Two 20-win seasons in two years.

Ah, life coaching Ottawa High girls basketball doesn’t get much better than that for Cliff McCullough.

“I’m very spoiled,” said McCullough, a repeat selection as the Journal-World area girls basketball coach of the year. “The girls have made my job easy the past two years. I had to get them on the court, get them organized and they took care of business.”

Indeed. The Cyclones qualified for the Class 4A state tournament for the second consecutive year and finished with a 24-2 record a school best for wins and finished third. In two seasons under McCullough, OHS is 44-6.

With five starters, including three-time all-area pick Lindsey Dieterich, back from last year, McCullough knew the 2001-02 basketball season would be special. Katie Sheffield, Liz Burks, Jayme Vance and Kathryn Sylvester were also regular starters in the lineup.

“I knew these girls could play,” McCullough said. “It wasn’t me. It was the girls, because they knew how to play and have played together for so long. We knew we’d be successful, but we didn’t know how successful.”

Ottawa’s two losses were decided by a total of three points. The Cyclones opened the season with 11 consecutive victories before losing, 66-64, to Anderson County in the semifinals of the Wellsville tournament. OHS responded, winning 12 in a row before falling, 43-42, to Andale on a free throw with .6 seconds left in the semifinals of the 4A state tournament. Andale went on to capture the 4A title with a 47-43 win over Topeka Hayden.

“I thought any of those top three teams at state could have been playing for a state championship,” said McCullough, whose squad crushed Circle, 69-33, in the third-place game.

Ottawa’s offense was explosive, averaging 65.1 points a game. The Cyclones scored 70 points or more 10 times, including a season-high 94 points in the opener against Kansas City Piper.

OHS also had a knack for coming back. The Cyclones overcame large deficits and rallied for a 68-61 overtime victory over Baldwin and 81-76 triple-overtime victory over Kansas City Sumner.

“You could see how we changed from last year to this year,” said McCullough, whose squad went 10-0 to win the Huron League. “When we were down we were never out of the game. Last year if we were down by 10 points late we never would have won. This year the girls knew they were in every game. These girls kept battling.”

With the loss of six seniors, OHS will have to work harder next season. Burks and Jenny Heck, who will be seniors next year, will be key players for OHS in 2002-03, McCullough said. Burks averaged 12 points and seven assists while playing point guard. Heck was a forward.

“That’s not bad building a team with two players who have as much experience as they do,” McCullough said. “We’re going to have a lot of fun next year. “