February 17, 2024

By Fred Liggett
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By the end of the 2023-24 regular season the Lee’s Summit West Titans girls basketball team will have played 26 games together. The biggest memory the players may have may be of a game they didn’t play in thanks to a recent trip to the University of Kansas.

The Titans girls basketball team took in a game inside the historic Allen Fieldhouse in Lawrence, Kansas on Thursday, Feb. 8.The Titans enjoyed watching the KU women’s basketball team defeat Houston 69-52 in a Big 12 Conference game.

This is an annual trip that Titans head coach Jared Broughton likes to take with his team to see “the college game, exposure to the game at a higher level.” Broughton likes the fact his team can see “what it takes to play at that level.” The team went to University of Central Missouri last year and two years ago visited UMKC. These college trips were started by Broughton when he was coaching at Oak Grove High School. Broughton was more pleased this year than before due to “every girl at LS West got to go.” Broughton happily adds the list included “three foreign exchange students.” The reaction from the players was, “They loved it,” according to Broughton. The players like to “hang out and relax and thankful for the opportunity.”

The process started this year when Coach Broughton reached out to a KU staff member who previously spent time coaching at Pittsburg State. The Titans visit Pitt State every summer for basketball camp. Future trips are already being planned and a trip down I-70 to visit Mizzou may be next for the Titans.