Courtwarming event (mostly) a night of entertainment

Pleasanton HIgh School seniors Katie More and Karel Cap were named 2025 Courtwarming queen and king on Friday, Feb. 7.

Photos and story by Roger Sims, rsims@linncountyjournal.com

Friday night, Feb. 7, was Courtwarming for the Pleasanton Blu-Jays. A Courtwarming queen and king were crowned, and the boys and girls teams played basketball. While the girls took on the St. Paul Indians, the St. Paul boys couldn’t come up with enough players to field a team.

The same problem occurred the week before for the Jayhawk-Linn High School boys team, but the athletic director at JLHS was able to find a substitute to play. The Blu-Jays weren’t so lucky, so the varsity and JV team divided equally into the white and the blue team and took the floor.

The Courtwarming court included, from left, Seth White, Shiloh Skipper, Katie More, Karel Cap, Rees Chapman and Hayden Johnson.

But before we get too far ahead, first there was girls basketball. The Pleasanton girls team faced off against the St. Paul Indians, the second-place Three Rivers team that beat the Jayhawk-Linn girls by a point the week before.

The Lady Blu-Jays have been struggling all season, and Friday night’s contest was no different. However, the Lady Blu-Jays did not back down as the final minutes of the game ticked away. Still it was a tough start for Courtwarming.

Assisting with the crowning were, at left, 2024 Courtwarming queen Kali Umphenour and crown bearer Evelyn Thomas and, right, former king Hayden Johnson and crown bearer Anthony Brown.

The boys in blue and white jerseys and multicolor shorts took the floor following the girls game. However, with nothing on the line except bragging rights, the Blu-Jays set out to have fun. And they succeeded in doing that while putting on a basketball show that was enjoyable.

Three pointers rained down from outside the arc, giving team long-ball shooters cause to briefly celebrate. One of the players, reportedly spurred on by a promise of a C-note by a relative if he could slam dunk the ball, did his best to make it happen.

Maria Neal-Cox put up two successive field goals at the end of the fourth quarter against St. Paul.

At halftime seniors Katie More and Karel Cap, who is an exchange student from the Czech Republic, were named queen and king for Courtwarming 2025. The ceremony included queen candidates Rees Chapman and Shiloh Skipper and king candidates Hayden Johnson and Seth White.

Last year’s Courtwarming queen Kali Umphenour and king Bryce Johnson assisted in the crowning along with crown bearers Evelyn Thomas and Anthony Brown.

Garrett Conley puts up two points during the boys game.

Although the score wasn’t posted during the first half, it appeared in the second half. The referees were released after the first half and refs wearing civvies took their place.

What was essentially a scrimmage became an entertaining night of basketball as the hometown crowd cheered equally for both teams. The final score: White 57, Blue 55.

Except for the jerseys, uniforms for the boys game varied greatly.

Members of the girls basketball team join in with the PHS cheerleaders to pump up the student cheering section during the boys' game.

Correction: In an earlier version of this story, Katie More's name was misspelled. We regret the error.