KANSAS CITY, Kan. — After earning a road postseason win, the Labette Cardinals women were denied a Cinderella role, losing to undefeated, No. 1 Johnson County, 82-63, in the semifinals of the NJCAA Region VI Tournament on Friday.
“Out of all the three Johnson games, this was the best one we played,” Labette head coach Gabby Cortez said. “I appreciate that I had eight kids that competed. That’s all you can do. They’re going to go win the whole thing and we kept it a close game for a long time.”
Labette guard Najya O’Neal led all scorers with 28 points for the Cardinals. O’Neal buried 4-of-9 shots from deep and added four steals.
“It was her attitude and mindset. When she’s locked in mentally, when she’s happy, she can be the best player on the floor,” Cortez said. “I’m proud of how she stepped up and gave it everything she had in her last game.”
Mattea Henry added a dozen rebounds and nine points off the bench. Aubreyanna Yelverton chipped in 13 points, five boards and four assists.
“I’m really proud of my sophomore group,” Cortez said. “They put up a fight. They wanted to keep their season alive. We just hit Johnson Road.”
Anonda Ford led top-ranked Johnson County with 18 points on 8-of-14 shooting. The Cavaliers beat Neosho County in the championship of the region tournament on Saturday to earn an automatic bid to the national tournament.
With Friday’s loss, Labette wrapped its first season under Cortez with a 7-17 record.
“For what it was, it could’ve been worse,” Cortez said. “I only had a month to recruit. To get those eight girls in here and compete in a tough league where four teams are ranked, I’m proud of being able to get the program on the right trajectory going forward.”
Labette forfeited nearly all of its season a year ago when the school failed to field a full roster.
Roster numbers haunted the Cardinals’ prospects this year. While Cortez had over a dozen players on Day 1 of the preseason, injuries decimated the roster. Labette played its full schedule, but with as few as six players at times.
“It was injuries,” Cortez said. “I think our conference season looks different if we were fully healthy. I think we put on a better show when we needed to play our best basketball.”
Labette caught fire late, winning four of its final seven games — two of the three losses were to Johnson County — including a road playoff win at Kansas City Kansas.
“It was really big for the program as a whole,” Cortez said. “It was big to turn around in the second half of the season. The girls came together when it could’ve been easy to quit.”
Cortez expects to have at least 15 signed players join the Cardinals next winter.
“I have more time,” Cortez said. “There was a time crunch last year. Getting kids to Parsons in July isn’t easy. So now I have plenty of time. I’m expecting to sign 15 kids, so that’ll let us have a next-man-up mentality. We’ll spend this offseason getting ready. We’re going to build a complete team.”
