Menu
TIgers handle Clearwater, top seed Wamego next
Sports Editor's Note: This online summary includes information about the late Paola-Tonganoxie game that was not available when this story was sent back to Fort Scott for publication in the print edition.
SALINA -- If teams are going to continue to put Fort Scott High junior Katren Rienbolt at the free-throw line late in close games, she has no problem with that.
She made six free throws in the final 1:06 of the Sub-State championship game last weekend. Thursday, she made six of eight charity tosses in the final 1:03 to help the Tigers finish up a 45-36 victory over Clearwater in the first round of the Kansas Class 4A State Tournament at Salina's Bicentennial Center.
Fort Scott (18-5), the fourth seed, which has won 14 consecutive games, will face top seed Wamego at 3 p.m. this afternoon in the first semifinal game. The Red Raiders (23-1) pulled away from Pratt in the second half of Thursday's opening game to take a 54-36 victory.
The third game of the day saw defending champion McPherson dump Southeast Kansas League member Labette County, 70-34. The Bullpups (21-3) will face Paola (19-4) tonight at 6:30 in the other semifinal. Paola was a 55-38 winner over Tonganoxie in the late game.
Thursday's winners are guaranteed of no worse than a fourth-place finish. Semifinal losers will play at noon Saturday for third place. The winners square off for the championship at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Rienbolt scored 16 of her game-high 18 points in the second half as the Tigers capitalized on Clearwater turnovers and finally managed to shut down the Indians' rebounding.
The Indians (16-7) were overplaying the outside shot, hoping to take away Rienbolt and Ashley Cook's scoring and force the Tigers to go inside. The only problem with that plan was that Fort Scott was able to make the adjustment. Not only were posts Brianne Lawrence and Jillian Lattimer able to find some baskets but Rienbolt and Cook were able to move into the paint for some medium-range jumpers and the Tigers' transition game provided some more scoring.
"We were able to get some turnovers and it was my teammates getting me the ball," Rienbolt said. "We all had to adjust."
Clearwater crashed the boards hard in the first half and held a 21-15 advantage there at halftime. But the Indians also committed 8 turnovers and it was clear the Tigers were the more composed team.
In the third quarter, the Tigers finally got the boards under control and forced 9 more turnovers.
"Their effort impressed me the most in the second half," Fort Scott head coach Jeff Armstrong said. "We had good effort in the first half, but it wasn't our best. And when we came out in the second half, the third quarter especially, I thought we were giving our best effort. That's what we can control. Rebounds and turnovers, sometimes you can't control them. I was most proud of how we came out and played as hard as we could."
Lawrence scored the game's first two baskets, a layup from an assist by Maddi Allen and a lean-in shot for a layup.
Clearwater tied it with a transition layup by Brooke Winter and a jumper from Sydney Warren with 1:43 left in the period.
Fort Scott scored 6 of the last 8 of the quarter with Allen's 3-pointer just before the buzzer making it 10-6.
A jumper from the middle of the lane by Rienbolt boosted Fort Scott's lead to 15-10 with 5:17 left in the half. But Clearwater scored 8 of the last 10. Bryna Vogel took a steal in for a layup and Winter hit a 3-pointer from the right wing to tie the score.
Lattimer scored on a layup with 3:53 to go to put the Tigers back up by 2. Ivy Sizemore made a pair of free throws with 1:14 left and one of two with 12 seconds to go to give the Indians the lead, 18-17, going into intermission.
That turned out to be Clearwater's only lead of the game. Hannah Tourtillott got the Tigers going to start the second half by taking a steal in for a layup to put Fort Scott back in front and start a 12-2 run. Rienbolt stuck back her own missed shot and Cook drove through the lane for a layup with 4:42 left to make it 23-18.
"They did a great job of taking our outside shot away," Armstrong said. "Our guards didn't have a lot of opportunities from the perimeter. But they took advantage of going to the hoop, attacking and getting to the foul line, especially in the second half."
Vogel hit a short jumper for the Indians to finally get them on the board for the second half. But Allen got a steal and fed Rienbolt for a layup and Lattimer found Rienbolt on an outlet pass for another layup on a fast break. Lawrence capped the run with 1:01 to go by making a pair of free throws to make it a 29-20 lead.
Sidney Maycumber got in on the rebounding action to start the fourth quarter, putting back two errant shots to make it 33-22 with 6:23 left.
"We stressed boxing out at half," Armstrong said. "Obviously, we didn't do real well in the first half. They had only 4 (offensive rebounds) in the second half, definitely a huge thing there."
Vogel helped bring her team back a bit with a pair of baskets, which closed the gap to 35-29 with 3:43 remaining. Rienbolt hit a jumper with exactly three minutes to go and made two free throws 54 seconds later.
"That's what she's done all year," Armstrong said. "It's consistency. In the last few games, she's been clutch."
Kristen Babb took advantage of one of the Tigers' few miscues of the half by stealing an inbound pass for a layup with 1:51 left. Vogel drove the right baseline for a layup with 1:28 to go to bring the Indians within 39-33.
Then, of course, the Indians had to foul to save time. But their only response to Rienbolt's free throws was an old-fashioned 3-point play that Maddie Petersen converted with 21 seconds left.
Lawrence was Fort Scott's second-leading scorer with 8 points. Maycumber and Lattimer each added 5, both scoring at key times.
Vogel, a six-foot junior, scored 12 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for Clearwater but was just 6 of 16 from the field -- 2 of 8 in the first half. No other Indian had more than 5 points.
