BonnerSprings.com

The Basehor-Linwood High School basketball teams had an unexpected and unwanted vacation from the hardwoods because of last week's snow and ice storms, not playing a game since Dec. 8, a span of 11 days.

For the boys' squad, the lack of practice time was evident, but the Bobcats shrugged off their sluggishness and defeated Tonganoxie 57-47 at THS Tuesday night. BLHS is now 2-2 on the season.

"We kind of figured it wouldn't be a pretty game and it wasn't," said B-L head coach Dan Miller. "We've practiced once since a week ago Friday (Dec. 8) so it was pretty much what I expected. But I was very pleased. We hung in there, especially in the fourth quarter when we responded when we were behind."

Basehor-Linwood senior Travis Fouts soars through the air down the lane despite being surrounded by a trio of Tonganoxie players in the Bobcats' victory.

Despite opening up a 10-point lead three minutes into the second quarter, the Bobcats found themselves down by three, 43-40, with six minutes left in the game.

But Basehor-Linwood's defense forced some Chieftain turnovers and the Bobcats found their shooting touch, scoring nine straight points in a 2:30 span for a 49-43 lead. BLHS scored 17 of the game's final 21 points as Travis Fouts and Brandon Fisher scored six points each for the Bobcats down the stretch.

"We let Tongy hang with us," Miller said. "We had opportunities to put the game away, especially at the free throw line in the first half, but we waited until a couple of minutes into the fourth quarter to get it going."

Though Miller was pleased with the victory, he was not pleased with his team's performance on the boards and the squad's ability to hold onto the ball.

Basehor-Linwood was outrebounded 32-28, but what miffed Miller was the fact that Tonganoxie had 14 offensive rebounds, allowing the Chieftains numerous extra chances.

"We're not doing a good job of boxing out. We're giving up entirely too many second shots," Miller said.

The Bobcats also turned the ball over 20 times in the contest, and are averaging 18.8 turnovers in their four games.

"If we're going to play competitively, we need to take better care of the basketball," said Miller. "We haven't played our best basketball yet and that's encouraging because I think when we show signs of what we can do I think it will be pretty good. We just need to put a full game together."

Fisher led the Bobcats in the contest with 19 points, including a trio of three-pointers. Fouts added 16 points and Jackie Kimlin had an all-around good game with 10 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.

Score by quarters:

Basehor-Linwood 11 16 11 19 57

Tonganoxie 9 13 17 8 47

Basehor-Linwood (2-1, 2-2): Jackie Kimlin 4-7 2-4 2 10, Colby Kooser 1-3 2-5 3 5, Brandon Fisher 5-9 6-8 2 19, Mike Horn 0-2 5-6 3 5, Travis Fouts 8-13 0-2 1 16, Jake Hills 1-2 0-0 0 2, Brandon Dye 0-0 0-0 1 0, Eric Peeler 0-0 0-0 1 0. Totals: 19-36 15-25 13 57. Tonganoxie totals: 17-53 9-11 23 47.

Three-point goals (4-11): Fisher 3-6, Kooser 1-3, Kimlin 0-2; Tonganoxie 4-12. Rebounds (28): Kimlin 7, Horn 6, Fisher 4, Fouts 4, Kooser 3, Team 4; Tonganoxie 32. Assists (12): Kimlin 4, Fisher 3, Kooser 3, Fouts 2; Tonganoxie 9. Steals (8): Kimlin 4, Fouts 2, Kooser, Peeler; Tonganoxie 9. Blocked shots (2): Fouts, Horn; Tonganoxie 1.

The Bobcat junior varsity squad had no problem in dismantling the Chieftains, doubling up the score on Tonganoxie, 75-37.

Basehor-Linwood led 16-13 after one quarter, but a 22-7 run in the second period boosted the Bobcats' lead to 38-20 and they never looked back.

Eric Peeler led a trio of BLHS players in double figures with 17, including 11 in the second quarter. Brian Gripka added 13, 10 in the second half, and John Grube chipped in 11.

Basehor-Linwood scoring: Eric Laffere 3, Brian Gripka 13, Jake Hills 4, Charles Millison 8, Nick Verbenec 4, Brandon Dye 5, John Grube 11, Jake Brown 2, Bronson Schaake 1, Eric Peeler 17, Ron Gray 7.

In the freshman contest, the Bobcats rallied from an eight point deficit entering the final quarter, but fell one point short, losing to Tonganoxie, 49-48.

The Chieftains took a 43-35 lead into the fourth period and mounted a comeback, helped by the fact that Tonganoxie made just two of nine free throws in the final eight minutes.

