By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- Perseverance paid off for Seaman's girls basketball team Friday night, with the Vikings upsetting Emporia 37-27 in a Class 5A sub-state final to advance to the Class 5A state tournament for the third straight season.
"Like I told the girls before the game, we've had to overcome so much this year," Seaman coach Matt Tinsley said. "Twenty-four days in quarantine, cancellations, COVID protocols, and we took those setbacks and let it fuel our comeback. I'm just so happy for the girls that they get to experience this."
Seaman, which will take a 6-14 record into Monday's 6 p.m. 5A quarterfinal game at Salina Central (18-4), entered postseason on a 5-game losing streak while Emporia started the night on an 8-game win streak, but the Vikings rode outstanding defense and some timely offense to the upset win.
![Seaman's girls basketball team celebrates after receiving the Class 5A sub-state championship trophy Friday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]](/images/aa-images/Seamanjube.jpg)
Seaman's girls basketball team celebrates after receiving the Class 5A sub-state championship trophy Friday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Seaman, which had dropped a 37-28 Centennial League decision to the Spartans to close out the regular season, trailed 7-4 at the end of the opening quarter, but held the Spartans, who finished the season 15-7, to just 2 points in the second quarter while opening up a 12-9 advantage.
Sophomore Jaycee Schumann hit a 3-pointer with 6 minutes left in the half to put the Vikings ahead to stay and sophomore Carstyn Anderson canned back-to-back 3s to open the second half as Seaman doubled up the Spartans at 18-9 with 6:26 left in the third.
"I told the girls at halftime, 'We need some people to step up and be brave,' and we hit some shots when we needed, we got the stops when we needed,'' Tinsley said. "I'm just so happy right now for these kids.''
Freshman Taylin Stallbaumer, who led all scorers with 16 points, hit her second 3-pointer of the night to put Seaman in front 24-14 with 34 seconds left in the third before Emporia junior Gracie Gilpin drained a long trey to get back within 7 at the start of the final quarter.
Emporia got within 4 points twice over the first four and a half minutes of the fourth quarter, the last time at 26-22 with 3:25 remaining, but the Vikings got a free throw from senior Riley Cowan and a pair of charities from Stallbaumer to put Seaman up 31-24 with just 55 seconds left.
Gilpin hit a 3-pointer nine seconds later, but that would be the Spartans' final points of the night as the Vikings connected on six free throws over the final 45 seconds.
Stallbaumer, who hit her last six free throws to go 6 of 7 on the night, started the Vikings' game-ending 6-0 run with two free throws while Seaman also got a make from senior Raigan Kramer and three from Cowan to end the game.
"It's an amazing feeling, especially because we're so young and I felt like our underclassmen really stepped up tonight and they really carried us through the game.'' said Kramer, one of three Seaman seniors.
"It's just so fun to watch because we obviously didn't start out (the season) how we wanted to and you could just see the growth in our team and everyone bought in.''
Six of Seaman's nine field goals came from 3-point range, with four Vikings canning treys. Anderson finished with 6 points, Schumann 5 and Cowan and Kramer with 4 apiece.
Emporia got 8 points from Gilpin and 7 from 6-foot sophomore Rebecca Snyder, but the Spartans never got untracked offensively, hitting just 8 of 37 field goal attempts and 7 of 12 free throws on the night.
Seaman, which advanced to the 5A semifinals a year ago, will be facing a Salina Central team that advanced to the 5A quarterfinals with a 48-45 win over Salina South.
SEAMAN GIRLS 37, EMPORIA 27
Seaman 4 8 12 13 -- 37
Emporia 7 2 8 10 -- 27
Seaman (8-14) -- Kramer 1-5 1-2 4, C. Anderson 2-3 0-0 6, Cowan 0-2 4-6 4, Stallbaumer 4-10 6-7 16, J. Anderson 0-2 0-0 0, Gormley 0-4 2-4 2, Sweeney 0-2 0-0 0, Schumann 2-4 0-0 5. Totals 9-32 13-19 37.
Emporia (15-7) --Gilpin 2-13 2-2 8, Christenson 0-1 0-0 0, Adams 1-1 0-0 3, Baker 0-6 2-2 2, Snyder 2-6 3-6 7, Kirmer 1-2 0-0 3, Gutierrez 0-0 0-0 0, Peak 0-1 0-2 0, Herfkens 1-3 0-0 2, Stewart 1-2 0-0 2, Garcia 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 8-37 7-12 27.
3-point goals -- Seaman 6 ( C. Anderson 2, Stallbaumer 2, Kramer, Schumann), Emporia 4 (Gilpin 2, Adams, Kirmer). Total fouls -- Seaman 10, Emporia 15. Fouled out -- Gilpin.
