The Emporia Gazette

February 14, 2012

• Headlines
• Sports
• Forums
• Weather
• Classifieds

• Help
• Log in
• Home

• E-mail story
• Post a comment
• iPod friendly version

For Kathryn Flott, the honor was almost a formality from the beginning of the season to the end. Taylor Euler, on the other hand, shored up his by playing his best basketball at the end of the year.

In the end, Euler, Emporia High’s gifted senior point guard, and Flott, Olpe’s nearly unstoppable sophomore post, stood as the class of The Gazette’s area schools during the 2008-09 basketball season, and they headline The Gazette’s All-Area teams as the boys and girls Players of the Year, respectively.

Going into his senior season without former backcourt mate Caydrick Bloomquist and the post presence of Troy Pierce, Euler figured to be the Spartans’ top scoring option, and he began the year with a bang, ripping off 19 straight points in EHS’s season-opening loss at Leavenworth. For the year, he averaged 19.5 points per game on 42 percent shooting, handed out 3.9 assists and also had 2.6 rebounds and 2.1 steals. The Emporia State signee struggled from 3-point range, hitting just 28 percent after a 37 percent mark a season ago, but he was careful with the ball, posting an assist-to-turnover ratio of 2.5-to-1, and also hit 74 percent of his free throws.

What really earned the 5-foot-11 Euler the Player of the Year award, though, was his performance in Emporia’s final five games. With the Spartans having slumped to an 8-9 record after an ugly loss to Topeka West on Feb. 17, Euler became a huge part of a renewed, teamwide commitment to playing as a team. Looking to score when the situation called for it, but also patiently running the offense when that was what was needed, Euler averaged 20.6 points over the team’s final five games, including a 23-point, 10-assist game against Seaman and a career-high 28 points at Manhattan. The Spartans won four straight in convincing fashion before falling 45-42 to Hutchinson in the substate final, in which Euler led the Spartans with 24 points. After the season, he was selected to the second team for both the All-Centennial League and All-State teams.

Flott’s Player of the Year credentials are more simple to articulate. The 6-foot post was simply dominant all year long in earning her second straight first team All-Area selection in as many years as a high school player. Averaging a double-double with 22.4 points per game and 10.2 rebounds, Flott shot 59 percent from the floor and 70 percent from the foul line.

And there was no letup from Flott once she and the Eagles got to the Class 2A State tournament. Over the Eagles’ three games in Manhattan, she averaged 22.7 points and 11 rebounds, leading Olpe to a 23-3 overall mark and a third-place showing at State. Her efforts earned her first team recognition for both All-Lyon County League and Class 2A All-State, and with only her sophomore year completed, Flott will most likely continue to be a headache for Olpe opponents for the next two seasons.

Joining Euler on the All-Area boys first team were two members of an Olpe team that entered the Class 2A State tournament as the top seed with a 23-0 record before bowing out to Pittsburg-Colgan in the first round. Senior Cole Krueger led the Eagles down low, posting 17.5 points per game and grabbing 8.4 rebounds on 55 percent shooting.

With Euler in the All-Area backcourt is Olpe junior Bradley Argabright, who got the Eagles’ attack started from the point guard position. The 6-foot Argabright averaged 12.3 points, 4.7 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 4.0 steals while hitting 36 percent from downtown.

Filling out the frontcourt are a pair of lone representatives for Lebo and Madison. Lebo’s Adam Laflin turned in a stellar senior season for the Wolves, averaging 18.2 points and 5.8 rebounds on nearly 50 percent shooting from the floor. The athletic 6-foot-4 Laflin had probably the most jaw-dropping single game among area boys players, putting up 45 points in the Wolves’ 64-54 win over Waverly in January. Madison senior Michael Luthi was a consistent and strong presence all season long for the Bulldogs. For the season, Luthi averaged 13.4 points and 8 rebounds. Krueger, Laflin and Luthi all earned selections to the All-Lyon County League first team, and Krueger was a first team All-State selection in Class 2A. For leading the Eagles to an undefeated record through the regular season and substate, Olpe’s Chris Schmidt earned the boys All-Area coach of the year honor for the second straight year.

On the girls side, Emporia High and Olpe, the two most successful area teams come State tournament time, appropriately filled out the first team. In the frontcourt with Flott are EHS junior Lindy Arndt, a first team All-Centennial and second team All-State selection, and senior post Lexi Hileman, who made second team all-league and third team All-State.

A threat to slash, hit a midrange jumper or score on the occasional post-up, Arndt led the ball-sharing Spartans in scoring with 12.2 points per game, hitting 55.1 percent of her shots. She also grabbed 4.3 rebounds per game, and once again showed defensive excellence and versatility, making the Centennial League All-Defense team for the second year in a row.

The 5-foot-11 Hileman provided scoring, rebounding and post defense for the Spartans, turning in good defensive efforts against bigger, more acclaimed posts like Washburn Rural’s LaSharra Riley and Manhattan’s Catherine Carmichael. Hileman averaged 10.2 points and 6.5 rebounds per game.

Emporia finished 19-6 on the year and fourth at the Class 5A State tournament, including a 14-game winning streak that stayed alive until its second game at State, when it lost to Great Bend. Spartans coach Bill Nienstedt was named the area girls coach of the year for his considerable accomplishments with this EHS squad.

The All-Area girls backcourt consists of two of Flott’s Olpe teammates who excelled both in scoring and in getting Flott the ball in the post. Senior shooting guard Katie Moyer averaged 13.4 points and hit 79 3-pointers for the Eagles, and though she’s known primarily for her scorer’s mentality, she still handed out 4.3 assists per game. Eagles freshman point guard Kendyl McDougald may not have have made quite the impact Flott did as a freshman a year ago, but McDougald was a huge factor in her first year. She averaged 10.7 points, dished out just under 5 assists and shot 45 percent from the floor and 40 percent on 3-pointers.

With the combination of McDougald at the point and Flott down low, Olpe figures to be a threat to make more noise at the State tournament for at least the next two years.

2008-09 All-Area basketball team

Girls

First team

C — Kathryn Flott, sr., Olpe

C — Lexi Hileman, sr., Emporia

F — Lindy Arndt, jr., Emporia

G — Katie Moyer, sr., Olpe

G — Kendyl McDougald, fr., Olpe

Second team

C — Andrea Miller, sr., Northern Heights

C — Shelby Buster, jr., Madison

F — Morgan Stout, jr., Madison

G — Ashley Cahoone, jr., Chase County

G — Morgan Tastove, jr., Lebo

Honorable mention

Morgan Laflin, jr., Lebo; Carly Spicer, so., Osage City; Katie Schroeder, jr., Osage City; Amy Lee, sr., Northern Heights; Aubrey Watts, so., Chase County; Sarah Boline, sr., Northern Heights; Darrah Miller, jr., Council Grove; Paige Hamman, sr., Hartford.

Boys

First team

F — Cole Krueger, sr., Olpe

F — Michael Luthi, sr., Madison

F — Adam Laflin, sr., Lebo

G — Taylor Euler, sr., Emporia

G — Bradley Argabright, jr., Olpe

Second team

C — Greg Canales, jr., Emporia

F — Josh Klumpe, sr., Olpe

F — Sean Carr, sr., Council Grove

G — Jacob Torres, sr., Emporia

G — Adam Ewy, sr., Hartford

Honorable mention

Craig Woods, sr., Hartford; Derek Ziegenhirt, Council Grove; Henry Ott, jr., Madison; Josh Carson, sr., Osage City; Tyler Bartee, sr., Osage City; Roman Murray, sr., Northern Heights; Scott Bowles, sr., Council Grove.