Mac Moore/Lawrence Sports, File Photo
The Perry-Lecompton girls basketball team lost 52-31 against Nemaha Central on Feb. 27 at Nemaha Central High School in Seneca. Devin Aldrich, pictured here, is the lone senior on a young team hoping to continue to build off its successes this season heading into next year.
SENECA — Penetrating the length of Nemaha Central’s zone defense proved to be a tall order for the Perry-Lecompton Kaws in a season-ending 52-31 loss Friday night.
This Class 3A sub-state opening round matchup pitted the No. 8 and 9 seeds, with home-court advantage falling to the higher-seeded Thunder.
Nemaha Central’s 1-3-1 and 3-2 zone looks disrupted the Kaws’ half-court sets throughout the contest as passing lanes were virtually non-existent.
“It felt like we were playing against kids with ‘Go-Go Gadget’ arms,” Perry-Lecompton head coach Joey Franzitta said.
The Kaws also went to battle without versatile freshman guard Jolie Corcoran, who was in Salina competing at the state wrestling meet. Franzitta said he’s calculated that her absence from the lineup is worth a roughly 20-point swing on most nights.
“Not in the fact that she’s going to go out and score 20, but she normally takes the opposing team’s best guard and shuts them down,” he said. “She’s a little fireball.”
He noted that she recently held a Sabetha guard who was averaging 15 points per game scoreless.
“At the end of the day, everybody has excuses, and you don’t want to make them,” Franzitta said. “But it hurts, and I know she’s hurting too (by not being here).”
Perry-Lecompton (12-12) remained within striking distance for much of the first half. Sophomore guard Emmy Reed’s knifing lay-in to open the second quarter trimmed the deficit to 14-9. But the Kaws were unable to contain Emma Hermesch, as the 5-foot-9 wing sparked a 7-2 run to put the Thunder up 21-11.
“She just works kids from 15 feet and in, and has the perfect amount of rise (on her jumper),” Franzitta said of Hermesch.
Sophomore guard Kaelyn Metcalfe’s 3-pointer from the right corner, followed by a sophomore forward Tatum Calovich midrange jumper, trimmed the Kaws’ deficit to 24-16 at the half.
Perry-Lecompton came out hot to open the second half. Reed hit a 3-pointer on one end of the floor, followed by a steal on the end to eventually set up a bucket for junior guard Macie Corcoran on the other end, quickly cutting the Thunder’s advantage to 24-21.
“The first three or four minutes of the second half, we kind of punched them in the mouth,” Franzitta said.
But Perry-Lecompton’s offense fizzled, as the Thunder’s zone defense took the turnover-prone Kaws out of rhythm. As the defense stiffened, Nemaha Central went on a 9-0 spurt to go up 12.
The Thunder put together an extended 24-9 run that stretched from the midpoint of the third quarter into the final frame as the Kaws’ deficit swelled to 48-30.
“They’re long, and they play to their strengths really well,” Franzitta said.
Second-chance opportunities also hurt the Kaws, who were badly outrebounded on the offensive glass. On one possession alone in the third quarter, Nemaha Central corralled four offensive rebounds.
“We had an avalanche of turnovers, missed shots, and everything that goes along with that,” Franzitta said. “It’s hard to overcome when you’re fighting that and the other team as well.”
Nemaha Central harassed the Kaws into 16 turnovers, as the 1-3-1 zone proved particularly difficult for Perry-Lecompton to solve. Meg Honeyman, a 5-foot-10 sophomore forward for the Thunder, seemed to almost single-handedly close off passing lanes with her presence at the top of the key.
“She has arms that go to the ceiling, so that’s a fun weapon to have,” Nemaha Central head coach Hadden Hiltgen said, adding that turnovers created by the zone looks allowed his squad’s wings to more easily get out into transition.
“The 1-3-1 is just a little bit different to go against.”
Thunder sophomore guard Kennedy McKee added: “We were really good at the top of the key, keeping them from getting the ball into the lane.”
Franzitta said that Nemaha Central succeeded in keeping Perry-Lecompton at “arm’s length” after the Kaws were held to just 11 points through the first 15 minutes of the contest.
“Whenever you have to grind for points for the whole game, it makes it really tough,” Franzitta said, adding that he’s hopeful that the freshly concluded campaign will set his underclassmen-laden roster on a positive trajectory.
Devin Aldrich, the team’s lone senior, said that she was proud of the team’s performance.
“We had good energy and kept competing,” Aldrich said. “We just lost a little bit of our effort in the third quarter.
“This was a really great group of girls to play with.”
Aldrich scored one basket in her final outing, which she delivered in the opening quarter.
For the contest, Reed finished with a team-high 13 points, including seven in the final frame. Corcoran chipped in eight points while Calovich added five points and a block. For the Thunder, Hermesch poured in a game-high 17 points for Nemaha Central.
