Double-Header: Girls’ and Boys’ Basketball vs. Olathe East

Shannon and fellow seniors Caroline Dodd and Caroline Nick led their team to a 47-44 victory over the Olathe East Lady Hawks Tuesday night. Both teams fought hard as the Hawks closed the game to within three points in the final seconds. The Olathe East squad made a high percentage of shots from behind the three point line while the Lady Lancers earned their points with quick passes and fast breaks down the court.

While the Hawks had momentum early on thanks to height in the paint, Coach Stein was able to move his girls to a 3-2 zone defense to take control of the middle and force Olathe East to shoot the harder outside shots. Olathe East was able to hinder the drives made by McGinley and Nick by crowding the center.

As the game neared its final minutes, the Hawks trailed by eight. To keep time on the clock, Coach Evans told his girls to foul the Lancer squad whenever possible. This took the Lancers to the line every time but gave the Hawks the opportunity to regain points and come within a single shot of victory.

Unfortunately for the Hawks, the Lancers had a high percentage of free throws that went in, allowing them to maintain their lead as the seconds ticked down to zero.

In the second quarter, the teams were pretty evenly matched. After starting the game in a 2-3 zone, the Hawks switched to a 3-2 which disrupted the offensive flow the Lancers had in the first quarter. They forced pressure on the guards that they had not seen in the first quarter, and the team struggled to find open shots. With three players listed at 6’7, the Hawks also began to gain an advantage inside. Senior Jonah Jacobsen and sophomore Ezra Talbert were able to get behind the Lancer front line, and find some easy buckets. However, the Lancers retained their lead going into the half on top 27-22.

After the half, the Lancers really began to struggle on offense. Wentz picked up his third foul early in the third quarter and was forced to sit for about four minutes. With Wentz out of the game, the Lancers relied heavily on junior Zach Schneider for offense, but he was defended well by the Hawks’ big men. Senior guards Alex Schoegler and Henry Simpson also found themselves in foul trouble, which really caused the Lancer offense to struggle to move the ball. After only scoring seven points in the quarter, the Lancers trailed 38-34 going into the fourth.

Going into the fourth, the Lancers and Hawks went back and forth, with the Lancers never getting the lead under four. The Hawks were efficient with their ball movement, and used a lot of clock without giving away turnovers. Their defensive pressure also forced East to kill a lot of time looking for open shots that just were not there. Down the stretch, the Hawks were able to make their free-throws, and hold off the Lancers despite late three-pointers from Wentz and fellow junior Chase Hanna. When the final buzzer sounded, the Lancers had been defeated 56-50.

Points by Player:
Wentz- 21
Schneider- 12
Sutherland- 9
Hiett- 5
Hanna- 3