WICHITA – Moments after his team’s on-court celebration Saturday evening at Koch Arena, Shawnee Mission South girls coach Mark Western stood outside the Raiders’ locker room, simultaneously collecting and letting go of his emotions.
 
About that time, senior guard Joycelyn Moore appeared with a wide smile and a hug for her coach.
 
“We got it,” Moore said as the two embraced. “We got it.”
 
Moore and her classmate Camryn Smith comprised a pesky backcourt duo for Western for four seasons, and the realization of that era’s ending filled his eyes with prideful tears. On Saturday, both were relentless in guiding Shawnee Mission South to Class 6A’s basketball mountaintop, smothering Washburn Rural’s offense in a 47-37 championship victory that gave the Raiders their second state title in program history.

 
Smith, a Missouri Western signee, scored a team-high 17 points for SM South, which finished 24-1 and and joined the 1994-95 Raiders as state champions. Moore scored just one point, but left her mark all over the contest with eight steals and seven assists.
 
“We do that almost every night, but this game, we wanted it so bad,” Moore said. “It was a dream. I wasn’t going to let anyone take it from me. I gave it my all.”
 
The top-seeded Raiders atoned for a 2023 state tournament disappointment and left Washburn Rural with its second straight runner-up finish. University of Kansas signee Zoe Canfield scored 18 points for Rural (17-8), which fell to Blue Valley North in last year’s title game after winning the 6A title in 2022. Freshman Maddie Vickery added 11 points and 15 rebounds, but hit just 4 of 16 shots.
 
“They’ve got some really athletic kids and they kind of jammed Maddie,” Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. “It’s a learning experience for Maddie because she hadn’t been that bottled up. They obviously had us scouted pretty well, but it was a tie game at half and could have had a lead if we’d taken care of the ball a little better.”
 
That’s where Smith, Moore, their senior teammates Zai Funches and Ashley VanElders and others came in. While the Raiders struggled to generate much offense themselves in the first half, they repeatedly created loose balls, swatted away passes and launched sneak attacks on outlet attempts.

 
The result was a 13-13 halftime deadlock that left the game hanging in the balance.
 
“We use a word that we stole from Jay Wright at Villanova and that’s attitude,” Western said. “How’s your attitude when something goes against you? We were 4 for 20 at halftime and all we said was, ‘Attitude.’ They were getting good looks, they just weren’t falling.
 
“The energy remained high and that was constant the whole dang year. That’s what this group was all about.”
 
The Raiders, who brought an unbeaten record into state last season before falling to Blue Valley in overtime in the quarterfinals, faced another tempest Saturday. The 6-foot Funches, an Oral Roberts signee, was called for her third foul just over a minute into the second half.
 
As the primary defender on Vickery, who scored 24 points in each of the Junior Blues’ first two tournament games, it appeared to create an opportunity for Rural when Funches headed to the bench at the 6:55 mark. Within 50 seconds, Rural’s Tenly Bunck and Canfield hit 3-pointers to give the Junior Blues a 19-15 lead.
But, as Bordewick said, “It did not pan out.”
 
Smith scored back-to-back buckets to tie the score. Then reserve freshman Ashley Kramer sandwiched two 3-pointers around one by Canfield to give the Raiders the lead for good at 25-24.
 
SM South’s offense continued to roll. Laila Johnson-Berndt added a 3-pointer off an inbound pass, Kramer scored on a break and VanElders ended the third with an inside basket that put the Raiders up 34-26 after three quarters.
 
All with Funches watching from the bench.
 
“It wasn’t too fun being out, but I was having to tell myself we have a great group who is capable of keeping the ball rolling, and they got us going,” Funches said.
 
Canfield tried to keep Rural close, hitting a 3-pointer with 7:00 remaining that cut the deficit to five. Vickery connected on her lone 3 in eight attempts to cut SM South’s lead to 38-32 at the 5:29 mark. But the Junior Blues got no closer.
 
When Moore collected one of her steals with the Raiders up 43-32, SM South soon put the onus on its capable guards to shorten the game and get to the finish.
 
Kramer ended up with 11 points in the victory and 11 3-pointers for the tournament. Funches added nine points and 10 rebounds in her final high school game.
 
“Everyone on our team, we stuck together no matter what,” Moore said. “One player’s out, that’s OK, because we have five other players who can keep going. We just wanted it so bad.
 
“No matter who’s out – Zai, Camryn – we just keep going. We don’t worry if we’re down or we’re up. We just play basketball.”
 
Western savored his final chance to coach this group and particularly Moore and Smith, who dictated the state title game’s ebb and flow in their first and only opportunity to play in one.
 
