It was an emotional beginning for St. John's last home game, not only for the players and coaches, but for the St. John fans as well, as head coach Danny Smith added injured senior guard Tori Astle to the starting five. Astle received a season-ending injury during a soap scrimmage exhibition at the beginning of the year.
Even though Tori got in only a few seconds of playing time, it was just the motivational medicine the Tigers needed to play against a ranked contender such as Quivira.
The tenth ranked Quivira Heights Thunderbirds didn't have answers for at least two of the Tigers’ weapons, one St. John’s third ranked man-to-man defense, and two, St. John's big men inside, especially sophomore center Teresa Wade who had a double-double (21 points and 21 rebounds). The thunderbirds lost by a wide margin of 60-35 as the Tigers celebrated senior night and their final regular season game on the home court during “Senior Night” Feb. 16.
It was evident from the start that the Thunderbirds game plan relied heavily on their guards penetrating the middle and going in towards the basket, or shooting the long shots from outside, scoring most of their points those ways.
Unfortunately for them, St. John's guards checking off prevented much of that, allowing Quivira only fourteen points the entire first half to St. John's 31, the Thunderbirds' zone many times leaving the Tiger guards open for the long shot, going into halftime with St. John leading 31-14.
Coach Smith commented about the Tiger's drawback of being “too open” by saying, “I don't think our girls are used to being that open and sometimes it's even harder to hit shots when you're wide open. I honestly think we shoot better when we are guarded better because we don't have so much time to think about it. We were only 1-13 from three-point range in the first half and we are much better shooters than that.”
The second drawback for the half - the Tigers had several unforced turnovers, two of them back court violations.
It didn't get any better for Quivira after halftime. It got worse with the Tigers outscoring the Thunderbirds by nine – the third quarter ending 50-25.
“Teresa had a great game and I'm more impressed with her defense and 21 rebounds than I am with her (21) points,” Smith said. “They had no answer for her and there were a lot of missed shots for her to rebound. She was one rebound away from out rebounding Quivira Heights by herself.
“Tonight was a lot about our seniors who have given their all for this high school. We feel so badly for Tori, but she's had a great career. Ariel has been one of the most consistent players and a joy to work with. Brooke has been a tremendous basketball player and even a better leader this season. And Abbie has worked so well with the younger players and has been a great teammate to them, as well as being a solid, consistent player and a great kid. We will miss them tremendously, but we are thankful for them and what they have done for St. John High school.”
