BY JIM MISUNAS
ST. JOHN – The No. 2 ranked St. John Tigers (21-1) rely on aggressive full-court and half-court defense that holds opponents to 31.5 points per game. The Tigers play Frankfort (19-3) at 8 p.m. Thursday at Colby in the 1A Division 1 state basketball tournament.
“We want to see whether the other team will handle our pressure,” said St. John coach Danny Smith. “We play pressure defense every game. The Hodgeman County coach said our defense was more aggressive than he’d seen.”
Post player 6-2 Lydia Reed (13.6 ppg, 3 blocks) anchors the backline defense and savvy veteran Heidi Fisher (13.5 ppg, 6 assists, 4 steals) defends the opponent’s best scorer. Fisher will defend Frankfort standout Hottie Gros (18 ppg), a 1,000-point career scorer.
“Heidi’s our best defender,” Smith said. “She’s a player who fills the stat sheet with points, rebounds, assists and steals,” he said. “Lydia Reed has height and is athletic. Our rim protector changes the game defensively with her blocked shots and her presence.”
The Tigers have invested hard work to sharpen their style of play.
“These girls work hard every day,” he said. “They’ve put in time and effort to maximize their potential.”
The Tigers earned a quality victory over Wichita Sunrise 63-59 to capture the St. John Midwinter Classic by rallying from a double digit deficit.
“We played full-court pressure against a quality team with four ballhandlers,” he said. “We proved we could come back from a deficit. Reagan Bonner scored 13 points in a quarter to give us momentum.”
Bonner (8 ppg), Reed, Mia Meyer (9 ppg) and Gentri Bright (9 ppg) have each led the Tigers in scoring during the season.
“It’s a bonus to have different players contributing,” he said.
Hoisington handed the Tigers a 62-60 loss and the Tigers downed Wichita Sunrise 63-59, the only teams which scored more than 42 points. Frankfort’s losses came against state qualifiers Hanover, Centralia and Valley Heights.
The Tigers qualified for the state tournament for the first time since 2018 when they lost 26-19 to runner-up St. Paul. St. John won the 2009 state title and lost to state champions against South Gray (2010), Hoxie (2012), Hoxie (2013) and Central Plains (2017).
1A DIV. 1 STATE MARCH 7, COLBY
2 p.m.–Little River 22-0 vs. Olpe 17-5
4 p.m.–Norwich 20-1 vs Centralia 20-2
6 p.m.–South Gray 21-1 vs. Rawlins County 18-4
8 p.m.–St. John 21-1 vs. Frankfort 19-3
