Heights' nemesis gets win
EMPORIA — The Heights girls stood quietly in a straight line in front of their bench at White Auditorium, waiting for the celebrating Olathe South players to leave the middle of the court and shake their hands.
Olathe South players hugged, wiped away tears and screamed after their 54-49 victory in the Class 6A title game.
Finally, Olathe South coach Steve Ingram, a small smile on his face, motioned them into the hand-shaking line.
It's the third straight season Heights lost in the 6A tournament to Olathe South. Last year the loss came in the semifinals and Heights finished fourth. In 2008, Olathe South beat Heights in the third-place game.
Falcons sophomore Taylor Chandler barely spoke above a whisper as she said, "It's really disappointing. We worked hard all year. We're really young and we couldn't pull it off. We could have won this."
Heights' team is young — forward Kamisha Richard is the only senior — and it has a bright future with a team jam-packed with talent. There's future Division I talent up and down the lineup, including Jhasmin Bowen and Tahlia Pope.
But by now, this team thought they'd have at least one title.
"I told them, '23-2 is not bad for a lot of teams, but for us, if we don't go home with a state championship trophy, it's a down year,' " said Pulliam, whose Falcons last won 6A in 2007. "Next year, (the 6A tournament) will be in Wichita, and we'll be the senior-laden team ready to go."
Ingram had been waiting for this for a while. He's coached Olathe South (24-1) for 21 years and this was his fourth title game and first victory.
"It almost brings me to tears," Ingram said. "A lot of years coaching. You don't know if you'll get a chance to win a championship. I don't think it would define my career if I didn't win one. But it is pleasing."
Ingram's team did it with four senior starters and junior Natalie Knight, a Kansas recruit who finished with 23 points and seven rebounds. Olathe South lost to Washburn Rural last year in the 6A title game.
They used that experience, making few mistakes.
After a tight first half in which there were eight ties and four lead changes, Olathe South opened the third quarter by scoring three straight times in transition for a 32-25 lead.
"We made a mistake at the start of the second half," Pulliam said. "We wanted to go full-court press on all makes. The girls didn't get in it the first few times.... For 2-3 minutes, we weren't focused and they took advantage of it."
Pope and Chandler fouled out as Heights struggled offensively. Heights shot 42.9 percent, but made one three-pointer in 11 attempts.
Pope missed all nine of her shots and Heights was 6 of 16 at the foul line to Olathe South's 21 of 28.
"Our momentum went down after that," said Bowen, who scored 17 points on 8-of-12 shooting. "We tried to keep playing, but it was like going downhill."