-1 0-0 0, R. Swanson 4-6 1-3 9, D. Swanson 1-2 0-0 2, Seematter 0-3 0-0 0, Tabares 1-2 2-2 4. Totals 37-65 7-10 81.
3-point goals — Eureka 2-9 (Barrett 0-2, Hayes 2-5, Martell 0-2), NH 0-7 (Bronson 0-1, Hizar 0-2, Murray 0-1, Arndt 0-1, Seematter 0-1, Tabares 0-1). Rebounds — Eureka 23 (Spore, Barrett 4), NH 32 (Hizar, Parks 4). Assists — Eureka 2 (Barrett, Martell 1), 14 (3 tied at 3). Turnovers — Eureka 39, NH 14. Total fouls — Eureka 11, NH 11.