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Created: 02 March 2022

By ISAAC DEER

TopSports.news

Anna Becker’s 21-point outing helped Seaman's girls basketball team punch their ticket to Saturday's Class 5A sub-state final with a 46-35 home semifinal victory over Salina South.

Becker had a huge third-quarter performance for the Vikings, hitting four 3-point shots in a row and accounting for had all 13 of Seaman’s third-quarter points.

“She definitely doesn’t play like a freshman,” Seaman coach Matt Tinsley said. “The last couple of games she has put us on her back. She had 18 (points) in the second half last game. She’s capable of doing that.”

“She’s a confident player and you can see that.”

Seaman freshman Anna Becker (23) scored 21 points, including 13 in the third quarter, as the Vikings advanced to Saturday's Class 5A sub-state final with a 46-35 win over Salina South. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]

Becker credits all of her teammates in the paint for her individually outstanding third quarter.

“My teammates were finding me for open shots and they were going in for me,” Becker said. “Our posts have developed a lot. We want to get our posts the ball as much as possible. Our posts tonight had the size advantage over (Salina South). Salina was paying a lot of attention to them, so it made life easier for me.”

“Our posts on this team help out the guards a lot.”

Tinsley told TopSports.news after last Friday’s victory over Emporia that they needed to change things up from what they have been comfortable doing.

“The basket seems to get bigger when you go inside-out on offense,” Tinsley said. We want 10 hands on the ball on every possession. We can’t just rely on Anna (Becker) to create shots or rely on Taylin (Stallbaumer) to hit 3s all of the time. We want to move the ball with confidence.”

“We hope to have the same night from our posts on Saturday.”

Seaman girls coach Matt Tinsley talks to his team during Wednesday's Class 5A sub-state semifinal against Salina South. The Vikings advanced with a 46-35 win. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]

Tinsley wanted the guards to consistently and rapidly feed the basketball to Ava Esser, Brooklyn Gormley, Meagan Mills and the other low-post contributors.

The tallest player for Salina South was 5-foot-9, giving Seaman the size advantage.

“I have to give credit to our guards for feeding it great to the post tonight,” Gormley said. “I thought as a team we did a great job rebounding the ball today. It would be nice for the good defense and the offensive rebounds to carry over on (Saturday).”

It wasn’t a flawless four quarters for the Lady Vikes. The game started out slow for them.

In the first quarter, Seaman was only able to put up seven points. The Lady Vikes shot 2-11 from inside the paint and it was a struggle to heat up.

The Lady Vikes came alive in the second quarter. Two 3-point conversions by Stallbaumer and an excellent interior effort from Gormley put Seaman on top before the halftime break.

Seaman came out with firey energy out of the break. The defense played more physically and gave Salina South a lot of trouble in the third quarter.

“I feel like our defense is doing great every single game,” Gormley said. “I thought we did a great job as a team coming out of the break.”

Seaman’s defense held Salina South to a game-low four points. While the defense was thriving, Becker was having a noteworthy third quarter. Becker’s 13-point third quarter extended the Seaman lead to 18 before the fourth quarter.

“We came out in the second half knowing we needed to pick up our energy,” Becker said. “We needed to move the ball more with high energy.

The Lady Vikes only sent the entire Salina South team to the charity stripe just once. They didn’t allow a single free point throughout the four quarters.

Seaman would have too big of a lead for Salina South to catch up in the fourth quarter and the Lady Vikes would go on to win the game.

With the Lady Vikes win, the current winning streak has been extended to six games and are hoping to make it seven on Saturday.

“I don’t want to put pressure on the girls,” Tinsley said. “You hear a lot at this time of year of teams surviving and advancing, I don’t want to convey that message. I told our girls that it’s thriving and advancing. We want to play to thrive. If you go into a game in survival mode, you make too many mistakes.”

“We want to be in attack mode. When you think of attack mode, you don’t have any time to be nervous or timid, you just go out and play.”

Seaman (16-5) will play Andover Central (16-5) Saturday at Seaman for a chance to play in the 5A state tournament.

