Freshman Flott holds off illness to lead Olpe girls past St. Paul, 60-40
By Jesse Newell
Monday, March 3, 2008
Freshman Kathryn Flott entered coach Jesse Nelson’s office with half a voice and a bit of a headache.
She left with a little more motivation to play well.
“He and (assistant coach Carolyn) Davis just told me some of the best players’ games come from when they’re sick,” Flott said. “I just kind of kept that in the back of my mind.”
Flott’s best came at her worst on Saturday, as despite having the flu, she scored 18 points and grabbed 12 rebounds to help lead the Olpe girls to a 60-40 victory over St. Paul in the Sub-State championship.
The win moves the Lady Eagles on to this week’s Class 1A State Tournament in Hays.
Flott’s performance came after she only played sparingly in the second half of Olpe’s 64-28 victory over White City on Friday.
On Saturday, Flott was only left in for a few minutes at a time before getting a break and also gave the coaches a signal when she needed out.
In between, she made 6 of 10 shots in 27 minutes played.
“She’s doing amazing,” Olpe senior Kylie Haag said of Flott. “She’s an awesome freshman. She stepped up huge.”
The Lady Eagles jumped out to a 20-5 lead and were never challenged from there.
Olpe still did enough wrong to frustrate its coach in the final minutes of the second quarter, as an 8-2 St. Paul run at the end the half knocked a 34-15 Olpe lead down to 36-23.
“We always do just enough of something to keep me on edge,” Nelson said with a smile. “Right before the half, we made two or three mistakes. I thought we gave them a little momentum heading into half, and that’s the wrong thing to do.”
After getting after his team at halftime, Nelson watched as his girls responded.
Olpe started the second half on a 13-4 run, taking a 49-27 lead into the fourth quarter.
“I’ve said before that this team has played nice games all year, but they don’t play with the intensity that I would like for them to play with,” Nelson said. “I challenged them on that tonight that this is one time you need to turn up the intensity. We need to see you play harder and be stronger.
“I think they really did meet that challenge. We played another level up.”
Katie Moyer added 14 points, which included a 3-for-9 performance from three-point range.
The versatile Haag had 10 points, nine rebounds, three assists and two blocks, while Megan Woods also had 10 points, nine rebounds and four assists.
Olpe dominated the boards, out-rebounding St. Paul 40-25.
Meanwhile, the Lady Eagles hit 22 of their 46 shots (48 percent).
“The best thing about it is I thought we really stayed within what we do well,” Nelson said.
Olpe will be making its third straight trip to the 1A State Tournament.
Sub-State Championship
Olpe girls 60, St. Paul 40
Saturday at White Auditorium
St. Paul 5 18 4 13 — 40
Olpe 18 18 13 11 — 60
St. Paul (22-2) — Jessica Tuck 1-6 6-8 8, Breah Giefer 3-11 1-2 7, Kennedee Borum 2-8 1-1 5, Hilary Beachner 1-1 0-0 2, Madi Borum 3-6 1-1 8, Kylie Harmon 0-0 0-0 0, Morgan Westhoff 2-6 0-0 4, Elizabeth O’Brien 0-0 0-0 0, Allison O’Brien 2-5 2-5 6. Totals 14-43 11-17 40.
Olpe (24-0) — Kylie Haag 5-10 0-2 10, Katie Moyer 4-11 3-3 14, Kathryn Flott 6-10 6-9 18, Erica Brinkman 4-6 0-0 8, Megan Woods 3-8 4-7 10, Jill Cole 0-1 0-0 0, Angela Bartley 0-0 0-0 0, Brianne Davis 0-0 0-0 0, Nicole Wendling 0-0 0-0 0, Tanna Bell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-46 13-21 60.
Three-point goals — St. Paul 1-8 (Borum 1-1, Tuck 0-2, Westhoff 0-2, Giefer 0-3), Olpe 3-9 (Moyer 3-9). Rebounds — St. Paul 25 (Borum, A. O’Brien 5), Olpe 40 (Moyer 12). Assists — St. Paul 8 (Tuck 3), Olpe 13 (Woods 4). Turnovers — St. Paul 9, Olpe 11. Total fouls — St. Paul 18, Olpe 15. Fouled out — None.