College Heights Christian girls basketball used a strong defensive effort in a battle of one-loss teams to earn a 40-34 win over Diamond on Tuesday.
“First, I want to give Diamond a lot of credit,” College Heights coach John Blankenship said. “We played them earlier in the year at their tournament, and they played really well. They came prepared tonight, and their coach had them ready for us.
“We didn’t play real well, but I think that is a sign of a good team—when you don’t play up to your full potential but you can still beat a very, very good team. I was pleased from that perspective, but we certainly have some things to clean up for the second half of the season.”
The Cougars (10-1) took a four-point lead into the intermission over the Wildcats (9-2) and pushed the lead to double digits midway through the third quarter. College Heights held the pace before Diamond made a run late, only to see the Cougars hold on down the stretch for the win.
SENIOR NIGHT
College Heights honored four players in senior night ceremonies—Kaynahn Burk (DNP, injury), Grace Bishop, Lainey Lett and Catie Secker.
“They mean everything to the program,” Blankenship said of his seniors. “They’ve been committed for four years and are kids of high character and integrity. … They are a joy to coach and fun to be around. We are certainly going to miss them next year.”
SCORING LEADERS
Lett and Bishop led College Heights with 11 points apiece, while Klohe Burk finished with nine points. Secker added five.
Taaron Drake led Diamond with 13 points, while Caitlyn Suhrie, Grace Frazier and Grace Irwin each finished with five.
GAME NOTES
College Heights held an 18-14 advantage by halftime and rode a strong defensive effort in the second half to build the lead to double digits. The Cougars held the Wildcats scoreless for the first four minutes of the third quarter. During that time, CHC used an 8-0 run on the offensive end fueled by baskets from Bishop and Klohe Burk to go up 26-14.
“We generally play really good defense,” Blankenship said. “That is something we really focus on in practice, and that usually leads to some easy transition baskets for us. To (Diamond’s) credit, they got back on defense and limited our transition game a little bit. Our defense is what fuels us, and our girls did a good job tonight.”
“Getting that lead in the second half built some momentum for us,” Blankenship continued. “We picked up our intensity on defense a little bit. … I think fatigue became a little bit of a factor coming off of Christmas break. I think we lost a little bit of our conditioning, and I saw that come into play.”
The lead remained around the 10-point margin for the rest of the third quarter and the first five minutes of the fourth. Diamond found life offensively late, cutting the lead to single digits, 37-29, on a 3-pointer from Irwin. The Wildcats ultimately scored eight straight points, with Drake earning a steal and assist on a fast-break layup by Frazier to trim the lead to one possession, 37-34, with 49.2 seconds left in regulation.
That is as close to the lead as Diamond would get, with Klohe Burk sinking two free throws and Jayli Johnson adding another charity to push the lead back to six, preserving the win.
“We missed some early free throws in the game, and if we knocked those down, the lead would have been a little more than what it was,” Blankenship said. “Klohe knocked down some crucial free throws down the stretch to spread the lead out a little bit. It was a big difference in the game. I was proud of my girls. We finished and did what we had to do to win.”
UP NEXT
College Heights is at Wyandotte on Jan. 14.
