Last Friday night Junction City hosted the 6-2 Shawnee Heights Thunderbirds. Junction City had their eye on this rematch in hopes to get their revenge and beat Shawnee after losing 65-55 nearly a month ago.

The Blue Jays look to finish off this three home game stretch with a victory after two straight losses to both Lawrence Free-State and Bishop Carroll. JC, this season hasn’t been able to close out games in “The Nest”. Our Blue Jays are just 1-7 here at home and weren’t expected to come out victorious against a team who is 4-1 on the road.

Starting out the game, both teams were able to keep the score close, with JC playing great defense and showing hustle and execution on offense. After a three point play by Junction, the Blue Jays were able finish off the quarter on a 9-0 run led by Ricardo Erans and T.J. Poole. JC was able to score 20 points in the first quarter, allowing only 14.

Junction City’s beautiful play continued through the beginning of the second quarter after a quick and contested made three by Erans. This clearly hyped up the players as shown on the defensive end of the floor when Christian Ozores was able to beat the press for the fast break layup. Following that, a great hustle play by Poole leading to his assist to Josh Hall.

After the opponent was able to nail a three pointer and following this, subbed in 6’6” Ahmad Winston. Steve Wallace, Shawnee Heights’ Head Coach was able to realize how easy JC was penetrating the paint, therefor subbed in Winston. This quickly had an impact on the Blue Jays as he was able to alter any shots in the paint and out rebound any of JC’s bigs.

Sierra Bowman

Shawnee was able to score eleven unanswered points, bringing them back in the game. Junction led 33-30 at the half.

As the third quarter began, it was clear that the momentum had shifted, especially after Shawnee came out cashing their first three. Occasional open threes would eventually cost JC down the stretch.

Another factor helping Shawnee was starting Winston in the second half. Despite Winston’s ability to patrol the paint and alter shots, Poole and Erans were able to start out the half leading an 8-2 run.

Following this run however, was a 14-4 run by Shawnee, taking the lead 48-49. Erans was able to steal the ball and score a put-back layup following the steal, with just two seconds left in the quarter. This changed the momentum once again heading into the final quarter up 50-49.

Just when it seemed as if JC was going to pull away early in the quarter, the opponent was able to draw a shooting foul, disrupting JC’s offensive flow after scoring six straight. After this, another open three was dropped to bring Shawnee with two at 57-55 in the closing minutes.

After JC wasn’t able to capitalize on a clutch charge taken by Ozores, the opponent found another open three to take the lead 58-57 with 1:07 left in the game. This caused Coach Battle to call a timeout.

Coming out of the timeout, JC clearly looked to get the ball into either Erans’ or Poole’s hands. After finally finding Poole, he penetrated and had his shot blocked by the 6’6” rim protector Ahmad Winston. This gave Shawnee the ball which led to free throws by both Shawnee and Poole to bring the score to 59-61.

Sierra Bowman
Sierra Bowman

The final score would be 59-61, another close loss by JC despite Ricardo Erans and TJ Poole’s big nights, carrying the team throughout the game. Erans made four three pointers finishing with 26 points, 17 of which came in the first half. Poole The Blue Jays will travel to Topeka to take on Hayden, a very beatable team given that JC is much stronger on the road. After that, next Tuesday will be the next home game hosting Highland Park, another beatable team.