Panthers’ women play in region title game for first time ever under Davis
KANSAS CITY, Kan. — For the first time ever under head coach J.J. Davis, the Neosho County Panthers women earned a berth to the NJCAA Region VI Tournament title game over the weekend.
“I was just excited,” Davis said. “There were times where there were four people in the stands and one of them was my wife. This community has embraced these young girls. They’ve embraced my family. I’ve got amazing assistant coaches that are big parts of this community. That win was for Chanute — hard work, bring your lunch pail. We got to have some pride.”
Neosho County took down rival Allen in the semifinals, 75-69, on Friday before losing in the championship game to undefeated, No. 1 Johnson County, 82-54, on Saturday.
Friday’s win was a certified fresh thriller — 10 lead changes and 16 ties in the cross-county derby.
Neosho County trailed Allen, 29-26, at halftime before erupting.
“We just started taking advantage of their coverage,” Davis said. “Their bigs were staying in the paint. So we played our brand of basketball. We made their bigs guard. We noticed they were staying in drop coverage. And big time players make big time plays.”
Chloe Parker, a sophomore from Riverton, scored a career-high 26 points, with 23 coming in the second half.
Parker buried four treys and went 10-of-12 from the free throw line.
“A lot of people have doubted her,” Davis said. “She proved that she is an elite player in this league. No matter what gym she’s in, she’ll be the toughest kid in the gym. She didn’t let us lose. She just didn’t. I told all of them before the game that Allen knows what we’ll do and we know what they’ll do. I needed someone to be better. She took the message.”
Laynie Winfrey from Eureka added 16 points, 14 coming in the second half.
“She’s another small town Southeast Kansas kid that delivered in a semifinal game in the best conference in basketball,” Davis said. “That’s the story. Laynie is a big time player. It was special.”
Allen’s Tawhirikura Doyle led the Red Devils with 19 points.
No. 1 Johnson County quelled the Panthers a day later to earn the Region VI title and an automatic berth to the NJCAA Division II National Tournament.
“I always want the team that beats me to win the championship,” Davis said. “I want anybody from our region to do that. I believe in this conference. And I do believe Johnson County has a very, very special team. There’s not many weaknesses. They do a good job of closing out quarters. That’s what got us. We held them for a few stretches, but they’d finish really well. It just got us.”
Winfrey led Neosho County with 15 points while Bauke Graulus added a dozen.
Davis said that Neosho County, which was ranked at times this year, won’t seek one of four available at-large berths to the national tournament — NJCAA schools must apply for at-large bids.
“We weren’t ranked high enough,” Davis said. “We’d need to be in the top 10. I don’t want to waste people’s time and I respect the game. I feel like I did what they asked me to do and played Division I schools in the preseason. And I feel like that hurt us. But I’m not mad at that. I’m not going to pretend it was anybody’s fault.”
Neosho County ended the year with a 20-12 overall record — one win shy of the school record.
“Giving me a taste of that region championship game was the worst thing the league could’ve done,” Davis said. “I want Southeast Kansas to be the standard of junior college basketball. That’s the truth. I believe if I keep working at it, we’ll all keep working at it.”
Heading into the offseason, Davis believes the Panthers’ biggest priority is finding muscle for the paint.
“We’ve got to get bigger and score at the rim,” Davis said. “We’ve got to be more athletic. If we can do that and find kids that can score inside at a high level — we already make a lot of shots at the 3-point line. If I make a conscious effort to find kids that can play through contact, that’s our next step.”
