By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls basketball team held its Senior Night festivities a while back, but the Junior Blues' three upperclassmen took center stage again Thursday at Koch Arena, leading No. 5 seed Rural to a 58-49 first-round victory over No. 4 Lawrence in the Class 6A state tournament.
Senior MaRyah Lutz (right) scored 19 points with five 3-pointers in Washburn Rural's 58-49 Class 6A state tournament win Thursday night in Wichita. [File photo/TSN]
Senior Brooklyn DeLeye (center) scored 11 points and grabbed 15 rebounds in Washburn Rural's 58-49 win over Lawrence in the Class 6A state tournament. [File photo/TSN]
Senior Chloe Carlgren (left) scored 14 points as Washburn Rural reached the Class 6A state semifinals with a 58-49 win over Lawrence. [File photo/TSN]
MaRyah Lutz paced the 17-5 Junior Blues with 19 points, including five 3-pointers, while Chloe Carlgren added 14 points and Brooklyn DeLeye scored 11 points and grabbed a game-high 15 rebounds.
Sophomore Kate Hinck joined her three Rural teammates in double figures for the Junior Blues, scoring 10 points.
Washburn Rural, the defending state champion, went wire to wire for the victory, advancing to a 4 p.m. semifinal Friday to face No. 8 seed Blue Valley 16-7, which handed top seed Shawnee Mission South its first loss of the season, 41-34.
Rural opened up a 15-8 lead at the end of the first quarter and took a 13-point lead midway through the second quarter before Lawrence (18-5) cut its deficit to 26-19 at the half.
The Lions clawed their way to within 39-36 at the start of the fourth quarter but Washburn Rural outscored Lawrence 19-13 over the final eight minutes to pull away for the nine-point win.
Lawrence sophomore Brynnae Johnson scored a game-high 21 points while senior Serenity Keo added 13 points.
In Friday's semifinal Washburn Rural will be playing Blue Valley (16-7) for the second time this season, dropping a 41-31 decision to the Tigers in its final regular-season game.
Derby (21-2) will face Blue Valley North (19-4) in the other semifinal.
Derby beat Olathe Northwest 43-38 and Blue Valley North took a 57-45 win over Wichita Southeast.
WASHBURN RURAL GIRLS 58, LAWRENCE 49
Washburn Rural 15 11 13 19 -- 58
Lawrence 8 11 17 13 -- 49
Washburn Rural (17-5) -- Lutz 7-15 0-0 19, Hinck 4-11 2-3 10, Carlgren 4-8 5-11 14, Bunck 0-4 2-2 2, DeLeye 3-9 4-8 11, Ochs 0-1 2-4 2. Totals 18-48 15-28 58.
Lawrence (18-5) -- Marshall 1-6 0-0 3, Johnson 8-16 3-5 21, Hardy 0-6 0-0 0, Keo 4-8 5-6 13, Bracker-Sturm 3-3 0-0 6, Hardy-Billy 1-2 0-0 3, Littlejohn 0-0 0-0 0, Savannah 1-5 0-0 3, Clark 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 18-50 8-11 49.
3-point goals -- Washburn Rural 7-24 (Lutz 5-11, Carlgren 1-4, DeLeye 1-3, Hinck 0-3, Bunck 0-3), Lawrence 5-23 (Johnson 2-6, Marshall 1-2, Hardy-Billy 1-2, Savannah 1-4, Hardy 0-6, Keo 0-2, Clark 0-1). Total fouls -- Washburn Rural 13, Lawrence 21. Fouled out -- none.
CLASS 4A AT SALINA
McPHERSON GIRLS 65, HAYDEN 41
No. 2 seed McPherson took control early en route to a 65-41 first-round Class 4A girls state tournament victory over No. 7 Hayden Thursday night at the Tony's Pizza Events Center in Salina.
The Bullpups, who improved to 21-2, took a 15-8 first-quarter lead over the Wildcats (15-8) and put the game away with a 21-10 second quarter, opening up a 36-18 halftime advantage.
Hayden played much better in the second half but McPherson held a 29-23 scoring edge to finish off the 24-point victory.
Senior Jordan Sears scored 15 points and grabbed 15 rebounds for McPherson while Karter Alvord added 13 points and went eight of 10 at the free throw line and Madison Moors 12 points on four of five shooting from 3-point range.
Sophomore Kaliya Fulton led Hayden with 12 points while Bylee Meier added seven points and Norma Greco six.
McPherson will play a semifinal game on Friday aainst Andale, while Bishop Miege will take on Hugoton in the other semifinal.
