Two tourney titles?

That’s a possibility for Lawrence High’s girls basketball team in the coming week.

The Lions will travel to Overland Park Aquinas on Tuesday for the delayed final of the Saints Classic. That title game had been scheduled for Dec. 8, but was postponed because of bad weather.

Then, two days after meeting Aquinas, the Lions will begin defense of their 2007 championship in the Topeka Invitational with a first-round game against an undetermined foe.

The three-day tourney in the Capital City will conclude the following Saturday.

Unbeaten no longer

Lawrence High’s 48-40 girls basketball loss to Shawnee Mission East last Tuesday was the first defeat in the prep careers of sophomores Jasmyn Turner and Cassie Potter.

Turner and Potter both started for Southwest Junior High as eighth- and ninth-graders and helped the Bulldogs post unbeaten seasons each year.

“I was just sitting in the locker room after the game, and it sort of hit me,” Turner said. “At that point, I got goose bumps. It was a bummer to lose, but we’ll learn from it and take something positive from it.”

The Lions (8-1) bounced back with a 63-56 victory over Olathe South.

Varsity blues

Perhaps it was merely a coincidence, but LHS girls coach Kristin Mallory donned SM East’s school color as she roamed the sidelines during her team’s 48-40 loss to the Lancers – its first of the season.

When asked why she chose the Lancers’ baby blue, Mallory chuckled and said, “I look good in blue.”

The color of the coach’s blouse, of course, had little bearing on the outcome.

Coincidentally, three nights later, Free State girls coach Bryan Duncan also wore the SM East color during his team’s 43-36 loss to the Lancers.

The reason behind Duncan’s wardrobe comes from a superstition in which he sometimes wears the color of his next opponent. The Firebirds next will play at Olathe South on Thursday. The Falcons’ main color is yellow, and they accent it with a blue similar to SM East’s.

Shrine Bowlers

Linemen Morgan Abel (Eudora) and Anthony Ciambrone (Baldwin) have been named to thel East squad for the Kansas Shrine Bowl football game July 26 at Emporia State.

Other notables on the East roster are Olathe South’s Kyson Ginavan and Aaron Kolich, Shawnee Mission Northwest’s Bryce Murray and Olathe North’s Bobby Sanchez.

Olathe North head coach Pete Flood also will serve as an assistant to Sabetha’s Matt Garber.

No Lawrence or Free State players are on the East roster.

Power forward praised

Following FSHS senior forward Weston Wiebe’s impressive performance – 24 points, 6 blocks, 9 rebounds, four steals – in a 57-36 victory at Shawnee Mission East on Friday, coach Chuck Law said Wiebe has a perfect attitude as well.

“The greatest thing about Weston is that he’ll take on the challenge of guarding the other team’s best player, (he) doesn’t care if he got 24 points – if he had eight points tonight and we’d won and he’d have done the job that he did on (Michael) McRoberts, he’d have been happy,” Law said. “He’s our hardest worker, our best attitude guy, and he’s a senior leader, who leads more by example than he does by his words, but the example tonight was unbelievable.”

Furious finish

FSHS won at SME by outscoring the Lancers 24-0 in the fourth quarter. Wiebe scored 10, Craig Rosenstengle, Kris Wilson, and Chase Hoag each had four, and Sean Brown scored a layup for the final two points to cap the incredible run.

Wiebe said he was feeling fatigued during a timeout with 3:39 remaining and his team up seven. But he knew the Firebirds had to finish off the Lancers.

“I just went over to the guys, Craig and Kris, and said, ‘Come on, we got this,'” Wiebe recalled. “From then on, it was a lot of fun and we pulled it out.”

Extra incentive

After finishing second in the 50-yard freestyle on Thursday at the Free State Invitational, FSHS senior Mitch Moore really wanted to win the 100-yard butterfly, and he did.

“I just didn’t want to lose to another freshman from Washburn Rural,” Moore joked after finishing second to WRHS freshman Chris Carpenter in the 50-yard freestyle and beating WRHS freshman Jared Ungerer in the 100-yard butterfly.

FSHS won the home meet, defeating WRHS, Bonner Springs, Junction City and Saint James Academy.

Baseball on the brain

On Feb. 5 at noon, the Kansas City Metro Baseball Coaches Association will be holding a kickoff banquet at Kauffman Stadium.

Lawrence High coach Brad Stoll said the organization is hoping to create something similar to what the Sunflower League football coaches do to kick off their season.

Dayton Moore, general manager of the Kansas City Royals, will be the keynote speaker, and then lifetime achievement awards will be given to some coaches from the area.