Truman girls turn tables on Kearney

Truman senior Becca Jonas began with a laid-back, conservative response, but that approach lasted less than one sentence before she shifted gears. A matchup with Kearney in the district championship game was indeed more than just another game, she admitted.

After all, it was the Bulldogs who had ended Truman’s unbeaten season in the playoffs last year. And it was Jonas who took a portion of the blame.

Not again.

Truman got its payback Friday with a 51-43 win against Kearney in the Class 5, District 14 girls championship game at Kearney High School. Truman will meet Lee’s Summit North at 6:30 p.m. Wednesday at the Independence Events Center.

Jonas can shoulder the responsibility again. She scored a game-high 28 points with a dominating inside-outside performance.

“We still had that chip on our shoulder from last year,” Jonas said. “I feel like we were more confident this game. We stayed calm, and we wanted to finish it this time.”

The Patriots, 25-1, kept their cool, even when the game stayed tight. Kearney, 24-3, never led after the first quarter, but it trimmed the Patriots’ lead to only two points a minute into the fourth quarter.

It never got closer.

Abby Hix, Ashley McKinney and Jonas each scored baskets as part of a 9-2 run to ice the victory.

A post player, Jonas stepped out for a pair of three-pointers as part of her career night.

“We used her a little differently this year, and that may be a lesson we learned last year,” Truman coach Steve Cassity said. “Becca was big tonight, and she usually is.”

Kearney remained within shouting distance despite an unusually woeful shooting night. Facing an extended zone defense, the Bulldogs made only eight of 30 three-pointers. Meagan Paul, the school’s all-time leading three-point shooter, made five from behind the arc and led the team with 15 points.

Fort Osage waited 58 years for its first boys basketball district championship.

They’re coming in bunches now.

The Indians won their third straight district title Friday with a 49-43 victory against Kearney in the Class 5, District 14 championship game.

“Coming in here on their home floor, we knew it was going to be tough and we’d have to do the little things to win,” said sophomore Skylar Thompson, who made two three-pointers as part of a 12-point game. “We were going to have to out-rebound them, push the ball, execute our offense. I think we did everything tonight.”

It’s been going that way for awhile.

After a 5-5 start to the season, Fort Osage has won 14 of its past 15 games. The Indians will face Lee’s Summit at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday at the Independence Events Center.

“We changed up a lot of things we were doing early in the season and kind of changed our entire philosophy,” Indians coach Josh Wilson said. “These kids bought in. The chemistry started growing again like we had last year. Winning will do that.”

Brian Starr led Fort Osage with 15 points.

Pierce Moling scored 12 in the loss for Kearney.

This story was originally published March 7, 2014 at 10:33 PM with the headline "Truman girls turn tables on Kearney."