 SEAMAN GIRLS 46, SALINA SOUTH 35

Salina South 8 7 4 16 – 35

Seaman         7 15 13 11 – 46

Seaman (16-5) – Schumman 1 0-0 3, Stallbaumer 4 0-0 10, Becker 7 3-5 21, Gormley 2 2-2 6, Esser 3 0-1 6.

Salina South (7-14) – Peterson 2 (0-0) 5, Arnold 1 (0-0) 2, Herbel 4 (0-0) 11, Hamel 2 (0-0) 6, Harris 3 (0-0) 6, G. Nash 2 (0-1) 5.

3-point goals – Seaman 7 (Becker 4, Stallbaumer 2, Schumann), Salina South 7 (Herbel 3, Hamel 2, G. Nash, Peterson).  Total fouls – Seaman 9, Salina South 10. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.

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Created: 02 March 2022

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

After being hit with a barrage of Mill Valley 3-pointers that put them in an 11-point first-quarter hole, Shawnee Heights' girls spent the rest of Wednesday's Class 5A sub-state semifinal fighting back.

That spirited rally from double-digit deficits in all four quarters gave the T-Birds a chance at the end of the game, but Heights couldn't quite complete the comeback, dropping a 48-44 decision on its home floor.

"It a bucket here, a bucket there, a free throw here, a free throw there,'' Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells said. "We were making all the great hustle plays to put ourself in position, we just could not quite get over the hump.

"But what more can we say about their effort and how they just stick with it and keep going and keep working all the time?''

Sophomore Breezy Canady (right) led Shawnee Heights with nine points in the T-Birds' 48-44 sub-state loss to Mill Valley Wednesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

 Junior Taylor Rottinghaus scored eight points in Shawnee Heights' 48-44 season-ending sub-state loss to Mill Valley Wednesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Shawnee Heights finished its season 10-11 while 9-12 Mill Valley advanced to a 6 p.m. Saturday sub-state final at Lansing.

Mill Valley started the game red hot, with the Jaguars connecting on five 3-pointers in the opening quarter to build a 21-10 advantage.

Shawnee Heights fought back to within five points in the second quarter before trailing 28-21 at the half, but Mill Valley pushed its advantage back to 37-26 with 2:40 left in the third quarter and took a 41-31 lead into the fourth.

Mill Valley went back up by 11 early in the final period, but Shawnee Heights rallied to within two points remaining on a three-point play from junior Taylor Rottinghaus with 3:34 left and got within two again with 24.3 seconds remaining after a shot from sophomore Breezy Canady.

After a pair of Mill Valley missed free throws with 21.2 seconds left Shawnee Heights got a good look at a 3-pointer that would have given the T-Birds the lead, but junior Riley Showalter's attempt bounced off the rim and Mill Valley senior standout Emree Zars was fouled and hit two free throws to clinch the Jaguar victory.

Zars was a thorn in the T-Birds' side all night, finishing with a game-high 27 points, including a pair of 3-pointers and an 11 of 13 performance at the free throw line.

Heights struggled through a tough offensive night, shooting just 30.5 percent from the field and 50 percent from the line.

Canady led the T-Birds with nine points, while Rottinghaus added eight points and Abby Schulte and Emari Doby seven apiece.

And although the season came to a disappointing end, Wells said he was extremely proud of his team throughout the season.

"We can not fault them any single game for their effort,'' Wells said. "There has never been a lack of effort in a game, never been a lack of effort in practice.

"They come out and work their tails off and do what we want them to do. It's just getting the ball to go in the basket sometimes.''

Zars was the lone player in double figures for Mill Valley while senior Greta Trowbridge added nine points with two treys and sophomore Keira Franken had six points on two 3-pointers.

Lansing advanced to the sub-state final with a 55-25 semifinal romp past Piper.

MILL VALLEY GIRLS 48, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 44

Mill Valley                  21 7 13 7 -- 48

Shawnee Heights     10 11 10 13 -- 44

Mill Valley (9-12) -- Franken 2-4 0-2 6, Fields 2-3 0-3 4, Pringle 0-2 0-0 0, Trowbridge 3-8 1-2 9, Zars 7-13 11-13 27, Vosburg 1-3 0-1 2, Landon 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 15-35 12-21 48.

