By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Silver Lake's girls basketball team took its first step towards a Class 3A state championship with a 72-41 opening-round win over Santa Fe Trail in Wednesday night's final game of the night.
Now the Eagles get another shot at the team that ended that quest a year ago.
Junior McKinley Kruger scored a game-high 20 points and hit four 3-pointers as Silver Lake advanced to the Class 3A state semifinals with a 72-41 win over Santa Fe Trail. [File photo]
Goodland took a 59-53 semifinal win over Silver Lake last season on its way to its first state championship since the 1980 while the Eagles bounced back to post a third-place finish. Goodland will take a perfect 24-0 record into Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal while Silver Lake is 23-1.
While Silver Lake rolled to a 31-point win in its second meeting of the year with Santa Fe Trail, Goodland fought off a serious upset bid from Frontenac to take a 53-48 victory, its 37th straight victory.
After losing by 19 points to Silver Lake in late January, Santa Fe Trail jumped out to a 13-9 first-quarter lead after holding the Eagles to just 20 percent shooting in the first quarter (three of 15).
But Silver Lake took control in the second quarter, exploding for 32 points and hitting 13 of 18 shots from the field in a 32-8 quarter to open up a 41-21 halftime lead.
The Eagles cruised the rest of the way, as junior McKinley Kruger hit four of six 3-pointers to lead the Eagles with 20 points.
Freshman Kailyn Hanni came off the bench to score 14 points and junior Makenzie McDaniel added 10 as nine Eagles cracked the scoring column.
Kaelee Washington led Santa Fe Trail (21-3) with 13 points and nine rebounds.
Talexa Weeter finished with 20 points to lead Goodland in its win over Frontenac while Olivia Lehman added 10 points.
Friday's 2 p.m. 3A semifinal will match Phillipsburg against Cheney.
Phillipsburg (24-0) took a 40-27 win over Riley County, which handed Silver Lake its lone loss earlier in the season, while Cheney (22-2) advanced with a 65-48 win over Eureka.
SILVER LAKE GIRLS 72, SANTA FE TRAIL 41
Santa Fe Trail 13 8 9 11 -- 41
Silver Lake 9 32 15 16 -- 72
Santa Fe Trail (21-3) -- Buessing 2-8 0-0 5, Clark 1-9 0-0 2, Herren 1-4 0-0 2, S. Whitaker 3-11 1-2 9, Washington 5-15 3-4 13, S. Smith 0-1 0-0 0, Banks 0-2 0-0 0, C. Whitaker 0-1 0-0 0, Sleichter 1-4 0-0 3, Fund 0-1 0-0 0, H. Smith 3-5 0-0 7, Cook 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-61 4-6 41.
Silver Lake (23-1) -- Farmer 3-8 0-0 8, McDaniel 4-8 2-2 10, K. Kruger 1-4 0-0 2, M. Kruger 6-11 4-4 20, Ross 3-7 1-1 7, wehrli 1-3 0-0 2, Brewster 0-0 0-0 0, Seele 0-2 0-0 0, Deiter 4-4 1-2 9, Bolan 0-0 2-2 2, Zordel 0-0 0-0 0, Hanni 4-10 4-4 14. Totals 26-57 14-15 72.
3-point goals -- Santa Fe Trail 5-19 (S. Whitaker 2-4, Sleichter 1-3, H. Smith 1-2, Buessing 1-3, Clark 0-3, Banks 0-1, C. Whitaker 0-1, Washington 0-2); Silver Lake 6-21 (M. Kruger 4-6, Hanni 2-5, K. Kruger 0-3, Wehrli 0-2, Farmer 0-3, Seele 0-2). Rebounds -- Santa Fe Trail 31 (Washington 9); Silver Lake 41 (McDaniel 9). Assists -- Santa Fe Trail 9 (Buessing 4); Silver Lake 17 (Farmer 4, M. Kruger 4, Hanni 4). Turnovers -- Santa Fe Trail 14, Silver Lake 11.. Total fouls -- Santa Fe Trail 10, Silver Lake 8. Fouled out -- none.
