With an emphasis of getting more of the roster involved in the offense, the Labette County Grizzlies girls cruised by the Parsons Vikings on the road, 77-43, on Tuesday night.
After an offensive struggle last week in a loss to Fort Scott that reset the race for the SEK League crown, Labette County head coach Brianna Volmer sought more influence from more scorers.
“It’s a point of emphasis for us,” Volmer said. “We’re working on creating better shots for teammates and the type of shots we’re taking. We’re harping on fundamental, old-school basketball. And we’re converting better. I’m still not happy with our shot percentage at two feet. But our goal is to get more people involved.”
Landry O’Brien led the Grizzlies with 20 points while Amery Baker added 10.
Parsons got 16 points from Saylah Rea and 10 more from Kadence Ball.
“There were pros and cons tonight,” Parsons head coach Wes Krull said. “We scored 43 points and there’s not many games we’ve done that. Labette went on a big run early and their pressure flustered us. It’s hard to play against. But the progression throughout the game, I was happy with.”
Parsons has faced backto- back state-ranked opponents in Fort Scott and Labette County — a brutal stretch for a rebuilding program that fell to 2-14 with the loss.
“We’re doing a good job staying positive,” Krull said. “They’re starting to buy into what we’re cooking up. We know what we’re doing. I know it’s 16 games in, but we’re getting the foundation laid.”
Volmer felt the Grizzlies’ defense lacked at times — the 43 points by the Vikings were the fourth most Parsons has scored all year and second-most in a loss.
“Parsons shot lights out,” Volmer said. “We’ve got to be better. We know we’ll give a few things up when we’re creating havoc. But we can’t give that much up. Parsons was winning some battles. We’ve got to work on closing out. We can’t lose shooters on the floor.”
Up next
Parsons hosts Pittsburg on Friday.
“I’m really excited,” Krull said. “When we played there, that was our team’s valley. It was our worst night, myself included. I’m excited to get another shot at them.”
As for Labette County, it hosts Chanute on Friday.
“Nothing we’ve done before will help us against Chanute,” Volmer said. “Chanute is the giant killer and we can’t let them take the giant down. We’ve got to keep working on defense and mid-game adjustments. And we can’t let them take us out of what we want to do.”
Amelia Carnahan of the Labette County Grizzlies fires a pass during Tuesday’s game against the Parsons Vikings at Parsons High School. Sean Frye/Sun photo
