Jackson Heights Basketball vs. Horton

Jackson Heights High School’s Cobra varsity basketball teams rode high-energy first quarters to a sweep of the Horton Chargers during winter courtwarming festivities recently that also saw a Lady Cobra senior becoming the school’s all-time girls basketball points leader.

Kylie Dohl went into Friday’s game with a career total of 1,123 points, four behind all-time leader and 1999 JHHS graduate Deatra Wheeler, and before the first quarter of the Lady Cobras’ 50-46 victory over Horton was complete, Dohl had become the all-time leader. Her 19 points on the night lifted her running total to 1,142 points.

“When things happen that haven’t happened in an extremely long time, I think we need to recognize it,” Lady Cobras Head Coach Dan Shupe said in an on-the-court ceremony honoring Dohl’s achievement fol­lowing the win.

That win, however, was a hard-fought one for the Lady Cobras, who jumped out to a 28-6 first-quarter lead that was capped by a buzzer-beating trey from senior Abby Brey — then watched the lead slowly evaporate over the next three quar­ters as the Lady Chargers came charging back.

“That first quarter, we played very aggressively and got into the full-court game, and things were really rolling,” Coach Shupe said. “But we ran so much that first quarter, I think their legs just got a little tired from running up and down the court as fast as they were.”

The Lady Cobras opened the game with seven unanswered points in the first three and a half minutes before Horton posted its first goal with about 4:25 left in the first quar­ter. Dohl then hit a three-pointer that put her ahead of Wheeler on the all-time point list, sparking another 12-point Lady Cobra run before Horton could score again with less than two minutes left in the frame.

The remaining three quarters were a different story, as the Lady Cobras were held to six points in each of the next two frames while Horton slowly ate away at Jackson Heights’ lead, 34-18 at halftime and 40-32 at the end of three.

“They stepped up and hit a couple of shots to cut the deficit,” Shupe said of Horton. “They got a couple of turnovers on us, when they got the turnover, they turned it into points. I knew that was going to be a tough group.”

In the last few minutes of the game, the Lady Cobras fought to keep their lead as Horton came with­in a single bucket of tying things up. But with less than 15 seconds to go, Lady Cobra senior Amaya Marlatt hit a pair of free throws to put the score at 50-46, and Jackson Heights picked up a steal after a Horton re­bound to cement the win.

In addition to Dohl’s 19 points, Marlatt and Brey also scored in dou­ble digits to aid the Lady Cobras in the win with 14 and 12, respectively. Three Lady Chargers also scored in double digits — Maryanna Randall with 15, Tommi-Anne McAfee with 12 and Maliyah Soto with 10 in the come-from-behind effort.

The win boosted the Lady Cobras’ Northeast Kansas League record to 8-1 and their overall record to 11-2, while the Lady Chargers fell to 8-3 in the NEK League and 9-5 overall. The Lady Cobras also overtook the Lady Chargers in the league stand­ings, with JHHS now second only to Jefferson County North (10-1 league, 14-1 overall).

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In the nightcap, the Cobra boys also took advantage of a high-scor­ing first quarter and rolled to a 62-32 win over Horton, whose boys also mounted a second-quarter comeback attempt that the Cobras derailed after halftime.

The win boosted the Cobras’ record to 4-5 and sixth place in the NEK League and 4-9 overall, while Horton fell to 2-9 and eighth in the league and 2-12 overall. Cobras Head Coach Chris Brown said the win now has the boys getting ready for a busy schedule.

“We just have to focus on playing well,” Coach Brown said. “There won’t be much time for game plan­ning.”

The Cobra boys went on a 24-7 tear in the first quarter, led by sopho­more Jason Bosley, who scored nine of his 22 total points in the frame while junior Dylan Thompson and senior Joel Kennedy each added six.

Horton mounted a second-quarter comeback run, outscoring the Cobras 17-15 in the frame, but the Cobras still took a 39-24 lead into intermis­sion, the first half capped by a buzzer-beating trey from Bosley.

The Chargers’ comeback effort was stifled in the third quarter as Jackson Heights limited Horton to a single buck­et while the Cobras post­ed 18 — half of that coming from Bosley — and held on to the lead through the final frame, which saw Horton with a slight 6-5 scoring edge.

“Jason really had a great night of scoring, and he was very efficient,” Coach Brown said. “Joel also had a good night on the boards, and Cable (senior Cable Wareham) led us in steals.”

Three Cobras scored in double digits that night; in addition to Bosley’s 22, Thompson picked up 12 and Kennedy added 10. Horton’s Drake Waser was his team’s leading scorer with 10.

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Girls Scoring

Jackson Heights 28-6-6-10 50

Horton 6-12-14-14 46

Jackson Heights: Dohl 5 (3) 0-0 19, Marlatt 6 2-2 14, Brey 3 (2) 0-0 12, Roles 1 1-4 3, Hutfles 0 1-2 1, White 0 1-2 1. Totals 15 (5) 5-10 50.

Horton: Randall 3 (3) 0-1 15, McAfee 4 (1) 1-2 12, Soto 4 2-2 10, Smith 3 (1) 0-0 9. Totals 14 (5) 3-5 46.

Boys Scoring

Jackson Heights 24-15-18-5 62

Horton 7-17-2-6 32

Jackson Heights: Bosley 5 (3) 3-6 22, Thompson 6 0-0 12, Kennedy 3 4-6 10, Wareham 2 (1) 0-0 7, H. Doyle 1 (1) 0-0 5, S. Holliday 0 (1) 0-0 3, C. Doyle 1 0-0 2, D. Holliday 0 1-2 1. Totals 18 (6) 8-14 62.

Horton: Waser 0 (3) 1-2 10, Lock­wood 2 3-4 7, Gamino 1 1-2 3, Miller 0 (1) 0-0 3, Mottin 0 (1) 0-0 3, Allen 1 0-0 2, Keo 1 0-0 2, Walkup 1 0-0 2. Totals 6 (5) 5-8 32.