ShawneeDispatch.com

Shawnee Mission Northwest girls basketball coach Jeff Dickson challenged his squad to do more than be competitive this season. He wanted the 2011-2012 season to be about winning games.

The Cougars are one for one in that regard, and their season-opening victory came against an opponent that certainly qualifies as quality.

Northwest defeated one of the most dominant teams in the area in recent years, Shawnee Mission West, 44-34, Thursday night at West.

The Cougars hadn’t beaten the Vikings in recent memory, and West won last year’s meetings by 40 and 31 points.

West led 9-8 after the first quarter, but the Cougars began to assert control with their defense in the second quarter and surged to a 17-13 lead at halftime.

Mary Slattery provided a much-needed offensive spark with five points during the low-scoring first half.

“Mary Slattery really knocked down some big shots to help keep us in the game early when we were struggling on offense,” Dickson said.

The Northwest defense continued to be stifling during the second half, and the Cougars’ offense also warmed up. Katie Biggers scored all of her 12 points in the second half.

“Katie had a big second half, and her leadership really set the tone for the night,” Dickson said.

SMNW led 27-25 after three quarters and then outscored West 17-9 in the fourth quarter.

“Our seniors stepped up and took charge of the game,” Dickson said. “They were not going to let this one slip away.

“We are not satisfied. We know we have a lot of hard work ahead of us to be the team that we know we can be. We have big goals and big dreams, and we have the big hearts and big effort to reach them if we continue to put on our hard hats every day and go to work.”

In addition to Biggers’ 12 points and Slattery’s five, Amanda Hoelting and McKayla Ross each scored seven points, Jessica Johnson had six, and Mia Woodward added five.

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