Even though their shots weren’t falling, the Skyline Middle School girls basketball team found a way to win last night in the Heart of the Plains League Tournament championship game at Skyline.
On a subpar shooting night, the Lady T-birds simply leaned on their defense as they came away with a 22-7 win over South Barber to end their season on a high note.
The Lady Tornadoes came out fired up and held Skyline to just two points in the first quarter as the Lady T-birds hit just one of nine shots and missed all four of their free throws.
South Barber had a 5-2 lead after one quarter, but Skyline’s defense stepped up in the second quarter.
The Lady T-birds stole the ball eight times and that led to several easy baskets and an 8-2 run through the quarter.
Two minutes into the quarter, Kaitlyn Stark stole the ball and went all the way in for a layup to get Skyline within one point down 5-4.
Thirty seconds later, Stark hit a three-pointer to put her team on top 7-5.
South Barber’s Morgan Myers tied it up with a jumper at the 2:14 mark, but Skyline answered with a free throw by Janessa Davis, and another steal and layup by Stark in the final seconds of the half.
Defense was the biggest reason Skyline had a lead, as the Lady T-birds had hit just four of 18 field goals and one of seven free throws in the opening half while being outrebounded 13-5.
The third quarter saw most of that change, as Skyline ran off ten straight points, outrebounded South Barber 6-3, and opened up a 20-7 lead.
Three of Skyline’s baskets came on assists, and the other two third quarter buckets were putbacks.
At the other end, South Barber missed all four field goal attempts and got just one offensive rebound in the quarter.
Defense continued to rule in the fourth quarter, as Skyline missed its first four shots.
With a little more than two minutes remainig in the game, Skyline started running time off the clock.
The Lady T-birds successfully passed the ball around for over two minutes before Stark hit Kadi Richardson in stride for a layup with seven seconds left.
That bucket made the final score 22-7 Skyline, and secured the tournament championship to go with the regular season HOPL title Skyline already had.
Stark led the Lady T-birds with nine points, eith steals and an assist while Richardson finished with six points, three steals, two rebounds and an assist.
Skyline’s leading scorer, Davis, was held to just five points after scoring 17 in each of the last two games, but she did have three rebounds and three steals.
Alyssa Swonger added three steals and an assist while Veronica Nelson and Mycha Owens each had a steal in the contest.
Skyline made just ten of 32 shots, but they held South Barber to three-for-nine shooting, including an 0-for-5 effort in the second half.
The Lady T-birds also took advantage of 22 South Barber turnovers, helping overcome the Lady Tornadoes’ 19-13 edge on the boards.
Skyline 22, South Barber 7
SBMS: Clark 1 0-0 2, Myers 1 0-0 2, Roark 1 0-0 2, Farney 0 1-2 1, Denton 0 0-0 0, McCullough 0 0-0 0, Koblitz 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 3 1-2 7.
SMS: Kaitlyn Stark3 (1) 0-1 9, Kadi Richardson 3 0-3 6, Janessa Davis 2 1-2 5, Alyssa Swonger 1 0-0 2, Brooke Fisher 0 0-0 0, Veronica Nelson 0 0-2 0, Mycha Owens 0 0-0 0. TOTALS 9 (1) 1-8 22.
SB 5 2 0 0 — 7
S 2 8 10 2 — 22
