Jones' layup ends Wichita North's long losing skid

Playing for a program that had suffered 65 straight Wichita City League losses, Kenesha Jones and her West (Wichita) teammates didn't enter Friday's contest against Wichita North brimming with confidence.

That may change some, however, after Jones snuck behind the North defense and took an inbounds pass to the rim allowing the Pioneers to take a 44-40 advantage over their league rivals with 11 seconds remaining in the contest. West eventually won the contest 44-42.

"Oh wow," Jones told the Wichita Eagle of West's first league win since a 66-64 triumph over North on Dec. 15, 2006. "We look down on ourselves a lot. We didn't expect to win any games. We never gave ourselves a chance to win anything. So this win really boosts us up."

Led by Jones, who topped all scorers against North with 20 points, West was set to start a streak of the good kind Tuesday when the Pioneers traveled to Wichita Kapaun Mount Carmel. With the two-point win, Sandy Nixon's squad also snapped an overall losing skid dating back to a 52-47 win over Anthony-Harper-Chaparral on Jan. 30, 2009.



SIZABLE TRANSFER
Olathe Northwest big man Willie Cauley had to sit out the first month of the 2010-11 basketball season due to his transfer from Class 2A Spearville. But he wasted little time in making an impact for the Ravens last week.

In his first action since Spearville lost 52-48 to eighth-seeded Nemaha Valley in the Class 2A state basketball quarterfinals at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan last March, Cauley warmed up for 21 points and nine rebounds in a 45-38 overtime win over 10th-ranked Olathe South.

He scored the game's first points following a backdoor lob from Northwest guard Shavon Shields.

"We weren't nervous for our first game with Willie, but we were anxious because we had a long break for winter break," Shields told the Olathe News of his newest teammate. "We were anxious to get playing again. He changed how we played and it took us a half to learn how to play around him and play off him, but it's a good start."

As a sophomore a season ago, the 6-foot-9-inch Cauley scored 13.8 points a game and pulled down 10.4 rebounds a contest. Cauley also dished out three assists, blocked 4.5 shots and earned nearly two steals a contest while leading the Lancers to a 22-2 record.

KNIGHT NETS 1,000th POINT
Olathe South standout guard Natalie Knight kept the spotlight on Olathe last week when she tallied the 1,000th point of her prep career with an 18-point performance during a 58-42 win at Lincoln College Prep (Mo.).



Beforehand, Falcon girls basketball coach Steve Ingram opted to remain silent on how close the senior was getting to the milestone.

"I'm glad he didn't tell me how close I was or that I needed a certain amount of points to get there that game," Knight told the Olathe News. "I wouldn't want to know beforehand. I wouldn't have been nervous because we have a lot more games to go, but I wanted to focus on winning as a team. I feel like it's a great accomplishment, but we have bigger goals this season as a team."

Knight, who reached the milestone in 64 varsity contests, led Olathe South to the Kansas 6A state title with a 54-49 win over Wichita Heights last March. The 5-6 senior, who now sits at 1,000 points-even, is within striking range of the school's record for total points in a career, held by Carrie Stewart (1,335 points). Jadhon Kerr (1,126) and Lacole Hook (1,075) are the only other Falcons to rip the cords for 1,000 points on the girls side of the court.

Continue reading{PAGEBREAK}LAST WEEK'S PEAK PERFORMANCES
BOYS
Clint McCullough of St. James Academy scored 31 points, pulled down eight rebounds and was credited with three steals in a 65-51 loss to O'Hara (Mo.)…Scott City's Ron Baker ripped the cords for 25 points and was credited with two assists, two blocked shots, seven rebounds and six steals in a 67-35 win over Ulysses… Austin Smith of Stockton scorched the nets for 31 points, two assists, four rebounds and nine steals in a 55-30 win over Northern Valley…Macksville's Kyle Bunker scored 11 points and was credited with five assists, two blocked shots, eight rebounds and four steals in a 66-46 win over Cunningham…Dolan Greathouse of Word of Life ripped the cords for 20 points and was credited with 10 assists, 10 rebounds and five steals in a 67-30 win over Greenfield…Golden Plains' Tate Preston scored 53 points and dished out 21 assists in wins over St. Francis (66-53) and Logan (67-59) collectively. Preston also grabbed 10 rebounds and a steal in the wins.

