Jays Claim District Title

Liberty used a great defensive effort to beat St. Joseph Central on the road in the District 16 Championship Game, 45-35. The Jays (21-6) will now face off against William Chrisman (20-9) at 6:30 p.m. on Wednesday night at the Independence Event Center.

Liberty Advances

Liberty out played Oak Park in the final two minutes and was able to score the last six points of the game and advance to the District Championship game, defeating the Oakies 38-32. Oak Park executed their game plan to perfection and dictated the pace of the game. Liberty would make some small runs and push the lead up to four points but Oak Park hit clutch threes in the second half to stay close.

Liberty (20-6) will now face off against Big 7 opponent St. Joseph Central at 1:30 p.m. on Saturday. Liberty has beat Central twice this year but both games went down to the wire. The last time the Jays played Central in St. Joseph they escaped in overtime with a 31-28 win. The winner of the game Saturday will take on the winner of the Truman/William Chrisman game on Wednesday in the Sectional game at the new Independence Events Center.

Liberty To Face Oak Park

Oak Park was able to beat Winnetonka in the first round of the Class 5 District 16 tournament 36-18 and will face Liberty at 6:00 p.m. on Thursday night at St. Joseph Central High School. With the win Oak Park improved to 10-15 on the season. Liberty will look for their 20th win of the season Thursday as they sit at 19-6 going into the District Tournament.

Playoff Time Is Here

Liberty will be looking to build off of a great regular season with a deep run in the state tournament which starts on Thursday at 6:00 p.m. for the Blue Jays. Liberty (19-6, 11-1) will face the winner of Oak Park/Winnetonka game which is played on Tuesday night at 6:00 p.m. The District Tournament will be played this year at St. Joseph Central High School. The other side of the bracket has Central playing the winner of the Park Hill/Park Hill South game. The championship game will be on Saturday at 1:30 p.m.

http://www.mshsaa.org/Activities/DistrictTournaments.aspx?alg=6&class=5&district=16

BIG 7 CHAMPIONS

Big 7 Final Standings

Liberty 11-1

Blue Springs 10-2

Lee's Summit 7-5

Lee's Summit North 6-6

St. Joseph Central 6-6

Blue Springs South 3-9

Ray-Pec 0-12

Liberty Sweeps Central on Senior Night

Liberty was able to get a JV/Varsity sweep on Wednesday night against St. Joseph Central on Senior Night. The varsity team used some clutch free throw shooting down the stretch and some timely rebounds to pull out a 48-42 win over a very big Central team. With the win the Jays won the Suburban Big 7 outright and finished the regular season on a five game winning streak. Liberty (19-6, 11-1) is now off until next Thursday when they will play the winner of the Oak Park/Winnetonka game at 6:00 p.m. in the semi-finals of the district tournament.

Senior Night

Liberty will be honoring their lone senior tonight, Sami Wynne, when they face off against St. Jospeh Central at 7:00 p.m. This is the last regular season game of the year for Liberty (18-6, 10-1) who is looking to win the Suburban Big 7 Conference outright. The Jays hold a one game lead over Blue Springs and a win tonight would give Liberty their first conference title since the 2003-2004 season.

Jays Win Big 7 On Huge Comeback

Liberty used a furious comeback in the final 3 minutes of the game Monday night against Lee's Summit North to secure at least a share of the Suburban Big 7 Conference Title. The Jays battled back from a 40-30 deficit to score the final 11 points of the game and defeat the Broncos 41-40. Jenna Turner hit the nights biggest shot as she banked a three from the wing with 13 seconds to go to give the Jays the win. Liberty now improves to 18-6 on the season and 10-1 in Big 7 play. The Jays will finish off the regular season on Wedensday night when they host St. Joseph Central. With a win Liberty will win the Big 7 Conference outright for the first time since 2004. Wednesday's game will also be Senior Night for the Jays. Liberty will honor Sami Wynne on the night as she is the only senior in the program.

Liberty Defeats Blue Springs South

Liberty used a great first half to jump out on Blue Springs South and win Thursday night 53-35. The Jays (17-6, 9-1) held the Jaguars scoreless for the first 11 minutes of the game and were able to finally get the offense rolling late in the first quarter to bolt out to a 30-11 lead at the break. The second half was an even match up as Liberty traded baskets with South.

Liberty is one win away from clinching at least a share of the Suburban Big 7 conference title. Liberty will host Lee's Summit North on Monday night with revenge on their minds. The Broncos were the only team to beat the Jays this year in conference, 34-31, back on January 14th.

Monday night will also be a fund raiser for Kickapoo's Head Coach Stephanie Phillips. Coach Phillips is battling cancer and both Liberty and North are trying to raise as much money as they can for her and her family.

Liberty's Defense Too Much For Ray Pec

Liberty used a huge second quarter to extend a 12 point lead to 34 points at the half against visiting Ray Pec on Monday night and won 59-20. The Jays (16-6, 8-1) led 17-5 to end the first quarter but cranked up the defense, causing 21 first half turnovers, to lead 41-7 at halftime. In the third quarter Liberty extended their lead to to 43 points before sitting in a 2-3 zone the fourth quarter.

In the JV game, Liberty used the same type of defensive intensity to defeat the Panthers 48-17.

Jays Upset Blue Springs

Liberty used a great team effort to beat Class 5's #6 ranked team, Blue Springs, on the road to take sole possession of first place in the Suburban Big 7, 52-51. Liberty (15-6) improved to 7-1 in the league, knocking Blue Springs (15-3) to 6-2.

The Jays will try to build off of the big win when they finally return home for the last four games of the season, beginning with Ray-Pec on Monday at 7:00 p.m.

Kick The Poo Out Of Cancer

On Monday, February 15th, the Liberty girls basketball team will try to raise funds for Kickapoo Head Coach Stephanie Phillips and her battle with cancer. Coach Phillips recently had to take a leave of absence to spend time with her family and battle this disease.

Liberty (14-6, 6-1) will host Lee's Sumit North (14-4, 5-3) on that night at 7:00 p.m.

Liberty & Blue Springs Square Off Thursday

Liberty (14-6, 6-1) and Blue Springs(15-2, 6-1) will decide who is the front-runner for the Suburban Big 7 title on Thursday at Blue Springs when the two teams square off at 7:00 p.m. Both teams will enter the game with 6-1 Big 7 records and the winner will have a full one game lead on the other to decide the champion. Blue Springs is currently on a six game winning streak since losing to Liberty back on Januaray 4th. The Wildcats have won their last six games by an avearge of 25 points per game. Liberty enters the match up, winners of four of their last five.