By MATT PIKE
With hopes to win a championship this season, after a third place finish last year, the Troy Lady Trojans controlled the game from the very tip against the Goessel Bluebirds in a dominant 91-37 victory in the sub state semifinals for the Trojans final home game of the season on Monday.
"Well it's a lot of fun when the ball goes in the hole, and the ball was going in the hole tonight, that doesn't happen very often we shoot the ball like that, everybody hit and we had five girls in double figures," Head Coach Derek Jasper told KFEQ/St. Joseph Post after the game. "Everybody knows about Harper (Whetstine), but man what a great night for our two other seniors on their last night here."
The Trojans pressured the Bluebirds all through the first half, capitalizing on points off of turnovers, along with their shots falling, holding a 31-12 lead at the end of the first quarter, before adding 25 more points in the second quarter, extending their lead to 56-21 at the halftime break after Nicole Judd hit a three point shot as time expired.
With 11 days rest coming into this game, that pressure defense was a point of emphasis for the Trojans senior Alyson Grable says
"Coach always says that defense wins games so we knew if we wanted to win we had to play good defense but also score," Grable says.
Jasper says with 11 days off they could have looked rusty, or they could have looked rested.
"And we looked rested tonight," Jasper explains. "Shooting the ball, we looked rested with our energy on defense, and really great performance to off that long and to come out but crowd helped us and to be on our home court helped us, our energy was really good and we'll need that again."
The lead continued to extend through the remainder of the game, the Trojans ending the third quarter up 81-28, the clock running through the fourth quarter as Jasper pulled many of his starters, with the rest of the team adding the final 10 points in the 91-37 win.
The goal for the Trojans remains to make it back to Dodge City, Kansas and go one step farther than last year, Whetstine says that goal is what's helped push the team throughout the season
"Coach has talked about it a couple of times, but we just want to get back to that spot and hopefully do even better," Whetstine says.
Out of the five Trojans that scored in double figures, Whetstine led the way with 21 points. Grable added 20 points. Hailey Groff chipped in 17 points while Nicole Judd scored 15 points. Kyler Luedke rounded out the double digit scoring with 10 points.
Troy now faces a tough test to move on from sub state into the state quarterfinals, taking on the top seed Wabaunsee on Saturday. The Chargers hold a 21-2 record, and rank as one of the top teams in the state. Jasper says it will be a challenge because Wabaunsee has size on the Trojans.
"We're small, so we'll have to do a good job on the boards, Wabaunsee has a couple of six footers, but as long as we have a chance, and if the ball goes in the hole like it did tonight we could beat anybody in the state," Jasper says. "But we know that's not going to happen, so when that doesn't happen really got to buckle down on defense, so we'll get ready for Wabaunsee here in the next four days and go see what happens Saturday night."
Troy and Wabaunsee tipoff time is still to be determined for Saturday at Clifton-Clyde High School.
You can follow Matt on X @KfeqMatt and St. Joseph Post @StJosephPost.