Missouri girls winter sports notebook: Suburban swim meets on deck
Here are five takeaways from the past week of the Missouri-side girls high school winter sports scene:
1. The past week of the high school girls swimming schedule in Kansas City has been mostly a blank slate — but with good reason.
The hiatus precedes the four Suburban Conference swim meets that will take place Thursday through Saturday.
The Suburban White and Red Conference meets will be held at the Henley Aquatic Center. The Suburban Gold and Blue Conference meets will take place at the Gladstone Community Center.
The diving championships are scheduled for Thursday, with varsity prelims Friday and varsity championship races Saturday.
Park Hill South has won 14 straight conference championships and will compete in the Suburban Red Conference meet.
2. The St. Pius X Warriors continue to climb up the Missouri Class 3 state poll, but over the past week, they have been intent on proving they can be competitive in any class.
Over a seven-day period, the fifth-ranked Warriors defeated three Class 4 teams and one more in Class 5. The spurt was highlighted by a 47-43 overtime win against Smithville, which is ranked No. 6 in the Class 4 poll.
Antoinette Mussorici had 17 points in the overtime victory against Smithville, and she made three three-pointers. Abby Hipp added 11 points, six rebounds and six assists.
St. Pius X, 16-1, opened the Northland Classic with a 55-32 win Monday against Park Hill South.
3. A two-game skid in the middle of January ended the O’Hara Celtics’ undefeated season.
It apparently did little to derail their momentum.
O’Hara, 15-2, has responded with four straight victories, and it won the Grain Valley Sonic Showdown on Friday.The Celtics defeated Pleasant Hill in the quarterfinals, Raymore-Peculiar in the semifinals and Grain Valley in the championship game.
O’Hara overcome a seven-point halftime deficit to beat Grain Valley 50-45. Tiana Gipson scored 19 points in the game, and Gabbi Cook scored 13. Both players were named to the all-tournament team.
4. Over the first seven weeks of its season, Blue Springs South failed to string together more than two straight victories, and it won back-to-back games only once.
A better consistency has emerged as of late.
The Jaguars won their fifth straight game with a 56-54 win Monday against Kearney in the opening round of the Northland Classic.
Blue Springs South, 11-6, is averaging 59 points per game over the winning streak.
5. After eight straight losses, Lee’s Summit West sure picked a memorable way to stopped a losing streak.
The Titans defeated St. Charles (Mo.) 50-47 on Friday after trailing by 15 points at halftime.
Lee’s Summit West outscored St. Charles 33-15 in the second half, including 20-8 in the final quarter.
Eight Titans scored, led by Kenzie Beeler, who had 18 points.
This story was originally published February 3, 2016 at 5:51 PM with the headline "Missouri girls winter sports notebook: Suburban swim meets on deck."