The Park Hill South girls basketball team became back-to-back champions of the Greater KC Red Division on Feb. 20, racing ahead quickly to defeat their nemesis, Park Hill.
The Panthers were not messing around as they got to work right away as they built a double-digit lead in the opening frame. Addison Bjorn’s 10 points and Sarah Listrom’s two buckets put the Panthers in a commanding position early on as they led 19-8 after the first quarter.
Bjorn hit a triple to begin the second quarter, but Park Hill battled back to get within single digits as Brooklyn Bertoncino, Maya Richards and Ja’Kyla Wright scored consecutively. From then on, Park Hill struggled to keep up with Park Hill South.
Paige Farber and Bjorn hit 3-pointers before Audrey Sims answered for Park Hill with a triple of her own. Out of a timeout, the Panthers locked down defensively and closed the half with a 31-19 advantage after successful trips to the free-throw line from Listrom and Bjorn.
South maintained a double-digit lead the rest of the way, getting an early boost with another Listrom triple. Farber and Bjorn extended the Panthers’ lead to 43-21 before Nikyah Chappell ended the Trojans’ lengthy field goal drought, which stretched back into the first half.
Park Hill South senior Sarah Listrom sticks tight to Park Hill sophomore Audrey Sims in the Panthers’ win.
“We’ve really taken pride in our defense this year,” Dorr said. “We don’t let teams take easy shots, and I thought that in the first half, even though we didn’t give up a lot of points, we were still upset about the fact that we gave up some easy looks. We fixed that in the second half, which helped out a lot.”
Park Hill South hit a couple more triples in the fourth to stretch their lead to 25 points before the Trojans answered with consecutive buckets. The Trojans’ offense gradually got back into the game late with scores from Sims, Chappell, Nyadit Akoi and Lauren Stevens, but it was far too little to cause any concern of the Panthers’ unbeaten conference record as they closed out a 56-41 victory.
The Panthers improved their conference record to a perfect 8-0, winning all eight games by double digits.
Paige Farber against Park Hill on Feb. 20.
“I give all the credit to the girls,” Dorr said. “Addie’s been a great leader all season, Paige Farber’s stepped up huge, Sarah Listrom’s stepped up in a huge way as well to help take some of the pressure off of Addie having to bring the ball up the court, which has been huge for us.”
Other newcomers have also stepped up, including a pair of freshmen. The bench’s energy has also been a key asset in keeping the girls playing hard.
Perhaps most importantly, Park Hill South is playing its best basketball at the right time. With an 18-6 record this season, the Panthers have won 10 of their last 11 contests, with their lone defeat coming to a North Kansas City side they routed by 24 points less than a week later.
Park Hill South will look to close out a perfect conference slate for the second consecutive year when it visits Oak Park on Feb. 24 and North Kansas City on Feb. 27.
Postseason play is set to begin on March 2, when No. 7-seeded Park Hill gets another shot to take out No. 2-seeded Park Hill South in the quarterfinal round of the Class 6 District 8 tournament.
Addison Bjorn received her McDonald’s All-American jersey at halftime of the boys’ game on Feb. 20.