Heritage girls 43, Veritas Christian 39

Manhattan — Topeka Heritage Christian edged past the Veritas Christian girls basketball team, 43-39, in the championship game of the Shea Tournament on Saturday.

The teams were tied through three back-and-forth quarters.

“It really came down to: They executed late and hit their free throws, and we didn’t. That was the difference in the game,” Veritas coach Kevin Shelton said.

It was the second game in two days that Veritas lost by less than four points. Smoky Valley defeated Veritas, 41-38, on Friday night.

“We’ve got to learn to win these close ones, but I thought our girls played a great defensive game against a much taller team,” Shelton said.

Junior Kristen Finger led Veritas with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Finger and senior Ellen Phillips were named to the all-tournament team.

Heritage boys 52, Veritas 38

The boys fell to Topeka Heritage Christian in the third-place game of the Shea Tournament.

Veritas trailed 22-3 at the end of the first quarter but was able to outscore Heritage in the second and third, before cutting the deficit to just four points in the fourth quarter. Heritage then pulled away in the final few minutes.

“I’m really proud of the way we didn’t quit,” Veritas coach Gary Hammer said. “We just had a bad first quarter, but they (Veritas) fought really hard to make a game of it.”

Veritas (1-2) was led by senior Elijah Penny, who had 15 points, and junior Thomas Bachert, who added 14. Both made the all-tournament team.