Garyn Gorup paced the Bobcats with 12 points in the contest.

Basehor-Linwood scoring: Brett Dowdall 2, Josh Kimlin 4, Joey Brown 0, Garyn Gorup 12, Billy Hashman 2, Robby Paterson 9, Cameron Freeman 0, Cody Herbster 0, Adam Smith 8, John Shoemaker 3, Tim Ward 8.

Bobcat Notes...

The game against Tonganoxie had an unusual instance. In the first half, the Chieftains were whistled for their seventh team foul five minutes into the game and finished the first quarter with 10 fouls. When the period ended, Tonganoxie had more fouls than points. However, Tonganoxie had just one more foul the rest of the half.

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• Basehor-Linwood senior Travis Fouts jumped from 11th to eighth place in career points at BLHS against Tonganoxie. Fouts, now with 498 points, passed Jamie Wittkop (481, 1994-97), Chuck McMillen (483, 1988-91) and Joe Sifford (491, 1993-96).

Fouts needs just 10 more to pass Todd Johnson's (1988-89) 507 points for seventh place. All of Johnson's points came in his senior year, the first year when Basehor and Linwood High Schools consolidated.

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• The Bobcats will take some time off for the holiday break before resuming action on Tuesday, Jan. 2 when they host Perry-Lecompton.

Lady Bobcats earn first win of season

It took four games to do it, but the Basehor-Linwood girls' basketball team gained its first victory of the year, defeating Tonganoxie 45-37 in the BLHS gym Tuesday night.

The Lady Bobcats, now 1-3, trailed after one quarter, 12-11, but rallied to take a 20-18 lead at the intermission. Basehor-Linwood pulled away slightly in the third quarter, taking a 37-31 advantage entering the final eight minutes.

B-L senior Jackie Horn, who had struggled offensively the first three games of the season, broke out of her slump with 20 points to lead the Lady Cats, including 12 in the second half.

Score by quarters:

Tonganoxie 12 6 13 6 39

Basehor-Linwood 11 9 17 9 - 45

Basehor-Linwood (1-2, 1-3): Kelly Laffere 0 1-3 1 1, Jeni Purtee 3 2-2 0 8, Alex Jeannin 1 2-2 2 5, Jackie Horn 9 2-3 4 20, Courtney Reed 0 1-3 3 1, Emily Hoffman 0 0-0 0 0, Kara Lackner 2 1-2 0 5, Lesley Hancock 0 0-0 0 0, Tara Lucas 1 3-4 1 5, Ryan Wohletz 0 0-0 0 0, Aubrey Bittel 0 0-0 1 0. Totals: 16 12-19 12 45. Tonganoxie totals: 17 2-9 17 37. Three-point goals: Jeannin; Tonganoxie 1.

In the junior varsity contest, Basehor-Linwood used a 15-3 run in the second quarter to break open a close game, helping the Lady Bobcats to a 52-30 win over Tonganoxie.

BLHS led 14-11 after one period but went into the intermission with a 29-14 lead. Tonganoxie pulled three points closer after three quarters, but that was as close as the visitors would get.

Aubrey Bittel paced Basehor-Linwood with 13 points and Heather Peeler added 12.

Basehor-Linwood scoring: Lesley Hancock 5, Ryan Wohletz 8, Aubrey Bittel 13, Lindsey Cunningham 4, Heather Peeler 12, Sara Hashman 5, Tiffany Bates 2, Kindle Rose 3, Katie Burchfield 0, Kelly Schaffer 0.

The Lady Bobcat freshman squad struggled against the Lady Chieftains, dropping a 36-27 decision.

Basehor-Linwood led at the half, 16-13, but Tonganoxie outscored the Lady Cats 23-11 in the second half to take the win.

Katie Burchfield scored 15 points to lead Basehor-Linwood.

Basehor-Linwood scoring: Nicole Kirk 0, Chelsea Flowers 2, Katie Burchfield 15, Blaine Buck 4, Ashley Taylor 0, Ashley Odle 2, Terra Nichols 0, Kelly Schaffer 4, Maggie Morris 0.

Lady Bobcat Notes...

Jackie Horn's 20 points against Tonganoxie moved her into fourth place in career scoring at BLHS. Horn passed Melissa Fisher's (1995-98) 667 career points and now has 684. Next on the list for Horn is Kara Reed (1996-current) with 717.

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• The Lady Bobcats will return to action on Tuesday, Jan. 2 when they travel to Perry-Lecompton.