Chants of “green machine, green machine” filled the Allen County Community College gym Saturday night.
The Green Machine which is Olpe High’s basketball teams rolled to 2011 Kansas Class 1A, Division I Substate Basketball Tournament championships. The Eagle teams thwarted the state tournament bids of Southern Coffey County High’s Lady Titans and Crest High’s Lancers.
Top-ranked and undefeated Olpe High’s Eagle girls swooped past the Lady Titans, 70-36, Saturday in the substate title game. It was the third time the two Lyon County League teams met this season with the same results.
Olpe scored the opening volley of six points. Jenna Witteman’s three-pointer at the 5:17 mark put the Lady Titans on the board.
The Eagle girls were up 18-5 at the end of the first quarter. Witteman scored a basket with 6:32 left in the second period and it was 22-7.
Sarah Webb got a basket a minute later but the Lady Titans were behind 28-9. Southern Coffey County’s Kristin Stephens and Ashton Isch hit four straight free throws but Olpe was up by 20 points at the time.
Olpe senior Kathryn Flott scored 16 of her game-high 22 points in the first half. The Eagles controlled a 39-17 halftime lead.
By the end of three quarters, the Eagles were up 57-31. A three by Jill Cole and a bucket by K. Flott triggered a running clock, 62-31, with 4:18 left in the game.
Southern Coffey County (12-11) were led by Stephens, one of three seniors on the team, with seven points. Samantha Jacob scored five points in her final game for SCC and Keasha Parks is the other senior.
Janae Haag tossed in 14 points for Olpe (23-0). Ten players scored for Eagles.
The Eagle girls were 10 of 12 at the free-throw line while the Lady Titans sank 8 of 12 free throws.
OLPE’S BOYS used a balanced scoring attack to post a 54-41 win over Crest’s Lancers. The Lancers found themselves relying heavily on sophomore Kyle Hammond in the game.
Hammond ripped the nets for 23 points but it was not enough to carry the Lancers to victory. The Eagles had three players score in double figures.
“Turnovers and rebounding, the things we talked about and stressed before the game, hurt us tonight,” said Travis Hermreck, Lancer head coach. “We had to take care of the ball much better and we didn’t. And Olpe was too strong inside for us to keep off the glass.”
The Eagles jumped out to a 4-0 lead. Hammond had back-to-back threes for the Lancers to forge an 11-11 tie at the 2:12 mark of the first quarter.
A steal by Noah Haag for a layup and a putback by Glen Haag pushed the Eagles to a 15-11 lead by the end of the period. Two more steals to open the second quarter and the Eagles led by eight points.
Dexter Wiley, a senior guard, drilled a three-pointer for the Lancers. That kept the Lancers within striking distance. Olpe led 27-20 at the break.
The Eagles used a 7-3 run to begin the third quarter, leading 34-23 by the 4:30 mark. But Hammond scored seven points for Crest while the Lancers held the Eagles to two to end the period.
Crest was down by six, 36-30, heading into the final eight minutes of play. A basket by Austin Bass and two free throws from Colby Nuessen got the Eagles to a 10-point lead.
Sophomore guard Jordan Morton drained a trey at the 5:12 mark for Crest. It was 42-35 but the Lancers never got any closer.
“We worked Kyle to death tonight and he responded. Olpe had a balanced offense which we never could catch up to,” Hermreck said.
“I’m very proud of this crew. We always faced teams bigger, quicker and more talented than we were all season. This crew found a way to win most nights this season.”
Wiley finished with six points in his final game for the Lancers and Luke Decker had three. Dakota Ramsey and Anthony Ellis are the other two seniors on the Lancer squad.
“These seniors are the winningest senior class in Crest High history,” Hermreck said.
Crest’s Lancers (16-7) played in their fourth straight substate championship game Saturday night.
They were 2-2, losing the past two years.
The Lancers were 5 of 8 from the free-throw line. The Eagles cashed in on 14 of 21 tosses at the foul line.
Noah Haag led the way for Olpe (17-6) with 15 points. Glen Haag and Nuessen each added 10 points. Austin Bass, who was in foul trouble, finished with eight points and made an impact late for the Eagles.
Southern Coffey County girls (5-12-14-5—36) (FG/3-pt): Rogers 2-0-0-4, Witteman 1/1-0-1-5, Isch 1-4-3-6, Jacob 1/1-0-1-5, Stephens 2-3-2-7, Johnson 1-0-1-2, Webb 3-0-2-6, Alumbaugh 0-1-0-1. TOTALS: 11/2-8-10-36.
Olpe (18-21-18-13—70) (FG/3-pt): Henderson 3-3-2-9, Ke. McDougald 1-2-2-24, Kuhlman 0-0-1-0, Cole 1/1-0-0-5, Haag 6-2-2-14, Garretson 0/1-0-0-3, E. Flott 0-1-1-1, K. Flott 11-0-2-22, Ka. McDougald 1/1-0-0-5, Samuels 0/1-2-0-5, Schneidegger 1-0-0-2, Redding 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 24/4-10-11-70.
Crest boys (11-9-10-11—41) (FG/3-pt): Wiley 0/2-0-4-6, Morton 0/3-0-5-9, Hammond 5/3-4-3-23, Decker 1-1-2-3, J. Bowen 0-0-1-0. TOTALS: 6/8-5-15-41.
Olpe boys (15-12-9-18—54) (FG/3-pt): G. Haag 3-4-0-10, Nuessen 1/2-2-4-10, Stueve 2-5-3-9, N. Haag 6-3-1-15, Pettijohn 1-0-0-2, Bass 4-0-3-8. TOTALS: 17/2-14-11-54.
