The 2022-23 season has been a long time coming for the Clifton-Clyde boys’ basketball team.
 
In more ways than one.
 
When the Eagles wrapped up their regular-season schedule with a 63-31 win over Centralia on Feb. 17, they clinched their first Twin Valley League title in more than 20 years – the last crown coming in 2001. The victory also completed an undefeated run through league play, a first for the program.
 
“It means a lot, and I told the boys they won’t realize what they did for a few years,” said Clifton-Clyde coach Justin Steinbrock, whose team is 18-2 overall and is the No. 1 seed at the Class 1A Division I sub-state at sub-state hosted by Washington County. “Every year in this league, the top two, three, four teams of this league are always tough outs when it comes to the postseason. … It’s pretty special and there’s not a lot of teams that do this. It’s not an every-year occurrence for sure. Down the road, it will be something cool to look back at.”
 
With a large portion of this year’s squad made up of juniors and sophomores, the foundation for Clifton-Clyde’s championship season was laid years ago.
 
“They’ve been playing together since second, third grade and I coached them since they were little,” Steinbrock said of his underclassmen. “We’d play 20, 25 games every year when they were little and in the summer we played. There was definitely some talent there. And then you add in our senior, Seth LeClair, who played with us some.
 
“These kids have really bought into it and I thought if we could stay healthy because we don’t have a lot of depth, we could really make a run this year.”
 
After starting the season with a 50-47 loss to 2A Sacred Heart, Clifton-Clyde ripped off nine wins before the first bout of adversity hit. Just before the start of the league tournament, junior standout Trent Long – the team’s leading scorer – went down with a broken arm.
 
The Eagles lost in the tourney semifinals to Axtell, but bounced back to beat Hanover in the third-place game. Clifton-Clyde hasn’t lost since with Long returning for the final two games of the regular season, punctuating his return with 23 points on five 3-pointers in the season finale against Centralia.
 
In league play, the Eagles were dominant. Of their 12 league victories, only two were by less than double digits – a 72-64 win over Blue Valley-Randolph and 50-41 win over Axtell in early January. Their average margin of victory in league play was just over 20 points per game.
 
Balance has been Clifton-Clyde’s biggest strength.
 
While Long leads the team at 12.9 points per game, he’s one of four Eagles averaging between 11.4 and 12.9 points per game along with Jack Skocny (12.3 ppg), LeClair (11.9 ppg) and Coy Steinbrock (11.4 ppg). All seven regulars have scored at least 14 points in a game this season and all but one have hit at least three 3-pointers in a game.
 
All seven regulars have at least 24 assists and six of the seven have at least 24 steals. Three players have at least 100 rebounds, led by LeClair’s 113.
 
“It’s critical to our success and in a way it gives the boys a lot of confidence,” Steinbrock said of his team’s balance. “That’s the luxury I’ve got with this group. Everyone’s happy for each other when they succeed and it’s kind of a coach’s dream.”
 
Hanover’s girls duplicated Clifton-Clyde’s undefeated run through the Twin Valley League. Two of the Wildcats’ biggest tests came from Doniphan West – a 71-61 win in the league tournament finals and a 62-53 overtime win on Feb. 10.
 
The Wildcats are 20-0 overall and the top seed in the Class 1A Division II sub-state at Axtell.
 
