​Reserves, JV players get valuable experience in 89-20 rout of Ruskin

by Michael Smith


For the past half decade, the Grain Valley girls’ basketball team has been one of the best in the Kansas City area.

Because of how good the Eagles have been, they’ve had a handful of blowouts, which has allowed veteran head coach Randy Draper to go deep into his bench and get some of his non-rotational and junior varsity players some time on the floor.

That was the case in Monday’s Suburban White Conference contest against Ruskin. The visiting Eagles lead from start to finish, getting out to a 12-0 lead in the first period and never looking back in a 89-20 rout on the road.

Junior varsity players such as junior Chloe Hernandez, freshman Avery Lunn, sophomore McKenna Heidrich and junior Anniston Reed got to see the floor. Others deep on the bench such as senior forwards Ava Ferguson and Keyonna Bullock and senior guard Cara McHardie also received a good amount of playing time on Monday.

“Cara can really shoot the ball and Ava and (Bullock) are really good on the glass,” Grain Valley head coach Randy Draper said. “They went in and did their job. There wasn’t anyone I was not pleased it.”

Ferguson and McHardie both had five points each, Lunn and Reed had two each and Bullock had one. In total, 12 players scored at least one point.

“I think I played well, but I think I could shoot more,” McHardie said. “I think I handled it well.”

Going against a rebuilding Ruskin team allows for the Eagles (12-1, 6-0) to try new plays and work on improving certain aspects of their game.

“We input new plays every practice,” Ferguson said. “We do workshops and work on other things all around.”
Ball movement was one area Draper had questions about coming into the 2024-25 season. In previous seasons, he said players who were advanced level passers and could facilitate an offense.

This season, Draper had mostly players who were score-first players in the past and against Ruskin, he wanted his team to work on ball movement and crisp passing. The Eagles looked sharp in that area of the game as they got multiple open layups.

“I thought the last multiple games, we haven’t moved the ball the same as we did earlier in the year,” Draper said, “so we tried to really hard to do that tonight and I was really pleased. We talked at halftime about how good it looked. The ball didn’t stick.”

That helped Grain Valley take a 23-5 lead at the end of the first period and a 49-9 advantage at halftime. The Grain Valley offense exploded for 36 points in the third quarter to trigger the turbo clock in the fourth after taking an 85-14 lead.

In the third, sophomore guard Melanie Marcum hit a corner three and got a loud ovation from the Grain Valley bench.
 
“Melanie doesn’t shoot,” McHardie said. “She gets playing time, but never shoots it. That was good to see.”

​Junior Addy Seyfert put in a team-high 18 points and sophomore Madison Rust and junior Aspen Reed chipped in with 16 each for Grain Valley. 

Grain Valley senior Camryn Kelly out runs the Ruskin defense for a fast-break bucket. Photo credit: Michael Smith

Grain Valley sophomore Madison Rust drives in for a floater from the left wing during a 89-20 win over Ruskin Monday on the road. Photo credit: Michael Smith

Grain Valley junior Aspen Reed puts up a wide-open layup. Photo credit: Michael Smith
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