Fort Scott made 9 of 16 field-goal attempts in the second half to finish 16 of 41 for the game for 39 percent. The Tigers also made 12 of 19 free throws. Clearwater finished at 33 percent from the field on 15 of 46 and went to the free-throw line just 5 times, making 4.
The Indians finished with a 32-29 rebounding advantage, but the Tigers outboarded them in the second half, 14-11. Maycumber finished with 6 boards for Fort Scott.
"Our posts have a knack for finding a rebound," Armstrong said. "It must be something genetic. There's just certain girls who find themselves in the right position when the ball comes off the rim. And sometimes, that's better offense than I can draw up."
Clearwater committed 20 turnovers in all with Fort Scott picking up 12 steals. Tourtillott had 4 steals. Allen gathered in 3 steals and handed out 3 assists.
Official stats provided by the Kansas Wesleyan University sports information department, which provides its service to the State Tournament, credited the Tigers with 19 points from those Clearwater turnovers.
Wamego 54, Pratt 36.
Both teams had to shake off some nerves as neither side scored in the game's first four minutes. But in the next four, the Red Raiders posted a 13-3 scoring advantage.
Pratt (14-10), one of just two teams back from last year's State Tournament, declined to go away quite that meekly and outscored Wamego 18-15 in the second. That still left the Raiders with a 7-point lead at the break.
Wamego controlled the second half, outscoring the Greenbacks 26-15. The Raiders held Pratt to 6-of-23 field-goal shooting in the half and forced 8 turnovers.
Sisters Kaylee and Laine Paige combined for 35 points and 18 rebounds for Wamego. Kaylee is a 6' 2" junior and Laine is a 6' 2" sophomore. The older sister scored 16 of her game-high 20 points in the second half. Lanie scored 13 of her 15 in the first half.
Payton Hoeme, a 6' 2" senior, led Pratt with 13 points. No other Greenback had more than 6.
McPherson 70, Labette County 34.
The Bullpups, who made a trek of a little less than 30 miles to play here, led the Grizzlies 18-0 after five minutes of play and never looked back.
Play slowed in the second quarter but McPherson still led 28-13 at the break. Then the Bullpups outscored Labette County (15-8) 43-21 in the second half.
Abby Pedersen led McPherson with 19 points while last year's state player of the year, Katelyn Loecker, added 12. Michaela O'Brien led LCHS with 14 points.
McPherson made 11 of 19 3-point shots and 21 of 43 shots from the field in total for 49 percent. LCHS was held to 12 of 43 for 28 percent, missing all 10 3-point shots it took.
Paola 55, Tonganoxie 38.
Lyndsee Johnson led the winning Panthers with 18 points while Taylor Williams added 10 as Paola coasted, leading 34-14 at the half.
Third-seeded Paola outrebounded Tonganoxie (15-8) 50-39 as Morgan Laudan hauled down 12 rebounds and Tiana Moala brought down 10 more.
Jennifer Whitledge had a double-double in a losing effort for the Chieftains, scoring 15 points and grabbing 14 rebounds.
Paola won despite committing 21 turnovers. Tonganoxie managed only 13 points off those miscues.
Kelsey Slawson blocked 5 shots for Paola.
NOTES: -- The boys semifinals are also tonight. Second-seeded Ottawa (23-0), a 76-44 winner over Anderson County Wednesday afternoon, faces No. 3 Andale (21-2) at 4:45 p.m. Andale defeated Kansas City-Piper, 54-52, Wednesday.
The other semifinal has top seed Topeka-Highland Park (23-0), playing its first year as a Class 4A school after being a 5A school since the KSHSAA split into five classes in 1979, against No. 4 Abilene (20-4). Highland Park beat Winfield, 65-49, Wednesday night while Abilene got by Southeast Kansas League member Independence, 51-45....
(5) CLEARWATER: Winter 2-10 0-0 5, Akin 0-3 0-0 0, Babb 2-5 0-0 5, Vogel 6-16 0-0 12, Bennett 0-0 0-0 0, Petersen 1-1 1-1 3, Warren 1-3 0-0 2, Ast 2-5 0-0 4, Reibenspies 1-3 0-0 2, Sizemore 0-0 3-4 3. TOTALS: 15-46 4-5 36.
(4) FORT SCOTT: Tourtillott 1-3 0-1 2, Shoemaker 0-0 0-0 0, Denton 0-0 0-0 0, Allen 1-5 0-0 3, Sh.Maycumber 0-0 0-0 0, Rienbolt 5-12 8-10 18, Hasenplaugh 0-0 0-0 0, Cook 2-4 0-2 4, Si.Maycumber 2-6 1-2 5, Barbour 0-0 0-0 0, Lawrence 3-6 2-2 8, Lattimer 2-5 1-4 5. TOTALS: 16-41 12-19 45.
Clearwater..... 6 12 4 14 -- 36
Fort Scott.... 10 7 12 16 -- 45
Three-point field goals: Clearwater 2-17 (Babb 1-2, Winter 1-7, Warren 0-1, Akin 0-2, Vogel 0-5), Fort Scott 1-7 (Allen 1-4, Rienbolt 0-1, Cook 0-2).
Total fouls: Clearwater 17, Fort Scott 14. Fouled out: None. Technical fouls: None.
Rebounds: Clearwater 32 (Vogel 15), Fort Scott 29 (Lawrence 6). Assists: Clearwater 8 (Warren 2, Sizemore 2), Fort Scott 6 (Allen 3). Turnovers: Clearwater 20, Fort Scott 14. Steals: Clearwater 8 (Ast 2), Fort Scott 12 (Tourtillott 4). Blocked shots: Clearwater 4 (Vogel 4), Fort Scott 2 (Tourtillott, Lattimer).