 
OTHER LEAGUE CHAMPIONS
 

• Washburn Rural’s girls have clinched the Centennial League title with one game left, sitting 9-0 going into Friday’s game at Emporia. The league title is the first for the Junior Blues (14-5) since 2019. 
• While the girls’ Centennial League title has been decided, the boys crown is on the line when Rural travels to Emporia on Friday. The Junior Blues’ 78-70 loss to Manhattan on Feb. 17 dropped them to 7-2 in league play, tied with the Spartans. Rural beat Emporia 50-42 on Feb. 3 in their previous meeting this season.
• Highland Park swept the Meadowlark League title in its first year in the league. The Scot boys are 18-0 after blowing out Harmon 103-38 on Tuesday. They close with games against Schlagle and Washington. Highland Park’s girls, meanwhile, clinched the first league title in program history with a 68-38 win over Sumner Academy on Feb. 17. Amelia Ramsey had 22 points, 16 rebounds and 3 blocks in the win while Angelique Gowan-Britt added 17 points for the Scots, who are 15-3 overall and 10-0 in league play.
• Seaman’s girls used a 20-1 run to blow past Shawnee Heights on Tuesday for a 50-37 win that wrapped up the United Kansas Conference title with one game left. The Vikings, 18-1 overall, are 14-1 in league play with the lone loss a double-overtime loss to Basehor-Linwood, which the Vikings avenged in a big way last Friday in a 66-34 rout.
• De Soto won the UKC boys’ title, clinching the crown with wins over Lansing (62-33) and Topeka West (62-53) last week – the latter avening the Wildcats’ lone league loss. De Soto (17-2 overall) saw David Cobin average 23 points, 8 rebounds, 5 assists and 5.5 steals in the two wins.
• Silver Lake’s girls captured their second straight Mid-East League title, clinching the crown with a 59-37 win over Rock Creek on Feb. 17. The Eagles are 18-1 in league play in the past two seasons with the only loss a triple-overtime loss to Riley County this season.
• Getting 43 points from Keller Hurla to beat Wabaunsee 58-43 on Tuesday, St. Marys’ boys wrapped up their second straight Mid-East League title. The Bears are 8-1 in league play with one game left.
• With one North Central Kansas League game remaining, Wamego has clinched its second straight league title. The Red Raiders, 18-1 overall, were 9-1 in league play last year, but are undefeated this year with one game left against Concordia.
• Posting its best regular season record since 1990, Marysville (18-2) completed a 10-0 run through NCKL play with a 67-33 rout of Wamego on Tuesday. The league title is the second in three years with the Bulldogs sharing the 2021 crown with Wamego.
• Santa Fe Trail’s girls have won the Pioneer League title outright after beating Anderson County 59-55 on Tuesday. The Chargers, 17-2 overall, are 11-0 in league play with one game left against Iola, whom they beat by 40 earlier this season.
• Wellsville has earned at least a share of the Pioneer boys’ title, finishing league play at 11-1 after sweeping Prairie View (69-34) and Iola (58-20) on Monday and Tuesday. Burlington can earn a share of the league title with a win over Anderson County on Thursday. Burlington and Wellsville split their meetings this year with Burlington winning 61-58 in December and Wellsville taking a 70-51 win in early February.
• Sabetha finished off a 20-0 regular season and undefeated run through the Big Seven League with a 55-30 win over Hiawatha on Tuesday. The Bluejays only had three league wins by less than double digits, two of them coming against Perry-Lecompton.
• Despite falling 34-30 to Riverside on Tuesday, Nemaha Central claimed the girls’ Big Seven League title, going 13-1 in league play. 
• Atchison County completed an undefeated run in Northeast Kansas League play with a 55-32 win over Jefferson County North on Tuesday. The Tigers are 19-1 overall.
• Maur Hill won the boys’ Northeast Kansas League title with a 14-2 league mark, three games clear of Jefferson County North.
• Southeast of Saline finished as undefeated North Central Activities Association champions, beating Republic County 75-36 on Tuesday. The Trojan girls shared the NCAA title with Minneapolis, each going 8-2 in league play.
• Little River won the girls’ Wheat State League title with an undefeated record and improved to 19-1 overall with a 67-56 win over perennial champion Central Plains in the regular-season finale. Elyria Christian won the boys Wheat State title, going undefeated in league play as well.

 

 

 
TWO FOR THE RECORD BOOKS
 
Atchison County’s Addison Schletzbaum and Burlingame’s Kaylin Noonan have officially left their marks on their respective schools, each becoming the all-time leading scorer in their program’s history in the past week.
 
Schletzbaum was first, scoring 19 points on Feb. 14 against McLouth to break Tara Ellerman’s career scoring record. Ellerman scored 1,039 points in her Tiger career, which ended in 2012.
 
After breaking the record against McLouth, Schletzbaum followed with 34 points in her next three games and now has 1,079 points in her career.
 
Noonan, meanwhile, scored 25 points in the Bearcats’ 68-25 win over Bishop Seabury on Monday. That gives her 1,181 career points, breaking the old school record of 1,157 set by Hayley Lewis, who graduated in 2014.
 
Noonan is just a junior and is averaging 20.1 points per game this season.