Shawnee Mission Northwest girls basketball stays unbeaten with overtime win at SM West

Holding possession at the perimeter, Kylie Dunn seemed to find an extra burst of energy. The senior had started the game on the bench and taken somewhat of a backseat for much of the game.

In overtime, she grabbed the steering wheel. Finding a gap, she drove through a crowd to the basket, hooking a shot toward the hoop.

Bounce … bounce … swish.

The ball dropped through and was quickly accompanied by a whistle for the and-one. Dunn made the free throw and her Shawnee Mission Northwest Cougars defeated the Shawnee Mission West Vikings 40-37 Friday at Shawnee Mission West.

“She’s a senior that we expect to do those types of things. She’s been here before,” said SM Northwest coach Tyler Stewart, whose Cougars improved to 13-0 with the win.

Dunn scored a team-high 10 points, four in overtime. The Cougars scored seven in overtime and held the Vikings to four.

“(Dunn) did a great job of attacking what we wanted to attack and stepped up and led the way we wanted to lead, it was awesome,” Stewart said.

The overtime period was indicative of a game that was tight throughout. Neither the Cougars nor host Vikings (13-2) were able to gain much breathing room. It was 8-6 after one quarter and 17-14 SM Northwest at halftime.

The Cougars held the ball final minute of the first half and played for the final shot. The squeak of shoes and occasional whisper from fans were the only sounds as SM Northwest held the ball at half-court, the clock slowly counting down. With 10 seconds left, the Cougars pounced, swinging the ball around the perimeter to junior Saige Grampsas.

Grampsas pushed the ball back inside to a cutting Ella Mackiewicz, who dropped in a layup.

“I think both teams were a little tight and there’s a lid on the basket,” Stewart said. “But both teams played great defense and really limited the shots we were trying to get — both sides.”

Later, with score locked at 33 after a timeout with 10.6 seconds remaining, an inbounds play for SM West found the hands of forward Aiden Moxness. The senior who had already scored five points was fouled going to the basket: 8.9 seconds left.

But Moxness missed both free throws. The ensuing half-court shot by SM Northwest’s Grampsas bounced off the top of the backboard. Overtime.

That’s when Dunn took over. She scored the Cougars’ first four points and made the final foul of the game to stop the Vikings from scoring on a quick breakaway.

“Our girls were just mentally tough,” Stewart said. “They didn’t let the run in the fourth quarter that Shawnee Mission West put on us bring us down. We just kept fighting and fighting and fighting and somehow we found a way to win a knockdown drag-out.”

This story was originally published February 12, 2021 at 10:13 PM.