Taylor Joplin scores 24 as Garden Plain tops Cheney

On a night when both teams suffered from opening-game jitters, Garden Plain junior center Taylor Joplin refused to follow the script.

The 6-foot-1 Joplin hit four three-pointers, as well as two conventional three-point plays, finishing with 24 points in a 57-38 Central Plains League girls victory Friday night over Cheney.

“I don’t know how many shots she took, but it wasn’t very many, and she didn’t miss many shots,” Owls coach Kody Kasselman said. “Yeah, she scored points, but I was impressed with her physicality.

“She really hit the weight room this summer, and you could tell. She was in control of her body, she made big-time rebounds, played awesome defense, and I’m very pleased with her.”

Joplin, who also hit all four of her free throws, dominated all facets of the game, scoring inside, from the perimeter – and even bringing the ball upcourt at times.

“She’s a ‘morph’ player,” Kasselman said. “She hybrids and does a little bit of everything for us.”

Most importantly for the Owls, they were able to limit Cheney’s 6-1 senior, Haley Albers, to 10 points.

Kasselman’s instructions on Albers were simple, Joplin said.

“Be tough,” she said. “He just told us to be tough and keep going.”

Garden Plain also got a boost from freshmen Kennedy Horacek and Abby Gordon. Gordon scored six first-half points and was a presence at 5-10. The 5-4 Horacek scored seven of her nine points in the second half, including a three-pointer.

“We knew they were going to play, but I did not know they were going to have as much of an impact as they did,” Kasselman said. “Horacek … I thought she was the difference. She played the top of our matchup zone, and she was very good for a freshman.”

It was a tough night from the field for the Cardinals, who got good shots, only to see them bounce off the rim.

The Owls jumped to a 14-8 lead after one quarter. Joplin scored five points and senior Page Hoheisel four, which came back-to-back and gave Garden Plain the lead for good.

Meanwhile, Cheney was struggling on offense. Missed shots and turnovers put the Cardinals in a 41-30 hole at the end of the third quarter, and Joplin’s three-point play with 2:11 left gave the Owls their largest lead at 55-35.

For Rod Scheer, whose Cardinals will play at Valley Center on Tuesday, it was a good starting point from which to make adjustments.

“I told Kody before the game that this was good to play a really good team right off the bat,” Scheer said. “Hopefully, we’ll bounce back.

“We struggled shooting, missing 2-footers, I think we were 14 of 25 from the free-throw line. Obviously, when you’re not shooting the ball well, you’ve got to make up for it – and we didn’t play well defensively.”

The Owls play host to Hesston on Tuesday, and Kasselman said this is no time to get complacent.

“We didn’t quite know what we were going to have, but we’re not going to rest on our laurels,” he said. “We’re going to go back to work on Monday and keep chopping wood. Our schedule is brutal before Christmas.”

This story was originally published December 2, 2016 at 9:21 PM with the headline "Taylor Joplin scores 24 as Garden Plain tops Cheney."