One of Kansas’ last unbeaten high school basketball teams didn’t expect to shine this quickly
They looked at each other, laughed and shook their heads.
Neither sophomore Kylee Scheer nor senior Layne Needham expected to be undefeated at this point in the season. But after beating Andale 40-34 in the first round of the 2019 Wildcat Classic on Thursday, Cheney is one of 16 unbeaten teams left in Kansas high school girls basketball.
The Cardinals have three seniors; one of them didn’t play last year, and their tallest starter is 5 feet, 9 inches tall. But they find a way.
“It’s a completely different team than we’ve had in the past,” Cheney coach Rod Scheer said. “We’ve always had a low-post presence, and we don’t have that. But it allows us to do so many other things offensively and defensively with the pressures we can use.”
Cheney has had to play some tough teams. They beat defending Class 3A champion and rival Garden Plain by 15 at home and Trinity Academy by 12 on the road.
But the Cards hadn’t played a team with the size, prestige and enrollment that Andale offered. The Indians entered the midseason tournament as the No. 7 seed at 5-4 but came in as runners-up in Class 4A-Division II last season.
With 90 seconds left to play on Thursday, Needham jumped a passing lane for a steal and drove it to the other end for an and-1 bucket that put Cheney up 10.
Andale brought nine upperclassmen to the court on Thursday, and five of them stood 5-8 or taller. Needham said though the cards might seem to be stacked against them, they find advantages.
“Our speed helps a lot,” she said. “With all the big girls, we move right around them instead of trying to push through them.”
Scheer’s 17 points and Needham’s 10 led the Cardinals in scoring Thursday night. Scheer is crafty guard with the ability to hit mid-range and three-point shots. She was 10th in the latest scoring leaderboard from across the Wichita area at 17.6 points per game.
Needham and fellow senior Destinee O’Shea were also listed.
Two years ago, Cheney reached the 3A title game behind 6-1 all-metro selection Haley Albers, but she and those Cardinals are gone. Cheney has talent, a lot of it, but little experience. Rod Scheer said that can have an impact on his coaching style.
Kylee Scheer said though they are young and haven’t ran offensive sets together for a while, they have been together for years. Needham said many of them play together on other teams at Cheney like volleyball. That small-town attribute has helped.
“We work well together,” Kylee Scheer said. “We just have chemistry together that most teams don’t.”
The road won’t get easier for the Cardinals. Andale was a massive first hurdle at the Wildcat Classic. Cheney’s undefeated streak will be tested again at 6 p.m. Friday against 10-2 Rose Hill, a team that has beaten Wellington, Andale and Garden Plain twice.
If the Cards get past the Rockets, they will likely face fellow undefeated Nickerson in the championship at 3:30 p.m. in Haven. The Panthers beat Kingman 43-28 in the first round and have one of the top three scorers in the Wichita area in Morgan Stout at 20.1 points a night.
Kylee Scheer said though the Cards lost most of their roster from last year and Needham wasn’t with them, focusing on volleyball, track and school, they continue to find ways to surprise themselves.
“We came into the season knowing we have a lot of spots to fill,” she said. “And we filled them.”
This story was originally published January 24, 2019 at 10:13 PM.