It took just eight minutes for the Mark Spigarelli era at Blue Springs High School to begin with an exclamation point.
Spigarelli’s top-seeded Blue Springs girls basketball team led North Kansas City just 15-12 after one quarter in the opening game of the Lee’s Summit North Bronco Invitational.
But a 15-0 second-quarter run led to a 58-26 mercy-clock win in Spigarelli’s first game replacing Tony Armstrong.
“We all had the usual pre-game jitters and were a little bit nervous,” said center Bryonna Snow, who has committed to play basketball at the University of Cincinnati. “But once we got that first quarter over, we really played pretty well.”
Snow and Cee Cee Burris were a dominant force inside as Snow scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds and had two blocked shots and Burris added 11 points and 10 boards.
“I’ve begged for Cee Cee and me to start, and it never happened last year,” Snow said. “But this year, it’s so much fun starting with Cee Cee. She is a great player and we think we can do some good things together when we’re both out there.”
Burris agreed.
“My goal this year is do anything I can to help our team win and do my best to get a double-double,” Burris said. “If I don’t score in double figures, I still want to get at least 10 rebounds. I think that’s where I can best help the team.”
While Snow and Burris took care of business inside, Drew Roberts took care of things from outside as she hit two 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 12 points.
The starters did not play much in the second half as Spigarelli emptied his bench once the Wildcats built up the big lead.
“Those girls have some ability, don’t they?” asked Spigarelli, who built a great program and reputation when he coached at Pembroke Hill, where his teams won 12 district titles and four state championships.
Spigarelli inherits a 25-3 squad that went undefeated in the Suburban Big Seven and lost to Hickman Mills in the Class 5 state sectionals.
“I really like Coach Spigarelli,” Snow said. “He’s different from Coach (Tony) Armstrong (who resigned last season to watch his son, Sean, play college basketball). He’ll get after us, but he gets after us in a positive way.”
Added Burris: “When you’re playing for a new coach, you really want to do well. And I think we did real well after the first quarter. We’re going to get better as the season goes along.”
Roberts stole a pass with seconds to go in the first quarter, drove the length of the court and hit a layup to give the Wildcats some breathing room after the first period.
After that, the rout was on. Blue Springs used a 22-3 second-quarter explosion to take a 37-15 lead into halftime.
The Hornets scored just 11 points in the second half and did not have a player in double figures.
“I saw a lot of things I liked tonight,” Spigarelli said, “and a lot of things we can work on. Cee Cee and Bryonna were just monsters on the boards and I can’t say enough good things about ‘Little’ Price (Jamesia Price, the younger sister of senior Jocelyn).
“Did you notice how the tempo of the game picked up in the second quarter when she came in? She’s come back from tearing her ACL in the summer and really played well in her first game.
“Up and down, we played 12 kids tonight and they all contributed.”
The Wildcats will play Truman at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Bronco Invitational semifinals.
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It took just eight minutes for the Mark Spigarelli era at Blue Springs High School to begin with an exclamation point.
Spigarelli’s top-seeded Blue Springs girls basketball team led North Kansas City just 15-12 after one quarter in the opening game of the Lee’s Summit North Bronco Invitational.
But a 15-0 second-quarter run led to a 58-26 mercy-clock win in Spigarelli’s first game replacing Tony Armstrong.
“We all had the usual pre-game jitters and were a little bit nervous,” said center Bryonna Snow, who has committed to play basketball at the University of Cincinnati. “But once we got that first quarter over, we really played pretty well.”
Snow and Cee Cee Burris were a dominant force inside as Snow scored 10 points and grabbed six rebounds and had two blocked shots and Burris added 11 points and 10 boards.
“I’ve begged for Cee Cee and me to start, and it never happened last year,” Snow said. “But this year, it’s so much fun starting with Cee Cee. She is a great player and we think we can do some good things together when we’re both out there.”
Burris agreed.
“My goal this year is do anything I can to help our team win and do my best to get a double-double,” Burris said. “If I don’t score in double figures, I still want to get at least 10 rebounds. I think that’s where I can best help the team.”
While Snow and Burris took care of business inside, Drew Roberts took care of things from outside as she hit two 3-pointers and finished with a team-high 12 points.
The starters did not play much in the second half as Spigarelli emptied his bench once the Wildcats built up the big lead.
“Those girls have some ability, don’t they?” asked Spigarelli, who built a great program and reputation when he coached at Pembroke Hill, where his teams won 12 district titles and four state championships.
Spigarelli inherits a 25-3 squad that went undefeated in the Suburban Big Seven and lost to Hickman Mills in the Class 5 state sectionals.
“I really like Coach Spigarelli,” Snow said. “He’s different from Coach (Tony) Armstrong (who resigned last season to watch his son, Sean, play college basketball). He’ll get after us, but he gets after us in a positive way.”
Added Burris: “When you’re playing for a new coach, you really want to do well. And I think we did real well after the first quarter. We’re going to get better as the season goes along.”
Roberts stole a pass with seconds to go in the first quarter, drove the length of the court and hit a layup to give the Wildcats some breathing room after the first period.
After that, the rout was on. Blue Springs used a 22-3 second-quarter explosion to take a 37-15 lead into halftime.
The Hornets scored just 11 points in the second half and did not have a player in double figures.
“I saw a lot of things I liked tonight,” Spigarelli said, “and a lot of things we can work on. Cee Cee and Bryonna were just monsters on the boards and I can’t say enough good things about ‘Little’ Price (Jamesia Price, the younger sister of senior Jocelyn).
“Did you notice how the tempo of the game picked up in the second quarter when she came in? She’s come back from tearing her ACL in the summer and really played well in her first game.
“Up and down, we played 12 kids tonight and they all contributed.”
The Wildcats will play Truman at 7 p.m. Wednesday in the Bronco Invitational semifinals.
