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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- Even though Saturday's 68-61 loss to St. Thomas Aquinas snapped the Seaman girls' 30-game winning streak and ended the Vikings' Class 5A championship reign, coach Matt Tinsley walked out of White Auditorium immensely proud of his team and the 24-1 season it put together.
Seaman senior Anna Becker capped her high school career with 28 points and five assists in Saturday's 68-61 loss to Aquinas in the Class 5A state tournament. [Photo by Selena Favela/Special to TSN]
"I'm just so proud of our girls,'' Tinsley said. "We may not have won this game, but they're champions in my book and in my hearts and their hearts. What we accomplished what was amazing. Obviously, we wanted to win, but I can't say enough about the character of the kids in that locker room. This hurts and it hurts for those kids because they played their hearts out all season.
"We were ranked No. 1 all year and we took everybody's best shot. This 5A tournament was loaded with teams and we had two tough games and we lost to a good team today.''
Seaman trailed Aquinas, which won its eighth title in nine seasons, by just a 12-10 count at the end of the opening quarter and the game was tied 26-all at halftime.
The No. 7-seeded Saints (18-7), who do not have a senior on their roster, opened up a six-point advantage (44-38) at the end of the third and put the Vikings away with a strong start to the fourth quarter, leading by 13 points twice, including a 63-50 advantage with 1:20 left.
Aquinas junior Alex Crouse scored a game-high 26 points, hitting 10 of 11 free throws, while sophomore Sofia Calovich added 18 points and sophomore Laila Boylan 10.
The Saints shot 51.4 percent from the field overall while hitting 4 of 7 3-pointers and connecting on 26 of 36 free throws. Seaman warmed up in the second half to shoot 41.8 percent from the floor (8 of 24 3s) and hit 7 of just 9 free throw opportunities.
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By Brad Hallier
For KSHSAA Covered
HUTCHINSON -- Silver Lake's girls trailed by as many as 11 points in the third quarter of Friday's Class 3A semifinal against Hesston and the Eagles also had to take junior point guard Kailyn Hanni off the floor for a few minutes due to injury.
Silver Lake's girls celebrate Friday's 65-58 state semifinal victory over Hesston in Hutchinson. [Photo by Andrew Carpenter/Special to KSHSAA Covered]
When Hanni came back, she was instrumental in helping the Eagles dominate the fourth quarter, as they outscored the previously-undefeated Swathers 25-10 over the final eight minutes to pull out a 65-58 win.
Hanni, who drew 14 fouls, finished with a game-high 28 points to go with six assists and four rebounds. Her 15 made free throws were one off the 3A single-game record at a state tournament, set in 1995 by Rossville’s Jennifer Perine.
Silver Lake was 4 of 5 from the field in the fourth quarter, sank all three of its 3-pointers and made all 14 free throw attempts.
Hesston raced to its 11-point lead thanks to a strong performance from senior guard Kendal Brueggen, who finished with 27 points and five rebounds. But after shooting at least 50% in each of the first three quarters, the Swathers cooled off in the fourth quarter, making just 3 of 12 shots.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
SALINA -- The Hayden girls had a shot at knocking off five-time defending Class 4A champion Bishop Miege in the semifinal round Friday, but the Wildcats faded in the second half, losing 59-42.
Freshman Hailey Schmidtlein (2) scored 17 points in Hayden's 59-42 Class 4A state semifinal loss to Bishop Miege Friday night. [Photo by Selena Favela/Special to TSN]
The Wildcats will have a short night to recover. They face Buhler in the consolation game at 2 p.m. Saturday at the Tony’s Pizza Event Center in Salina. The Wildcats placed third at Class 3A state a year ago.
After falling into an early hole Friday, Hayden drew back to within four points in the second period. They trailed 23-17 at the half.
But in the second half, every time Hayden tried to narrow the gap, Miege had an answer.
“We started off in a 9-3 hole, and then at halftime I was feeling really good down six,” said Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson. “But it just seemed like every time we would make a play to cut (into the Miege lead), they would hit a big shot. Next play they hit threes, sometimes by people we didn’t expect to hit them. So that was frustrating.”
Hayden was hit immediately by a 7-0 Miege run out of halftime. They held on to trail by just 10, 41-31 at the end of the third period before running out of steam in the fourth.
“We knew we just couldn’t do the same thing the entire time because (Hayden is) just so talented and they have so many different weapons,” said Miege coach Mike Allen. “We felt like we had to mix up some press, maybe mix in a couple of zone looks and still do our base man. Mixing it up helped us to extend the lead.”
Producing a lot of the big plays in the second half was junior Mary Grant. Having put up five points in the first half, Grant exploded for 13 points in the third period and nine more in the fourth period. She hit all five of her 3-point attempts and all four of her foul shots, finishing with 27 points.
