Deerfield, Kan.—
It has been a while since the Deerfield Spartans have been recognized. The Lady Spartans are ranked No. 7 in Class 1A Division 1 and they are getting a lot of attention. Satanta came into the Deerfield gym ready for a battle and that’s what it got. The Lady Spartans defeated the Lady Indians 47-37.Lady Spartan head coach Doug Crandall said his squad is different this year. The girls have incredible team chemistry. Both on and off the court his girls are unselfish and drama is the least of their worries. The Lady Spartans have five seniors that only care about winning. That chemistry was challenged tonight and Deerfield’s schedule does not get any easier down the road.
The Lady Spartans took an early lead but had to battle to keep it.
“I was pleased with how played tonight, we got a lot of people in,” Crandall said. “We ran the floor pretty well. Minus one player out with a concussion and another was sick, we did a pretty good job considering that. “
Senior Mariah Smith dominated the paint and led the Lady Spartans with 16 points.
“Mariah is strong and she played football for us this year so she is a force inside,” Crandall said. “She does a great job of getting in to position and our guards do a great job of getting her the ball.”
The Lady Spartans had the lead throughout the game but the Lady Indians stayed on their heels. There was only one point during the game that Crandall ever felt comfortable.
“Not until about a minute and half to go,” he said. “I was pretty nervous until that point. I even talked to my assistant coach when we were up by fifteen and I asked if he was comfortable yet. He said no and I said I wasn’t either. Our team does a good job and they shoot the ball well.”
Smith said she attributes the win to their team chemistry.
“The starters are mostly all seniors so we’ve been playing basketball together since we were little kids,” she said. “It’s easy for us because we’ve been together for so long. The freshmen are stepping it up and their doing their part too, so I’m pretty proud of them.”
The boys’ game started slow, well, scoring wise. Despite high paced offenses, continual full court pressure and the defenses dominated. In the second half Deerfield managed to opened up scoring opportunities and took control as they won 64-33.
The Spartans came out swinging but the Indians kept up with them. Senior Alex Calderon led the attack under the basket. Satanta’s Zach Freeman hit multiple shots in the first half to keep the Indians in the mix. In the second half, four of the Spartan’s starters were in double digits. Sophomore Mike Mata led his Spartans to victory scoring 18 points for the game.
