The Cardinals got off to a fast start against Bonner Springs and never looked back on their way to putting up a season high 75 points in their 75-56 win Friday night. 

The girls team, however, had trouble with a 52-29 loss to Bonner Springs Friday night. This loss marks the first time the team has lost back-to-back games all season, dropping their record to 5-4. 

Senior Cole Parker led the charge for the boys team, especially in the second quarter. Parker hit four straight threes to close out the first half and his shooting in the second quarter helped the team outscore Bonner Springs 26-11 in the quarter. The score was 48-28 at halftime. 

Parker said the team’s ball movement helped spark the big scoring night. 

“I mean, when we cut off each other, when we screen off each other, and it’s not just dribble, dribble, dribble, I think we are pretty tough to stop,” Parker said. “And people got to look at three guys, or four guys on the court that can score at any time. So I mean, when we are cutting and screening for each other, it helps a lot.” 

Junior Logan Sullivan was also impressed with the team’s shooting against Bonner Springs. 

“Everybody was getting the ball in the hoop,” he said. “Everybody was hitting. Everybody had assists. So, that’s always good.” 

Head coach Kyle Deterding said rebounding was another key factor in the game. Deterding said he liked the intensity the Cardinals played with on the boards. 

“Teams like that, the big kid’s a great rebounder,” Deterding said. “We gave them a couple second chance baskets early on in the game, and then we really did a great job rebounding defensively in the first half. We are going to have to rebound as a team because we don’t have a dude that goes in there and gets 12 rebounds a game, so we got to have five guys crashing in there.” 

Defensively, the Cardinals were able to force several turnovers as well by being in the right spot and jumping passing lanes. Parker said the team knew Bonner Springs had a few players who could score well, so they knew it was important to stop them from touching the ball. 

“We kind of targeted them, and I think we did a good job of that and then playing help off of the other guys, and then pushing it whenever we got the chance,” Parker said.

However, it was not a perfect game for the Cardinals. Deterding said he felt the team got too sloppy in the second half after such a good first half. The Cardinals were outscored in the second half 28-27. 

“At about the middle of the third quarter, we just got a little too loose with it,” Deterding said. “When you’re on the floor, you got to compete and do things the whole time you’re out there and we just got a little too loose there for a little bit.”

Nevertheless, the Cardinals improve to 7-1 and will try to continue their hot scoring in a mid-season tournament next week at Tonganoxie. Parker said it is important the team keeps putting in work at practice. 

“You keep it up at practice and it transfers over,” he said. “The last couple days of practice have been pretty good, and so just keep it up there and it’ll transfer to the court.” 

For the girls’ game, the biggest problem on the night was rebounding. Bonner Springs cashed in on several second-chance opportunities and held the Cardinals to one-shot possessions.

Bonner Springs had a small advantage because of their height, but head coach Brandon Parker said the Cardinals just need to be more physical when it comes to rebounding the ball. 

“A lot of it is effort. I mean, it’s a want. If you want to get the balls, you’ll go get it,” he said. “Tonight, Bonner was the aggressor, and we were back on our heels.” 

The Cardinals also had a rough night shooting as 29 points is the team’s second lowest total on the season. 

“I think it was mainly just we were kind of afraid to take shots,” junior Kenzie Yoder, who had seven points, said. “If you’re afraid, you make mistakes, and we just need to get out of that mindset of being afraid and we just got to take them, you know, you never know if they’re going to go in or not. We were just afraid to take those tonight.” 

Junior Parker Long led the team in scoring with 10 points with all of her points coming from the free throw line. 

Junior Jayla Erpelding hit the team’s only 3-point basket and finished the game with five points. 

The Cardinals will look to put this loss behind them as they prepare for a mid-season tournament taking place next week in Tonganoxie. Eight teams will compete at the tournament, including Bonner Springs and Louisburg, two teams the Cardinals have lost to. 

“We got to have a strong mindset coming in,” Yoder said. “We’re going to play some tough teams, and we can’t just come in thinking we are better than anyone. We got to work on our small things like just shots and box outs. It could be lots of fun.”

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Reach reporter Jack Denebeim at [email protected].