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Independence, MO —
Van Horn lost more than its starting senior point guard when Brandi Tyson went down Feb. 11 with a season-ending knee injury.
The Falcons not only lost their primary ball handler and emotional leader, but also the area’s leading scorer at 16.1 points per game.
That scoring void left by Tyson was felt Monday night in a 53-16 loss to Oak Grove in the opening round of the Class 4 District 15 tournament at Grain Valley.
“Here’s the irony in that,” Van Horn co-head coach Julie Crowell said of Tyson’s injury. “I did not know until the Wednesday before our St. Mary’s game when Brandi got hurt that she was the leading scorer in the area. And I don’t put a lot on stats – we’re just happy if we can do some of the fundamental things correct and just start building that way – but it’s killed us.
“When you lose somebody that’s averaging 16, 17 points a game on a consistent basis – and not just that. Forget the 16, 17 points, I mean, she’s our primary ballhandler. Brandi is the real deal when it comes to the ballhandling. It’s been tough.”
Oak Grove, 8-16, stopped the skids on an eight-game losing streak with the win and will face Odessa – a team the Panthers have lost to three times this season – at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the district semifinals.
Junior guard Haley Kanak and junior forward Brittany Douthitt, who scored nine points each, led the Panthers in scoring against Van Horn.
“Our goal tonight was just to advance to the next round,” Panthers coach Mike Cox said. “We need to get everybody back. We’ve got some kids out (with injuries or sickness) that we’ll have back Wednesday. There’s three out, so hopefully we’ll get them back because we are going to need them against Odessa.”
Scoring was at a premium for the Falcons, 2-16, who were led by Tyson’s twin sister Brittney and junior Shelby Ingold’s four points each.
“I think it was up to our whole team to come out there and pull together,” Brittney Tyson said. “We just needed to want it more than the other team did.”
Losing her twin to injury was tough on Tyson, who took on point guard duties after her sister went down.
“(Brandi) is someone that I look forward to getting the ball to, and she gives it back. Somebody that we can assist to all the time. I was injured a couple of weeks ago, so I really know how it feels. We both were injured. It was a hard season this year.”
Van Horn lost more than its starting senior point guard when Brandi Tyson went down Feb. 11 with a season-ending knee injury.
The Falcons not only lost their primary ball handler and emotional leader, but also the area’s leading scorer at 16.1 points per game.
That scoring void left by Tyson was felt Monday night in a 53-16 loss to Oak Grove in the opening round of the Class 4 District 15 tournament at Grain Valley.
“Here’s the irony in that,” Van Horn co-head coach Julie Crowell said of Tyson’s injury. “I did not know until the Wednesday before our St. Mary’s game when Brandi got hurt that she was the leading scorer in the area. And I don’t put a lot on stats – we’re just happy if we can do some of the fundamental things correct and just start building that way – but it’s killed us.
“When you lose somebody that’s averaging 16, 17 points a game on a consistent basis – and not just that. Forget the 16, 17 points, I mean, she’s our primary ballhandler. Brandi is the real deal when it comes to the ballhandling. It’s been tough.”
Oak Grove, 8-16, stopped the skids on an eight-game losing streak with the win and will face Odessa – a team the Panthers have lost to three times this season – at 7:30 p.m. Wednesday in the district semifinals.
Junior guard Haley Kanak and junior forward Brittany Douthitt, who scored nine points each, led the Panthers in scoring against Van Horn.
“Our goal tonight was just to advance to the next round,” Panthers coach Mike Cox said. “We need to get everybody back. We’ve got some kids out (with injuries or sickness) that we’ll have back Wednesday. There’s three out, so hopefully we’ll get them back because we are going to need them against Odessa.”
Scoring was at a premium for the Falcons, 2-16, who were led by Tyson’s twin sister Brittney and junior Shelby Ingold’s four points each.
“I think it was up to our whole team to come out there and pull together,” Brittney Tyson said. “We just needed to want it more than the other team did.”
Losing her twin to injury was tough on Tyson, who took on point guard duties after her sister went down.
“(Brandi) is someone that I look forward to getting the ball to, and she gives it back. Somebody that we can assist to all the time. I was injured a couple of weeks ago, so I really know how it feels. We both were injured. It was a hard season this year.”
Added Bailey Rockhold, another Van Horn senior: “That was really hard losing Brandi. We’re getting through without her, but it’s still difficult not having her in. We just have to do our best and go with the flow.”
Van Horn didn’t score their first points until sophomore guard Lexy McDonald hit the front end of a bonus free throw with 5 minutes, 14 seconds left in the second quarter, making the score 17-1 in favor of Oak Grove. The Panthers led 13-0 after the first quarter, but the Falcons buckled down in the second quarter after spotting Oak Grove a 17-point advantage.
“Probably about halfway through the second quarter we played a little bit better,” Crowell said. “For us, I think we were pretty pleased with the third and fourth quarters. We knew it was going to be tough – they’ve all been tough this year, and they’re just going to keep getting tougher next year with the (Tyson) twins and Bailey being gone.”
Although eliminated from district playoff action, the season is not officially over for the Falcons. They’ll play Barstow in a make-up game Wednesday and follow that on Thursday with a Crossroads Conference Showdown game against an opponent yet to be announced.
“It was tough,” Rockhold said of the loss to Oak Grove. “I wished we would have won, but we didn’t focus as hard as team as we should have. We still have two more games left in the season, so hopefully we’ll step it up and do better next time.”
