Lady Titans oust Indians

Composure. Defense. Clutch free throw shooting.
All three came into play for Southern Coffey County High’s Lady Titans here Thursday. The Lady Titans were locked in a close contest with St. Paul High’s Indians during a semifinal game of a Kansas Class 1A Division I Basketball Substate Tournament.
The Indians had just tied the game, 34-34, on their seventh three-pointer. Southern Coffey County’s Ashton Isch, Kristin Stephens and Samantha Jacob stepped to the line and went 6 for 6 in the final two minutes.
The Lady Titans gave up just one more three, hit by Morgan Westhoff with 17.7 seconds. That made it 38-37, then Jacob sank her free throws three seconds later.
Westhoff had hung a 35-point performance on the Lady Titans in a 49-29 St. Paul win just over a week ago. Not again as Southern Coffey County’s defense frustrated the St. Paul senior forward.
Westhoff had the basketball in her hands on the final trip up the court. Jenna Witteman and company were all over Westhoff out front and Westhoff’s desperation heave at the buzzer fell short.
The Lady Titans won 40-37. They earned another shot at being the “giant killer” in facing top-ranked and undefeated Olpe High Eagles for the substate championship. Olpe rolled over Pleasanton 66-19 Thursday.
Southern Coffey County is hosting the Class 1A Division I substate tournament at Allen County Community College. The championship game is at 6 p.m. Saturday.
“We have given ourselves another chance. Olpe has beaten us twice this season and our players wanted one more opportunity,” said Jeff True, SCCH head coach.
Olpe downed Southern Coffey County 70-33 in Lyon County League on Jan. 4. Just a week ago, the Eagles defeated the Lady Titans 65-21.
But before the Lady Titans could think about the Eagles again, they had to deal with the Indians. That meant finding a way to shut down Westhoff.
“We didn’t want her to beat us again. If the other players on their team stepped up and beat us, we could live with that,” True said.
“Jenna (Witteman) did a great job on Westhoff. Katelyn Rogers came off the bench and gave Jenna a breather. Our other players did a good job of sliding over and providing help defense.”
Westhoff finished with 13 points, hitting two of her team’s eight threes.
Southern Coffey County led 4-1 after one quarter. The teams began to heat up a bit more offensively in the second period.
After St. Paul’s Nikki Sears tied the game at 5-5, Southern Coffey County’s Stephens had a putback then sank two free throws.
Westhoff had a three-point play to pull her team to within one at the 3:13 mark. Stephens scored inside then Erin Tuck drilled a three-pointer.
Isch broke the 11-11 tie with a three-pointer of her own. The Lady Titans held a 14-11 halftime advantage.
Jacob drove right down the lane for a basket to push SCCH’s lead to 16-11 at the 7:28 mark.
Up 16-14, Sarah Webb sank the first of two free throws. On the missed second attempt, Stephens scored on the rebound then sank a free throw a few seconds later.
The Indians began hitting from long range. Tuck had two threes to make it 22-21 by the 3:20 mark. Ashley Johnson made it 23-21 with a free throw for Southern Coffey  County.
Ashley Stein and Westhoff drained back-to-back threes putting the Indians up by four. Isch hit both ends of a one-and-one.
The Lady Titans trailed 27-25 heading into the fourth quarter.
“I told them they needed to keep their composure. It could go one of two ways — we could let them turn the game into a blowout or we could stay in it,” True said.
Another drive down the lane by Jacob tied the game at 29-29. The game would be tied one more time, 34-34, on a trey by St. Paul’s Tuck.
Southern Coffey County made the most of the free-throw line, hitting 17 of 25 attempts. The Lady Titans were 9 of 11 on foul shots in the final eight minutes.
“Our girls played solid defense throughout the game. Even when they hit the threes on us, we didn’t get away from what had worked for us overall,” True said.
Stephens finished 12 points and Isch had 11. Tuck added 12 points for St. Paul.
In the earlier semifinal, Olpe overpowered Pleasanton. The Eagles led 38-9 at halftime and were up 61-9 after three quarters.
Kathryn Flott poured in 26 points for the Eagles. Kendyl McDougald had 10 points.
Autumn Secrest had the first point of the second half for Pleasanton. She hit one of two free throws with 7:09 left in the game. The lone field goal of the second half for the Blu-Jays was made by Codi Byington three minutes later.
Karesa Lewis hit 6 of 6 free throws for the Jays. She led her team with eight points.
Southern Coffey County (4-10-11-15—40) (FG/3-pt): Rogers. 0-0-1-0, Witteman 1-0-2-2, Isch 2/1-4-1-11, Jacob 3-3-2-9, Stephens 4-4-2-12, Johnson 0-1-0-1, Webb 0-5-2-5. TOTALS: 10/1-17-10-40.
St. Paul (1-10-16-10—37) (FG/3-pt): Burke 0-0-1-0, Paulie 0-0-2-0, Tuck 0/4-0-3-12, Myers 0-0-1-0, Stein 0/2-0-1-6, Westhoff 2/2-3-4-13, Sears 2-2-2-6, Phillips 0-0-3-0. TOTALS: 4/8-5-17-37.