“They’re a special duo,” Western said. “They’ve weathered a couple bad ones. Sometimes there’s not a payoff. This year, there’s a payoff for them.”
 
BLUE VALLEY NORTH 72, DERBY 56 – Blue Valley North followed its 2023 state championship with a third-place finish, getting 30 points and 11 rebounds from junior standout Jaliya Davis to cap a 20-5 season.
 
Aubrey Shaw added 14 points and Tyara Davis had 12 for the Mustangs, who rebounded from a semifinal loss to Shawnee Mission South and built a lead as big as 24 points. Derby sophomore Macayla Davis, who scored 35 points in Friday’s semifinals, was plagued by foul trouble against BV North but finished with 17 points.
 

CHAMPIONSHIP

SHAWNEE MISSION SOUTH 47, WASHBURN RURAL 37
 
Washburn Rural … 5 … 8 … 13 … 11 … – … 37
Shawnee Mission South … 5 … 8 … 21 … 13 … – … 47
 
Washburn Rural (17-8) – Vickery 4-16 2-2 11, Hinck 2-5 1-2 5, Ochs 0-2 0-0 0, Canfield 5-11 4-6 18, Bunck 1-2 0-0 3, Hirschi 0-2 0-0 0, Lemke 0-0 0-0 0, Hayes 0-0 0-0 0, Rutherford 0-0 0-0 0, Horyna 0-0 0-0 0, Walker 0-0 0-0 0, Carlgren 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-38 7-10 37.
 
Shawnee Mission South (24-1) – Moore 0-3 1-4 1, Funches 2-7 5-8 9, Smith 7-14 3-6 17, Johnson-Berndt 2-6 0-2 5, VanElders 2-4 0-0 4, Kramer 4-9 0-0 11, Slaven 0-0 0-0 0, Jack 0-0 0-0 0, Gardner 0-0 0-0 0, Jouras 0-0 0-0 0, Miglianti 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-43 9-20 47.
 
3-point goals – Washburn Rural 6-23 (Canfield 4-9, Bunck 1-2, Vickery 1-8, Hinck 0-2, Hirschi 0-2); Shawnee Mission South 4-16 (Kramer 3-8, Johnson-Berndt 1-3, Moore 0-1, VanElders 0-1, Funches 0-3). Rebounds – Washburn Rural 32 (Vickery 15); Shawnee Mission South 29 (Funches 10). Assists – Washburn Rural 4 (Hinck 4); Shawnee Mission South 13 (Moore 7). Turnovers – Washburn Rural 17, Shawnee Mission South 9. Total fouls – Washburn Rural 17, Shawnee Mission South 16. Fouled out – None.
 
THIRD-PLACE GAME
BLUE VALLEY NORTH 72, DERBY 56
 
Blue Valley North … 11 … 20 … 21 … 20 … – … 72
Derby … 7 … 11 … 14 … 24 … – … 56
 
Blue Valley North (20-5) – Alverson 2-4 0-0 4, Gregory 0-1 0-0 0, Shaw 5-19 1-4 14, J. Davis 10-17 10-16 30, T. Davis 5-7 2-2 12, T. Schroering 0-1 0-0 0, Hinson 2-3 2-2 7, Farrington 2-2 1-1 5, Cool 0-0 0-0 0, Cozart 0-2 0-0 0, M. Schroering 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-56 16-25 72.
 
Derby (20-5) – D. Smith 3-9 0-0 8, Ky. Demel 5-9 0-0 10, M. Smith 0-4 0-0 0, Wilson 2-5 1-4 5, Askew 6-15 3-3 17, Ka. Demel 3-6 0-0 6, Kelley 1-3 2-2 4, Rickords 0-1 1-2 1, Carpenter 1-4 0-0 2, Lansing 1-3 1-2 3, Sayarath-Fox 0-2 0-0 0, Jackson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-61 8-13 56.
 
3-point goals – Blue Valley North 4-14 (Shaw 3-11, Hinson 1-1, Alverson 0-2); Derby 4-19 (Askew 2-4, D. Smith 2-7, Wilson 0-1, Rickords 0-1, Lansing 0-1, Sayarath-Fox 0-1, Ky. Demel 0-2, M. Smith 0-2). Rebounds – Blue Valley North 41 (J. Davis 11); Derby 36 (Askew 8). Assists – Blue Valley North 16 (T. Davis 6); Derby 13 (D. Smith, M. Smith, Wilson, Rickords 2). Turnovers – Blue Valley North 21, Derby 22. Total fouls – Blue Valley North 19, Derby 19. Fouled out – None.