Shawnee Heights (10-11) -- Rottinghaus 3-8 2-3 8, Doby 3-11 1-2 7, Schulte 2-6 2-2 7, Fleischer 1-3 0-0 2, Oczko 3-10 0-0 6, Showalter 1-7 0-2 3, Hill 0-2 0-0 0, Rantz 1-2 0-0 2, Canady 4-10 0-1 9. Totals 18-59 5-10 44.

3-point goals -- Mill Valley 6 (Franklin 2, Trowbridge 2, Zars 2), Shawnee Heights 3 (Schulte, Showalter, Canady). Total fouls -- Mill Valley 15, Shawnee Heights 17. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- none.

Details

Created: 03 March 2022

By RICK PETERSON                                                                                                              

TopSports.news

Shawnee Heights senior girls wrestler Maranda Bell and Seaman senior boys bowler Jack Easum have been named the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency Athletes of the Week for last week.

Bell was crowned the Class 6A-5A state champion in the 191-pound division while Easum was a Class 5A-1A individual regional champion while leading the Vikings to a regional team title.

Here’s a brief look at the accomplishments of Bell and Easum last week:

Shawnee Heights senior 191-pounder Maranda Bell won the Class 6A-5A state wrestling championship last Thursday in Wichita. [Submitted]

MARANDA BELL, Shawnee Heights

A senior 191-pound star girls wrestler, Bell won a Class 6A-5A state championship last Thursday at Park City's Hartman Arena, becoming Shawnee Heights' first official girls state champ and first girls wrestler to reach 100 wins in her career.

Bell, who was 27-1 on the season, won all four of her state matches by pin, in 13 seconds, 3:01, 56 seconds and 1:03 in the championship match over Derby sophomore Meya Howell.

Bell led Heights to a fifth-place team finish, with the T-Birds the highest-finishing 5A school.

 Seaman senior bowler Jack Easum won a Class 5A-1A individual regional title last week in Emporia, leading the Vikings to the team championship. [File photo/TSN] 

JACK EASUM, Seaman

Easum, a senior, won the boys individual championship in last Tuesday's Class 5A-1A bowling regional at Emporia's Flint Hills Lanes, winning by 30 pins with a three-game series of 747.

Easum put together games of 235, 279 and 233, leading the Vikings to the regional team championship by a 3,610-3,554 margin over De Soto.

Easum will bowl in the 5A-1A state tournament on Friday at Northrock Lanes in Wichita after finishing 21st individually and helping the Vikings finish third as a team last season.

 

 

Details

Created: 02 March 2022

By KYLE MANTHE

The Washburn Review

KANSAS CITY, Mo. -- After a 13-15 regular season Washburn University women’s basketball entered the MIAA tournament as the No. 9 seed, facing No. 8 Pittsburg State in the first round Wednesday.

A strong defensive effort and key shot-making from seniors propelled the Ichabods to a 59-53 win over the Gorillas at Municipal Auditorium.

“It was a big win for us because it would have been hard to put that much effort in the defensive end of the floor and have it not work out for you, but we hit enough shots down the stretch,” said Washburn coach Ron McHenry. “We will take this and try to enjoy it, its too hard to kick these out too fast.”

Senior Hunter Bentley scored 20 points to lead Washburn to a 59-53 win over Pittsburg State in the opening round of the MIAA women's tournament Wednesday. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/The Washburn Review]

After a 1-7 start to the season Washburn will play for a chance to get into the tournament semifinals.

“Getting off to 1-7 I laugh at myself … you can just destroy yourself at that point,” McHenry said. “We had to right ourselves against a really good conference … I figured with that group of seniors we had that they would find our way back.”

In round two it will be No. 1 Missouri Southern waiting for the Ichabods, who will play for a second straight da on Thursdayy.

“They are running on about 15 straight wins,” McHenry said. “They got some players so we will have our hands full.''

