Tiger girls third, boys sixth in SEK polls

CHANUTE — Fort Scott High School’s girls were picked to finish in a tie for third place while the boys’ were chosen for sixth in a poll of Southeast Kansas League basketball coaches released here Monday morning.

The radio station in Pittsburg that had hosted the pre-season basketball conference in the past declined to do so this year. This year’s conference was held at the Chanute Recreation Commission’s complex with SEK-Spotrts.com as the host. Due to the short notice the organizers had, only the SEK coaches met on site but polls for the Three Rivers, Tri-Valley and CNC leagues were released later in the day via social media.

In the TRL girls’ poll, Northeast was picked to finish in fifth place while Uniontown was tabbed for ninth in the 12-team league. On the boys’ side, Uniontown was voted sixth while Northeast was chosen to finish ninth.

In the girls’ polls, Labette County was picked to win the SEK with five first-place votes followed by Independence with two, St. Paul was picked to win the TRL crown, Colgan the CNC and Erie the TVL.

On the boys’ side, two-time defending champ Pittsburg was the unanimous choice to repeat with Labette County picked second, receiving Pitt’s first-place vote as coaches could not vote for their own teams. Also, Yates Center was chosen to top the TRL, Girard the CNC, and Caney Valley the TVL.

Pittsburg is the SEK’s defending girls’ champion, finishing 11-1 in league play and 15-7 overall. Labette County (9-3, 17-5) and Independence (9-3, 15-7) tied for second. The Tigers were fourth at 6-6, 8-13.

Fort Scott head coach Pechone Stepps told the assembled media and coaches that he has 27 girls out for his team, including five seniors. Among them are post Madison Cook, who has already signed with the University of Central Missouri, and Skyelar Brown. The majority of his seniors have seen playing time since they were freshmen.

“There’s also six juniors we’ll be leaning on,” Stepps said. “We have a chance to do good things. I’ve been happy with our progress. I think there’s a chance we’ll be pretty solid.”

Labette County has 34 girls out, according to head coach Kristi Snider. One of them is senior Tristan Gegg, a Pittsburg State signee, who is top of a list of all-time SEK girls 1,000-point scorers complied by Brian Thomas of the Montgomery County Chronicle. And she doesn’t need many points this year to pass the all-time leading boys’ scorer, Cameron Craig of Coffeyville. Gegg has scored 1,616 points in three seasons. Craig scored 1,625 from 2008 to 2011.

Fort Scott’s boys, who finished last in the seven-team league last season at 2-10, 6-16, have 16 upperclassmen and four players back who have starting experience. Nine of them were on this year’s football team that improved from 3 wins in 2016 to 8 this season (with all 3 losses to teams that advanced to the exact same point in the playoffs the Tigers did).

“We were young last year,” FSHS head coach Jeff DeLaTorre said. “The guys put in the work during the off season. We’re going to have a bit more size. I feel like we’re going to be an improved team.”

Among the returning players are senior guard Jesse Jones, who was named an Honorable Mention All-Class 4A player by two major Kansas newspapers last season, and classmate Jessie Lawrence.

Pittsburg head coach Kiley Roelfs, whose Purple Dragons (12-0, 20-3) won the SEK by four games last season, has unanimous All-SEK First Teamer Marque English back as one of six seniors.

“We have a lot of expectation in our program this year,” Roelfs said. “We played seven guys a significant amount on varsity last season and six are back.”

Fort Scott’s seasons begin next week (Nov. 30-Dec. 2) with their trips to the annual Willard (Mo.) Tri-State Classic. The field also includes Bentonville West and Harrison, both from Arkansas.

Pre-Season Polls

Pre-season coaches’ basketball polls released Monday by SEK-Sports.com. Points and first-place votes are available only for the Southeast Kansas League.

SOUTHEAST KANSAS LEAGUE

Girls

Boys

THREE RIVERS LEAGUE

Girls

1. St. Paul

2. Oswego

3. Southeast

4. Pleasanton

5. Northeast

6. Yates Center

7. Chetopa

8. Jayhawk-Linn

9. Uniontown

10. Marmaton Valley

11. Crest

12. Altoona-Midway

Boys

1. Yates Center

2. St. Paul

3. Jayhawk-Linn

4. Southeast

5. Crest

6. Uniontown

7. Pleasanton

8. Oswego

9. Northeast

10. Chetopa

11. Marmaton Valley

12. Altoona-Midway

CNC LEAGUE

Girls

1. Colgan

2. Baxter Springs

3. Galena

tie. Girard

5. Frontenac

6. Columbus

7. Riverton

Boys

1. Girard

2. Frontenac

3. Baxter Springs

tie. Colgan

tie. Galena

6. Riverton

7. Columbus

TRI-VALLEY LEAGUE

Girls

1. Erie

2. Humboldt

3. Leon-Bluestem

4. Eureka

5. Fredonia

tie. Neodesha

7. Cherryvale

8. Caney Valley

Boys

1. Caney Valley

2. Humboldt

3. Erie

4. Cherryvale

5. Neodesha

6. Eureka

7. Fredonia

8. Leon-Bluestem