GIRLS
Hillary Chvatal of Rawlins County scored 21 points and was credited with a pair of blocked shots, 19 rebounds and two steals in a 56-42 loss to Decatur Community…Plainville's Dani Winters ripped the cords for 30 points and was credited with three blocked shots, 12 rebounds and a pair of steals in a 58-42 win over Victoria…Stephanie Busse of Cheylin scorched the nets for 26 points and was credited with two assists, a pair of blocked shots, 14 rebounds and a steal in a 56-49 win over Dighton…Natoma's Danica Casey scored 42 points and pulled down 29 rebounds in wins over Logan (35-26) and Chase (63-39) collectively. Casey also dished out five assists, blocked a shot and swiped four steals in the wins…Alexis Hafenstein of Cedar Vale-Dexter ripped the cords for 59 points, dished out 15 assists and pulled down 25 rebounds in wins over Sedan (65-44) and West Elk (63-31) collectively. Hafenstein was also credited with nine steals in the wins…Oskaloosa's Hailey Kelly produced 44 points, 12 assists, five rebounds and 10 steals in wins over McLouth (56-34) and Doniphan West (50-31) collectively…Kassy Ptacek of Minneola scored 17 points, dished out a pair of assists and grabbed 10 rebounds and 12 steals in a 41-38 loss to Kiowa County.

KANSAS BOYS BASKETBALL RANKINGS
TOP 10
1. Heights (Wichita) (7-0)
2. McPherson (7-0)
3. Blue Valley Northwest (Overland Park) (5-0)
4. Washington (Kansas City) (5-0)
5. East (Wichita) (6-1)
6. Harmon (Kansas City) (5-0)
7. Basehor-Linwood (6-0)
8. East (Olathe) (5-1)
9. Highland Park (Topeka) (6-1)
10. Sumner Academy (Kansas City) (8-0)



CLASS 6A
1. Wichita Heights (7-0)
2. Blue Valley Northwest (5-0)
3. Wichita East (6-1)
4. Olathe East (5-1)
5. Northwest (Olathe) (5-1)
6. Dodge City (5-1)
7. Washburn Rural (Topeka) (5-1)
8. Leavenworth (5-1)
9. Northwest (Wichita, Kan.) (5-1)
10. South (Olathe) (5-2)

CLASS 5A
1. McPherson (7-0)
2. Kansas City-Washington (5-0)
3. Kansas City-Harmon (5-0)
4. Topeka Highland Park (6-1)
5. Central (Andover) (6-1)
6. Schlagle (Kansas City) (5-1)
7. Gardner-Edgerton (4-2)
8. Carroll (Wichita) (4-3)
9. Aquinas (Overland Park) (4-2)
10. Central (Salina) (4-3)

CLASS 4A
1. Basehor-Linwood (6-0)
2. Kansas City-Sumner Academy (8-0)
3. Hayden (Topeka) (3-2)
4. Abilene (7-0)
5. Holton (7-0)
6. Trinity Academy (Wichita) (7-0)
7. St. James Academy (Lenexa) (3-3)
8. Circle (Towanda) (7-0)
9. Ottawa (6-2)
10. Buhler (6-1)

CLASS 3A
1. Collegiate (Wichita) (7-0)
2. Minneapolis (7-0)
3. Scott (Scott City) (6-0)
4. Riley County (Riley) (6-1)
5. Trinity (Hutchinson) (6-0)
6. Hoisington (7-0)
7. Sterling (7-1)
8. Silver Lake (5-2)
9. Halstead (6-2)
10. Atchison County (Effingham) (7-0)

CLASS 2A
1. Washington County (8-0)
2. Berean Academy (Elbing) (7-0)
3. St. Mary's-Colgan (Pittsburg) (5-1)
4. Plainville (8-0)
5. Herington (9-0)
6. Syracuse (5-1)
7. Meade (5-1)
8. Nemaha Valley (Seneca) (5-2)
9. Inman (6-2)
10. Sublette (6-1)

