Lady Cobras fall to Valley Falls in sub-state basketball

Jackson Heights Lady Cobras head basketball coach Dan Shupe reminded his team during last week’s Sub-State tournament in Valley Falls that winning the tour­nament was a “three-step process.”

But after taking the first step on Feb. 28 with a win against Kansas City Christian, the Lady Cobras stumbled on the second step with a 38-23 loss on Friday to host school and eventual tournament champion Valley Falls, a team the Cobras have struggled with all season.

“We were stressed to try to get the score close enough going into the fourth quarter to give us a chance,” Shupe said. “We just couldn’t make the plays we needed to make a run.”

The loss brought the Lady Co­bras’ 2016-17 season to a halt with records of 8-8 in the Northeast Kansas League and 10-12 overall.

The Lady Dragons hit the ground running with a 5-0 run to start the game and eventually held the first quarter with a 13-6 tally, ramping up the score to 21-10 at the half with another 5-0 run.

“We missed several layups at the beginning of the game,” Shupe said. “But our opportunities were limited. Valley Falls is a great de­fensive team. They play physical, and they do things fundamentally well.”

The Cobras were held to three points in the third quarter but were able to outscore the Dragons 10-9 in the final frame. However, due to a high number of Jackson Heights turnovers in the third, the Dragons were able to sustain the pace for the win.

Senior Hannah Williams, in her final game as a Cobra, led the scoring for Jackson Heights with nine points. Also closing out her high school basketball career that evening was senior Alexis Ri­eschick.

“When you put four years into a sport, having it come to an end is emotional, both as a player and a coach,” Shupe said. “Hannah and Alexis improved so much from the point when they entered high school.”

Shupe also noted that a signifi­cant amount of work this season was put in by younger players, no­tably freshmen Kylie Dohl and Jodi White and sophomores Trinity McMahon and Sydney Raborn, but added the younger players need to improve on their strength and skill in order to take on teams like Val­ley Falls and Jefferson County North in the future and win.

“The foundation is set for the underclassmen to make their mark in this sport,” he said. “To compete successfully against those the teams in the next several years, we have got to be committed and hold our­selves accountable in the weight room year-round and to developing our basketball skills. We improved a lot in both those areas this year, but we are still behind the top of our league by a noticeable differ­ence.”

In the end, despite not getting past the second step in the Sub-State tournament, Shupe said the 2016-17 season with the Lady Co­bras has been “very enjoyable” and a marked improvement over the 2015-16 season, when the team posted records of 5-11 in the league and 6-15 overall.

“They worked extremely hard, and they were very coachable,” he said. “Hannah and Alexis will be missed, but they’ve instilled some great qualities in the younger play­ers.”

Scoring

Valley Falls 38, Jackson Heights 23

Jackson Heights 6-4-3-10—23

Valley Falls 13-8-8-9—38

Jackson Heights: H. Williams 2 5-7 9, Dohl 1 (1) 1-2 6, Raborn 0 (1) 0-0 3, A. Williams 1 1-2 3, White 1 0-0 2. Totals 5 (2) 7-13 23.

Valley Falls: Frakes 3 1-4 7, Burns 3 1-1 7, DeLong 1 1-2 3, Kearney 1 0-0 2, Jepson 0 2-2 2, Hawk 1 0-2 2, Wildeman 0 1-3 1. Totals 9 (0) 6-14 38.

Sub-State Semifinals

Jefferson County North (1) 61, Maranatha Christian Academy (4) 29

Valley Falls (2) 38, Jackson Heights (3) 23

Sub-State Championship

Valley Falls 52, Jefferson County North 38