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Olathe Northwest girls fall in Kansas 6A final

21.05.12

Kelsey Brooks sat on the bench, tears streaming down her face, holding her left shoe in her hand.</p><p>Brooks, Olathe Northwest&#x2019;s junior point guard and one of five finalists for the DiRenna Award as the top girls basketball player in the Kansas City area, got in early foul trouble Saturday against Wichita Heights in the Kansas 6A championship game.</p><p>She would finish the game with a sprained ankle. That hurt, but not as much as the Ravens&#x2019; 64-46 loss.</p><p>The tears were understandable after the Ravens came up short in the program&#x2019;s first state title appearance, but it shouldn&#x2019;t define a season that includes the first Sunflower League championship and a record for wins.</p><p>&#x201C;We&#x2019;ll mourn a little bit then celebrate the heck out of the season,&#x201D; Olathe Northwest coach Joel Branstrom said. &#x201C;After that, we&#x2019;ll try to get focused, because we want to get back here again.&#x201D;</p><p>Experience certainly favored the Falcons, who have now played in eight state championship games since 2002 and won six of them.</p><p>Meanwhile, the Ravens, 23-2, were predictably nervous in the first quarter, committing 10 turnovers and falling behind 15-7.</p><p>&#x201C;You knew they would be nervous; that&#x2019;s their first one,&#x201D; Heights coach Kip Pulliam said. &#x201C;But I told (Branstrom) after the game, &#x2018;Don&#x2019;t worry. Yours will come.&#x2019; He&#x2019;s going to be back and get more chances. They will live and learn off of it, which we had to do our first time when we lost in the finals too. But they will be back and will be very deadly next year, I promise.&#x201D;</p><p>Heights, 25-0, never let Olathe Northwest get closer than six points the rest of the way in clinching a second straight perfect season.</p><p>&#x201C;We might have spent eight percent of practice working on trying to beat presses with eight kids on the floor, trying to simulate that kind of pressure,&#x201D; said Branstrom, whose pre-state preparation focused primarily on getting the Ravens to a meeting with the Falcons. &#x201C;But that&#x2019;s why they are so successful. Nobody else does it that way.&#x201D;</p><p>After trailing 31-13 at halftime, Olathe Northwest steadied itself and made a run late in the third quarter with a 9-2 closing kick.</p><p>An old-fashioned three-point play by senior Ashlyn Landherr and junior Vashti Neal&#x2019;s midcourt steal and buzzer-beating layup trimmed Heights&#x2019; lead to single digits, 41-32 entering the fourth quarter. But Heights answered with a few three-pointers early in the last period and stretched the lead back out before foul trouble caught up with the Ravens, who got a double-double from junior Mikey Crall with 12 points and 10 rebounds.</p><p><span class="subhead">Maize 56, Olathe South 48</span></p><p>Olathe South seemed to be well on the way to a third-place finish at halftime, but Maize stormed back from a seven-point deficit at the break and avenged a Jan. 28 loss to the Falcons with a 56-48 win.</p><p>&#x201C;I never feel like we&#x2019;re in control, but it seemed like we had a little rhythm offensively,&#x201D; Olathe South coach Steve Ingram said. &#x201C;We lost that momentum in the second half. They made it harder for us to score, but our girls really battled.&#x201D;</p><p>Olathe South, 21-4, got 14 points from senior Megan Balcom and 13 from sophomore Bailey Rinehart.

Source: Kansas City Star