Newton tournament: Newton knocks off Dodge City; Andover Central advances

Midseason tournaments offer teams an opportunity to rewrite their own narrative and the Newton girls basketball team did exactly that in its 57-47 victory over Dodge City in the opening round of the Newton Invitational on Thursday evening.

Third quarters had become the quarter where Newton allowed its opponent to make its rally, as three of Newton’s four losses this season have come with the Railers allowing a second-half lead slip away.

But not against Dodge City, which entered as the No. 9-ranked team in Class 6A. This time the lead was extended, instead of evaporating, with the Railers (7-4) advancing to the semifinals to play undefeated Bishop Miege.

“We definitely had flashbacks to (previous games),” Newton’s Payton Roberts said. “The third quarter is usually when teams come back on us, so I made a point in the locker room to say we can’t come out and let them have it. This is our court and our atmosphere.”

Coach Randy Jordan admitted the 19 turnovers were a bit much, but it’s an improvement and he always prefers a young team learn through a victory instead of a defeat.

“There have been games when we were in positions like we were tonight and we didn’t respond very well and we ended up losing,” Jordan said. “Tonight we had the lead and we kept the lead. I think it’s a huge, positive step for this young team.”

Newton exploited its advantage inside, where it had the post duo of Roberts (22 points) and Abby Schmidt (12 points) synchronized. On top of the 34 points, the duo combined for 16 of 21 shooting and 13 rebounds.

Newton freshman DesiRay Kernal added 13 points, eight rebounds, and six assists.

Roberts, who gave the passionate halftime speech, backed it up with her play to start the third quarter. She went on an 8-0 run by herself to open up 39-24 lead that Dodge City never seriously threatened again after that.

“That’s all I was focused on was pushing through that third quarter,” Roberts said. “I think tonight we showed what we could do.”

Andover Central 54, Garden City 29 – There’s no question Amanda Kakoulias is one of the best athletes Stana Jefferson has coached in her years at Andover Central, but Jefferson has been looking for Kakoulias to harness that athleticism the right way.

Kakoulias did just that in a 54-29 victory over Garden City in the Newton girls basketball tournament, scoring a game-high 19 points with 10 coming off of offensive rebounds. She finished with 11 rebounds, seven offensive.

“Amanda Kakoulias brings her game to a whole new level when she crashes the boards and gets all those put-backs,” Jefferson said. “I thought the difference today was she was being patient and letting the opening come, instead of trying to blast an opening on her own.”

Andover Central (8-3), which was without two starters due to concussions, snapped its three-game losing streak and will face the Carroll-Olathe Northwest winner in the semifinals.

“It’s a buzz saw,” Jefferson said. “We’ve seen a lot of great teams so far and I told (my team) we only need to focus on ourselves and getting better every night. That’s what we plan on doing (Friday) night.”

Olathe Northwest 56, Carroll 45 – A nine-point advantage in the second quarter slowly slipped away, as Carroll immediately went into an 11-minute slump that included just four points. That’s when Olathe Northwest seized the lead and took control of the game.

Carroll rallied to cut the deficit to 43-40 with 1:56 remaining, but Olathe Northwest responded with a three-pointer from Annemarie Boeh (21 points) and drilled 17 free throws in the fourth quarter to survive.

“We didn’t put a full game together tonight, that was our problem,” Carroll coach Taylor Dugan said. “We didn’t play like we did in the first half. It wasn’t as energetic. Just a few things here and there that we didn’t do as well and that came when we really needed it the most.”

Carroll (8-3), which was led by 19 points from Ashley Carrillo, will play Garden City in the loser’s bracket on Saturday.

Miege 57, Kapaun 17 – It took 12 minutes for Kapaun to score its first points, as Miege (10-0), ranked No. 1 in Class 4A-Division 1, built a 28-0 lead in the second quarter en route to its best defensive performance of the season.

Kapaun (4-7) finished shooting 18 percent with 24 turnovers, as Anna Roulston was the leading scorer at five points. The Crusaders will play the loser of the Newton-Dodge City game in the loser’s bracket.

This story was originally published January 28, 2016 at 6:06 PM with the headline "Newton tournament: Newton knocks off Dodge City; Andover Central advances."