INDEPENDENCE — In a low-scoring battle for a berth to state, the Independence Bulldogs beat the Labette County Grizzlies, 34-27, on Saturday night in the KSHSAA 4A East Sub-State championship.
“It was a defensive dogfight,” Labette County head coach Brianna Volmer said. “That was a testament to our girls. We knew we had to get stops and we did that. We knew it’d be a tough game. We gave it our all. Hats off to Independence, they’re a great basketball team. We just didn’t hit shots late in the game.”
With both teams tied at 14-14 in the third quarter, the Bulldogs finally broke away with an 11-2 run to keep Labette County at arm’s length.
“They got a long rebound, took off in transition and hit a shot. After that, they got a few buckets and got up three possessions,” Volmer said. “That ended up being a thorn in our side. When we finally made a run, we were down six and just ran out of time.”
Saturday marked the fourth time Independence got the better of the Grizzlies.
“We’ve never liked their defense. Independence is scrappy and it’s tough to get to the rim,” Volmer said. “When it comes down to a dogfight, it came down to a couple of possessions. And we couldn’t get shots to fall.”
While Independence will head to the Class 4A state tournament in Salina, Labette County’s season ends with a 10-12 record in Volmer’s first season at the helm.
“This year was a learning curve for me and a learning curve for our kids,” Volmer said. “We graduated the vast majority of our scoring from last year. We had a fresh group. We’re never satisfied with how our season ended. I’ll measure this season on what my kids looked like at the beginning versus how they looked like tonight. That was leaps and bounds.”
Labette County graduates Shelbi Wilson, Audrey Dewey and Ridley Lynn from its roster while returning a healthy dose of scoring and experience.
“Our kids are hungry and know what they’re capable of,” Volmer said. “Hats off to our seniors. They’ve had four years of blood, sweat and tears. I have no doubt they’ll be successful in life.”
Independence 34, Labette County 27
Labette Co.: 5 6 3 13 — 27
Independence: 9 5 6 14 — 34
Labette County: Kayton O’Brien 11, Nevaeh Jones 1, Landry O’Brien 4, Shelbi Wilson 1, Allee Martin 3, Aubrey Boss 1, Ridley Lynn 6
Independence: R. Reichenberger 5, A. Veile 6, K. Lemos 7, C. Eytcheson 3, T. Johnson 13
Commented
Sorry, there are no recent results for popular commented articles.