ShawneeDispatch.com

Through 10 games this season, the Shawnee Mission North girls basketball team was frustrated. Shots weren’t falling, the Indians’ defense wasn’t where they wanted it to be and their 4-6 record reflected that.

After games 11 through 13, times have changed at North.

The Indians played better defense, they rebounded and — most importantly — they made open shots. In doing so, they rattled off three straight victories at the Louisburg Tournament. They beat Harrisonville (Mo.) in the first round, 62-33, and rallied past St. James Academy on Wednesday, 43-32, before cruising to a 56-44 victory against Louisburg in the championship game Saturday night in the LHS gym.

“We’re making shots, which we didn’t do early in the year,” North coach Kelly Dennis said. “We’re starting to knock down shots, which makes you feel better about yourself. We’re hoping we’re going to be peaking at the right time.”

No Indian knocked down more shots during the tournament than senior Mary Pat Specht. The long-range specialist struggled early in the season, but she was on fire throughout the tournament. She averaged 20 points per game during the tournament and buried 11 3-pointers.

“She’s warming up a little bit,” Dennis said. “She’s been in the 20’s two or three times in the last five games, and that definitely helps the cause.”

Specht’s resurgence helped in numerous ways. For one thing, it took some of the offensive burden off of fellow senior and Kansas State signee Brianna Kulas, who averaged 18 points per game during the tournament and gave North a 1-2 punch on offense.

Led by Specht and Kulas, North took control of the championship game quickly. The Indians erupted to an 18-10 lead by the end of the first quarter and held an 11-point advantage at halftime.

Louisburg slowly chipped away at the lead during the second half, but was never able to wrestle control away from North.

“We came out and played pretty well early, but they hit six 3-pointers against us. They fired them from all over the place,” Dennis said. “It was a really good game.”

Specht led North with 22 points in the victory, Kulas had 16, senior Kerenza Singletary had 9, sophomore Barbara Specht scored 4, juniors Janessa Clay and Latasha Ware had 2 apiece and senior Jodi Young chipped in 1 point in the victory.

Senior Jordan Shearer paced Louisburg with 12 points and senior Mandy Mulich added 11.

Dennis said her team entered the tournament with confidence, and she said she hopes the victory will give her team momentum as it returns to Sunflower League play.

“I think they felt good (about winning). I think they expected to win it,” she said. “We’d won two of our last three games (going into the tournament), and we went in expecting to do well, which was good. We’re rebounding better and we’re getting better defensively, but we play (Shawnee Mission) West on Monday, so that will be kind of a measuring stick to see where we’re at.”