In the first quarter Washburn was dictating pace, slowing the game down and forcing Pitt State into tough looks late in the shot clock. The active defense led to a 5-15 shooting performance in the opening quarter for the Gorillas.

Offensively the Ichabods were efficient, with six players scoring in the first quarter as they shot 50 percent as a team to take a 16-15 lead into the second quarter. 

“We worked hard to get a team that will guard hard and have a toughness to it and that gives us a chance to win every game,” McHenry said. “It’s all a credit to them.”

Senior Hunter Bentley took over Washburn’s offensive attack in the second quarter, scoring seven points in the first 3:42 of the quarter. Her second 3-pointer of the game gave the Ichabods a 23-17 advantage and forced a timeout.

The lead grew to as many as 10 before Washburn’s offense went cold, allowing Pitt State to go on a 7-0 run. The lead was three at halftime, with the Ichabods in front, 29-26.

Baskets were hard to come by in the third quarter as each side traded scores. The Gorillas got to the free throw line, knocking down four in the quarter. Most of Washburn’s offense continued to come from Bentley.

“Just being confident (was important) and pulling the trigger when it’s open. If we aren’t taking our open shot then we might not get one at all,” Bentley said. “Coach Mac had confidence in me and my teammates have confidence in me.”

Two free throws by sophomore Macy Doebele in the final second of the quarter made it a 42-37 game heading into the fourth quarter.

The lead for the Ichabods was at seven with just under seven to play after a driving finish from senior Nuria Barrientos.

Both sides were shooting under 35 percent as the game moved into the final five minutes with Washburn possessing a 46-42 lead.

Senior Shae Sanchez scored seven straight points, the last three coming on a 3-pointer to put the Ichabods up by seven with 3:03 to play. Another basket by Sanchez with under two minutes to play, followed by a defensive stop and Washburn began to run clock.

“Just the confidence my team gives me (was important),” Sanchez said. “Really great defense leads to great offense.”

A 3-pointer for Pitt State along with missed free throws from the Ichabods left the door open with the Gorillas in possession of the ball and down by just four with 31.2 seconds left.

Washburn played strong defense forcing a turnover and after being fouled Barrientos knocked down two free throws putting the lead back at six.

That would be enough for the Ichabods to hold on, pulling off the upset and winning, 59-53.

Washburn advanced to the second round of the MIAA women's tournament with a 59-53 win over Pittsburg State on Wednesday. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/The Washburn Review]

“We will enjoy it for a second here, catch our breath and then get back after it,” McHenry said.

Bentley led Washburn with 20 points, while Sanchez added 13, including 10 in the fourth quarter. Barrientos had a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 10 rebounds.

After the win the Ichabods are 14-15 on the year and will play top-seeded Missouri Southern Thursday at noon.

WASHBURN WOMEN 59, PITT STATE 53

Washburn 16 13 12 17 -- 59

Pitt State 15 11 19 16 -- 53

Pitt State (16-13)

Johnson 2-4 0-0 4, Gegg 1-14 7-8 9, Jackson 5-14 0-0 11, Davis 2-7 1-2 7, Crain 1-7 2-2 4, Holmes 0-0 0-0 0, Gerber 3-7 0-0 6, Shipley 4-6 4-5 12. Totals: 18-59 14-17 53.

Washburn (14-15)

Sanchez 5-10 1-2 13, Oliver 3-7 0-0 6, Bentley 7-9 3-6 20, Barrientos 4-13 2-2 10, Doebele 2-7 4-4 8, Cassaday 1-4 0-0 2, Dewey 0-4 0-0 0, Willey 0-2 0-0 0. Totals: 22-56 10-14 59.

3-point shots – Pitt State 3-17 (Gegg 0-5, Jackson 1-4, Davis 2-6, Crain 0-2). Washburn 5-12 (Sanchez 2-5, Bentley 3-5, Doebele 0-1, Willey 0-1). Rebounds – Pitt State 39 (Jackson 7), Washburn 39 (Barrientos 10). Assists – Pitt State 6 (Gegg 2), Washburn 4 (Dewey 2). Turnovers – Pitt State 10, Washburn 10. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.