The Times-Sentinel
SPORTS Owls top Cardinals for Haven title
February 1, 2018 | 1B
The Times-Sentinel
By Travis Mounts and Sam Jack The Times-Sentinel
Garden Plain’s Horacek had a game-high 16 points, while Abby Heimerman added 10. Other scorers for the Owls were Taylor Joplin 7, Lauren Danahy 6, Krissie May 4 and Piper Bourne 2. Garden Plain sank six three-points baskets, including three by Heimerman and two by Horacek. Danahy also made a three. Kirsten Campbell scored 15 points to lead Cheney, including making several key shots during the Cardinals’ run in the third quarter. Emily Monson was in double figures with 11 points. Other Cheney scorers were Kadie Smith 7, Destinee O’Shea 5 and Kennedy Higgins 2. The Cardinals did not make any three-points shots in the championship.
The Garden Plain and Cheney girls basketball teams often face off for control of the Central Plains League and in substate tournaments. On Saturday, they battled each other for the Haven Wildcat Championship, with Garden Plain winning 49-39. The Owls jumped out to an early lead, extending their lead to double digits in the second quarter and getting ahead of the Cardinals by as many as 14 points. At halftime, Garden Plain was on top of Cheney 29-15. “I thought we played really well first half. We came out, dictated the tempo and handled the press well. We didn’t rebound as well as we normally do, which I thought we were fortunate that Cheney wasn’t hitting as many shots. We didn’t rebound against them or Kingman,” said Garden Plain head coach Kody Kasselman. “Garden Plain shot the ball really well. That put us in an early hole,” said Cheney head coach Rod Scheer. Momentum changed after halftime, as the Cardinals held the Owls scoreless for nearly six minutes after the break. Meanwhile, Cheney’s shots started to fall, and with about 2:40 left in the third quarter, the Cardinals had cut the Owls’ lead down to 2 points, 29-27. Back-to-back baskets by Garden Plain’s Taylor Joplin gave the Owls some breathing room, extending Garden Plain’s lead back to 6 points, at 33-27. Joplin’s baskets kicked off a 10-1 Garden Plain run that was capped by a three-point shot by Kennedy Horacek, and the Cardinals weren’t able to threaten again. Scheer said the Cardinals didn’t make any changes in their game plan after halftime. “We just hit some shots. We had been rushing our shots in the first half. We were open,” he said. “We did have a little lull, probably the first four minutes of the third quarter. Cheney got it within 2 and we were able to hit a few baskets, get the momentum back and finish the first quarter the way we played the first half. Other than a 4-minute stretch in the fourth quarter I thought we played well,” Kasselman said.
Cardinals beat Nickerson, Wellington The Cheney Cardinals advanced to the Haven Wildcat Classic championship with a couple of wins over 4A schools as well as a little help. The tournament started last Thursday with the Cardinals, who were seeded fifth, beating No. 4 Nickerson 53-46. The game was tied 9-9 after one quarter, but the Cardinals took over the game with a 19-8 run through the second quarter. That gave them an 11-point halftime edge, 2817, and Nickerson never really threatened the Cardinals in the second half. “Nickerson is a good team. We played good defense and executed our offense. We had a good spurt in the second quarter,” said Cheney head coach Rod Scheer. Three Cardinals scored in double figures, with Emily Monson leading the way with a team-high 16 points. Kylee Scheer and Destinee O’Shea scored 10 points each. Other scorers were Kirsten Campell 9,
Jordan Block 2, Kristen Wewe 3, Taryn Lonker 2 and Kennedy Higgins 1. The Cardinals also got a favor Thursday from Wellington, which upset the Haven Wildcats – the tournament’s top team – 49-46. The Cardinals repaid the Crusaders on Friday by beating them 59-23 in Friday’s semifinal. The Cardinals controlled the game all the way, leading 15-4 after one quarter and 35-13 by halftime. Wellington never scored 9 points in a quarter, and managed just 10 points in the entire second half. “We played really good defense on Friday, and scored some points,” said Rod Scheer. Kylee Scheer led a balanced scoring attack with 15 points, and Campbell contributed 10. Seven other Cardinals added points: Wewe 9, Smith 7, O’Shea 7, Block 4, Mollie Reno 4, Monson 2 and Higgins 1. Cheney started the week on the road with a game at Trinity Academy. On Friday, the Cardinals host Independent. Cheney gets a shot at redemption when the Cardinals travel to Garden Plain on Tuesday. The Owls have won both meetings this season.
Garden Plain’s Abby Gordon, left, puts up a short shot as Cheney’s Kylee Scheer tries to block it. The Owls and Cardinals played in the Haven Wildcat Classic championship, with the Owls winning 49-39. Travis Mounts/The Times-Sentinel
Travis Mounts/The Times-Sentinel
LEFT: Taylor Joplin makes a shot to help seal Garden Plain’s win. ABOVE: Cheney’s Taryn Lonker looks for an open teammate.
Owls open with wins over Rockets and Eagles Garden Plain defeated Rose Hill and Kingman teams on the way to the championship game. On Jan. 25, the Owls beat the Rose Hill Rockets 51-29. The Owls jumped out to a 12-3 lead by the end of the first quarter and never looked back. “I thought we controlled the boards, I thought we controlled tempo,” Kasselman said. “That was the main thing: We just kind
of slowly pulled away from them.” Lauren Danahy and Abby Gordon each scored 10 points versus Rose Hill. Others who scored were Taylor Joplin 9, Piper Bourne 7, Natasha Dooley 6, Kennedy Horacek 4, Kara Heimerman 2, Brook Wapelhorst 2 and Krissie May 1. The next day, the Owls beat Kingman 49-45, coming back from a 1-point halftime deficit. “We came out in the second half and played very well,” Kasselman said. “Defensively, we did well. They hit two three-pointers within the last 45 seconds; before that, we were up 10.”
The Owls shot 85 percent from the free throw line. Joplin led the Owls offense versus Kingman, scoring 16 points. Other scorers were Bourne, 11, Danahy 6, Dooley 6, Horacek 5, Heimerman 3 and Abby Gordon 2. “Kingman is a great team, Cheney’s a great team, Rose Hill’s a solid team, and it was just a great
tournament to get better,” Kasselman said. “It’s nice to win a tournament, but ultimately we just want to get better and keep working toward the postseason.” Taylor Joplin and Lauren Danahy were named to the all-tournament team, but Kasselman said there were quite a few other Owls that could have been named, with 10 girls contributing significant minutes.