Senior Millie Ramsey scored 10 points in Hayden's 59-42 Class 4A state semifinal loss to Bishop Miege. [Photo by Selena Favela/Special to TSN]
Senior Brylee Meier scored 10 points in Hayden's 59-42 Class 4A state semifinal loss to Bishop Miege. [Photo by Selena Favela/Special to TSN]
Freshman Hailey Schmidtlein led the Wildcats with 17 points before fouling out late in the fourth period. Seniors Millie Ramsey and Brylee Meier each added 10 for Hayden.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- The undefeated Highland Park boys basketball team exorcised the demons of semifinals past Friday in White Auditorium, holding off Piper to advance to Saturday's Class 5A state championship game with a 60-55 win over Piper.
Highland Park coach Mike Williams celebrates Friday's 60-55 Class 5A state semifinal win over Piper in White Auditorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Highland Park, which will playing in a state championship game for the first time since 2014, will face defending state champion Kapaun Mt. Carmel, a 55-43 semifinal winner over Andover, in Saturday's 6:15 p.m. title game after getting past last year's runnerup, Piper, in the semis.
"I cried on the sidelines,'' Highland Park coach Mike Williams said. "We had just been here so often and felt pain. I'm just happy for the kids. We put so much work in and I'm hard on the guys, but I just want them to win. And we aint done yet. We've still got more to do.
"We set out to win a state championship. That's what we've been focused on from Day 1. Despite the noise, despite the league talk, who we play, who we don't play, are our guys good enough? We hear it all year long and we were focused on getting to this game and getting over the hump and bringing a state championship back to not just Highland Park, but bring a state championship back to Topeka.''
Highland Park, now 24-0, had dropped semifinal heartbreakers to the eventual state champs the past two seasons -- 55-54 to Andover in 2023 and 67-64 to Kapaun in overtime last season -- before getting over that hump Saturday.
"I felt like we played great,'' said Scot senior star Ja'Corey Robinson, who scored 26 points with 8 rebounds, 5 assists, 3 blocked shots and 3 steals. "I feel like we played good defensively, rebounded well and didn't allow them to get too many offensive rebounds.
"I also felt like we've got to make more free throws down the stretch. Other than that we played great.''
And now the Scots will be trying to cap their amazing 2024-2025 campaign with Highland Park's first state title since 2009 while becoming only the third team in city history to post a perfect season.
"It's our last high school game, so we've got to lay everything out there,'' Robinson said.
Piper (20-4) led 1-0, 3-2 and 5-4 early on, but senior Mikey Williams hit back-to-back 3-pointers to put Highland Park in front 10-5 at the 3:09 mark of the opening quarter and the Scots never trailed again.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- Anna Becker and Maddie Gragg have been undefeated Seaman's most consistent scorers over the course of the season, but the Vikings have been quick to share the wealth with fellow starters Jaida Stallbaumer, Ava Esser and Kinley Wilhelm.
Seaman senior Kinley Wilhelm had a career night with 18 points and 14 rebounds in Friday's 55-49 state semifinal win over Andover. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
And two days after Stallbaumer came up big in the Vikings' first-round win over Piper, Friday was Wilhelm's turn, with the Seaman senior turning in a career night as the defending champions advanced to a second straight title game with a 55-49 semifinal win over Andover in White Auditorium.
Wilhelm registered a double-double with career-highs of 18 points and 14 rebounds as Seaman improved to 24-0 on the season with their 30th straight victory overall.
"Jaida stepped up (Wednesday) night big for us and Kinley stepped up tonight,'' Seaman coach Matt Tinsley said. "It's always been someone else with this team, next person up, and that's a together group that we have in that locker room right there.''
Seaman senior Anna Becker had 12 points and four assists in Friday's 55-49 state semifinal win over Andover. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman junior Maddie Gragg had 11 points and six rebounds in Friday's 55-49 state semifinal win over Andover. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Wilhelm paced three double-figure scorers for the Vikings, who also got 12 points from Becker and 11 from Gragg while advancing to Saturday's 4 p.m. title game to meet St. Thomas Aquinas, a 68-54 semifinal winner over Spring Hill.
Wilhelm said she had a feeling early that Friday was going to be her night.
"I think all of us definitely have a role on this team,'' Wilhelm said. "(Wednesday) night Jaida pulled it through for us and today I thought I had an advantage with a small girl in the post so, 'Give me the ball, I'll score it for our team, I'll get that rebound,' and that just what my mentality was today.
"It was just an all-around team effort. I think our chemistry and our bond on this team is so wonderful that we know how we work. We stay together, we know what we need to do and we just execute it.''