Class 1A-1
1. Hanover (6-0)
2. South Gray (Montezuma) (7-0)
3. Ashland (7-0)
4. Pretty Prairie (7-0)
5. Quinter (6-1)
6. B & B (Baileyville) (8-1)
7. Waverly (8-0)
8. Stockton (6-0)
9. Lakeside (Downs) (7-0)
10. Macksville (7-1)



CLASS 1A-2
1. Wilson (5-1)
2. Caldwell (6-1)
3. Fowler (6-1)
4. Hope (7-1)
5. Elwood (5-1)
6. Chase (7-1)
7. Cheylin (Bird City) (4-1)
8. Weskan (6-1)
9. Moscow (4-2)
10. South Barber (Kiowa) (5-3)

Continue reading for girls rankings{PAGEBREAK}KANSAS GIRLS BASKETBALL RANKINGS
TOP 10
1. South (Olathe) (8-0)
2. Heights (Wichita) (7-0)
3. Aquinas (Overland Park) (6-0)
4. West (Shawnee Mission) (5-0)
5. Bishop Miege (Shawnee Mission) (6-0)
6. Newton (8-0)
7. Cheney (8-0)
8. McPherson (6-1)
9. Washburn Rural (Topeka) (5-2)
10. East (Olathe) (5-1)

CLASS 6A
1. South (Olathe) (8-0)
2. Heights (Wichita) (7-0)
3. West (Shawnee Mission) (5-0)
4. Topeka Washburn Rural (5-2)
5. Olathe East (5-1)
6. Maize (5-1)
7. Northwest (Olathe) (4-1)
8. Manhattan (4-1)
9. Dodge City (5-1)
10. Northwest (Wichita) (5-1)

CLASS 5A
1. Aquinas (Overland Park) (6-0)
2. Bishop Miege (6-0)
3. Newton (8-0)
4. McPherson (6-1)
5. South (Salina) (6-1)
6. Carroll (Wichita) (6-1)
7. Blue Valley (Stilwell) (4-2)
8. Shawnee Heights (Tecumseh) (5-2)
9. Andover (5-1)
10. Mill Valley (Shawnee) (6-1)

CLASS 4A
1. Cheney (8-0)
2. Holton (7-0)
3. Colby (7-1)
4. Circle (Towanda) (6-1)
5. Haven (8-0)
6. Rose Hill (6-1)
7. Basehor-Linwood (5-1)
8. Hayden (Topeka) (3-2)
9. Girard (6-0)
10. Abilene (6-1)

CLASS 3A
1. Jefferson County North (Winchester) (7-0)
2. Smith Center (7-0)
3. Riley County (6-1)
4. Southwestern Heights (Kismet) (5-1)
5. Holcomb (7-1)
6. Southeast of Saline (Gypsum) (7-0)
7. Sabetha (6-1)
8. Atchison County (Effingham) (7-0)
9. Collegiate (Wichita) (5-2)
10. Hillsboro (Hillsboro, Kan.) (7-1)

CLASS 2A
1. Berean Academy (Elbing) (7-0)
2. Washington County (8-0)
3. Hill City (5-1)
4. Cimarron (6-1)
5. Oskaloosa (6-1)
6. Oakley (7-1)
7. Ell-Saline (Brookville) (6-2)
8. Republic County (Belleville) (6-2)
9. Moundridge (6-2)
10. Lincoln (5-1)



CLASS 1A-1
1. Olpe (6-0)
2. St. John (7-0)
3. Sylvan-Lucas (Sylvan Grove) (7-0)
4. Claflin (8-1)
5. Hanover (6-0)
6. South Central (Coldwater) (7-1)
7. Macksville (7-1)
8. Little River (7-1)
9. Hoxie (7-1)
10. Spearville (6-2)

CLASS 1A-2
1. Argonia (7-0)
2. Central Christian (Hutchinson) (6-1)
3. Quivira Heights (Bushton) (6-1)
4. South Barber (Kiowa) (7-2)
5. St. John's (Beloit) (5-1)
6. Thunder Ridge (Kensington) (6-1)
7. Frankfort (6-2)
8. Bucklin (5-3)
9. Wilson (4-2)
10. Norwich (4-3)