Determined SM West finishes third

The Shawnee Mission West girls didn’t make the Kansas 6A basketball state finals like they had hoped, but they played the third-place game with purpose Saturday.

They defeated perennial power Wichita Heights, 55-51. Tied early in the fourth quarter, the Vikings used a 10-1 run to seize the game. And when it was over, they gathered together on the court in celebration.

“Our seniors came into this program, and it was a good program, but it’s a lot better program now — and they had a lot of control over that,” Vikings first-year head coach Mark Rabbitt said. “We wanted them to finish the right way.”

Senior Heather Howard, who had seven points and nine rebounds Saturday, will be hard to be replace. But the team, which finished 20-5, returns the bulk of its talent. That includes standout sophomores Lizzy Jeronimus and Brooke Katterhenry, who had game-highs with 22 points and 15 rebounds against Wichita Heights.

“There’s no guarantees, but we plan to be back,” Rabbitt said. “Obviously, we’ve got some holes to fill, and we’ve got our work cut out for us, but to have the guards that we have coming back, we’re very optimistic about our chances.”

submitted by RYAN YOUNG - 2009-03-17 15:24:01

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