COLBY – Frankfort coach Brian Ebert knew one thing ahead of the Class 1A Division I title game: The Wildcats weren’t going to be intimidated.
Up against an undefeated Little River squad which had been ranked No. 1 throughout the season, Ebert was confident his team wouldn’t shrink from the challenge.
“Sometimes you want to have those girls you would bring to an alley fight,” Ebert said. “I would take four or five of our girls in a heartbeat to an alley fight, because they have that grit: ‘I’m not going down without a fight.’ ”
That grit was on full display in the championship game.
Frankfort fought back from a nine-point first-half deficit to stifle Little River in the second half and capture the program’s first state championship with a 47-41 win in Saturday’s final at Colby Event Center.
After trailing by five at halftime, Frankfort hit Little River with a 13-4 third quarter to take a four-point lead into the fourth.
The Wildcats (23-3) then kept Little River out of sorts down the stretch. The Redskins finished just 3 of 25 from the field (12%) in the second half, mustering just 12 points after halftime.
“We came out just bam, bam, bam (to start the second half),” Ebert said. “We had set plays and were able to execute,” Ebert said. “We talked about: Get them off key, get them off their game, get ahead and watch them tense up a little bit. After that it just snowballed.”
Frankfort's Sydney Wapp reacts in the closing seconds of Frankfort's win in the 1A DI title game.
Ebert’s daughter, junior Breleigh Ebert, delivered the dagger, hitting a 3 from the right wing to push the Wildcats lead to seven with about a minute and a half left.
“That’s pretty awesome,” said Brian Ebert, whose older daughter Emilee Ebert was a star at Frankfort before playing at Kansas State and Oklahoma State. “For her to take that 3, it showed confidence, and the last month she’s really come on. It’s pretty special to have a state championship, but not everybody gets to do it with their kid. She came through big at the clutch moment.”
Frankfort senior Sydney Wapp also came up huge for the Wildcats inside, scoring a game-high 15 points while senior standout Hattie Gros finished with 14.
Frankfort's Hattie Gros lines up a shot.
Senior Emma Hardwick was an unsung hero for Frankfort in the title game. She battled through a lingering thigh injury and also suffered a cut above the eye after taking an elbow in the lane. Hardwick played tough defense throughout.
“I’m not really a scoring threat, so I feel like I have to bring something from other places,” Hardwick said.
Little River (25-1) finished 13 of 49 from the field and struggled to knock down decent looks down the stretch.
“(Frankfort is) really, really good defensively, and we knew that,” Little River coach Cy Rolfs said. “They just play so disciplined. I think we kind of tightened up. We just couldn’t get shots to fall. We usually use our press to play up tempo and try to get some easy buckets, and that really didn’t get going for us either.
“They took us out of some things, and some of the stuff we were used to doing, we just stopped doing.”
Little River's Alaina Eck scored 14 points in the title game.
Standout senior point guard Alaina Eck led Little River with 14.
It was a sour end to what had been a dominant season for Little River, which loses five seniors -- Eck, Ashley Stephenson, Kathleen Elwood, Aubrey Olander and Kami Grasser. The senior class led the Redskins to back-to-back volleyball championships in 2022 and 2023.
“It’s been an awesome ride,” Rolfs said. “This senior class has been really, really successful and great leaders. This team is a team in the truest sense of the word. I couldn’t be prouder of a group of kids. One of the best groups of kids I’ve ever worked with.”
Frankfort’s title comes after the Wildcats settled for third place last year after a heartbreaking semifinal loss to Quinter.
“I’m not going to lie to you, it’s pretty special to beat an undefeated team that everybody talked about all year,” Ebert said. “No one talked about Frankfort, but they don’t understand how tough our kids are, and they don’t understand how tough our league (Twin Valley) is. Our league gets us prepared for the intense moments. I feel like we handed the intense moment at the end maybe just a little bit better than them.”
“Last year, we talked about writing history, and we did that getting third place,” Hardwick said. “This year we were determined to come back and write more history.”
Frankfort coach Brian Ebert reacts after a key bucket.
Brian Ebert also guided the Frankfort boys to a state championship in 2012. He’s the third coach in state history to win both a boys and girls state title, joining Ted Juneau and Garry Smith. Ebert's the first to do win girls and boys titles at the same school.
“We had a really good boys team in 2012,” Ebert said. “I’m still very close to those guys. Some of them still live in Frankfort.
“(The 2012 team) was very similar to this group. Good guard play, kids that could hit the 3, good post play and finishing around the basket.”
This year's senior class -- Wapp, Gros, Hardwick, Alexis Dalinghaus, Katelynn Combs and Tana Stowell -- was the largest group of seniors Ebert has coached.
“We’re very close,” Hardwick said. “It’s a fun group. We’ve grown up since third grade working together. We’ve just continuously worked to get to this place.”
THIRD PLACE
CENTRALIA 58, SOUTH GRAY 52
South Gray held Centralia star Oen Deters to just seven points but Hayden Kramer and Tava Gibbs picked up the scoring slack in a big way to lead the Panthers in the third-place game.
Kramer poured in a game-high 20 points while Gibbs chipped in 15 as the Panthers rallied from a 10-point first-half deficit.
Centralia outscored South Gray 19-11 in the fourth quarter.
The Panthers finished 23-2 while South Gray wrapped up the season at 21-4.
CLASS 1A DIVISION I GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP BOX SCORES
FRANKFORT 47, LITTLE RIVER 41
Frankfort … 11 … 13 … 13 … 10 … – … 47
Little River … 14 … 15 … 4 … 8 … – … 41
Frankfort (23-3) – Wapp 5-6 5-5 15, Ebert 1-3 5-6 8, Hardwick 2-5 0-0 4, Gros 5-15 4-4 14, Al. Dalinghaus 2-2 0-0 4, As. Dalinghaus 1-3 0-0 2, Stowell 0-0 0-0 0, Shirley 0-0 0-0 0, Parthemer 0-0 0-0 0, Combs 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-34 14-16 47.
Little River (25-1) – Stephenson 0-1 0-0 0, Eck 4-12 6-8 14, A. Olander 1-4 0-0 2, H. Olander 1-9 2-2 5, Feldman 3-12 1-2 8, Strecker 2-6 1-1 5, Raleigh 1-3 0-0 3, Ellwood 1-1 0-0 3, Lafferty 0-1 0-0 0, Look 0-0 0-0 0, Grasser 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 13-49 11-15 41.
3-pointers – Frankfort 1-8 (Ebert 1-3, Gros 0-4, As. Dalinghaus 0-1). Little River 4-21 (Feldman 1-9, Olander 1-4, Raleigh 1-3, Ellwood 1-1, Eck 0-2, Strecker 0-2). Rebounds – Frankfort 33 (Hardwick 8), Little River 23 (Feldman 6). Assists – Frankfort 12 (Ebert 5), Little River 6 (Strecker 3). Total fouls – Frankfort 8, Little River 17. Fouled out – none.
THIRD PLACE
CENTRALIA 58, SOUTH GRAY 52
South Gray … 14 … 20 … 7 … 11 … – … 52
Centralia … 11 … 17 … 11 … 19 … – … 58
South Gray (21-4) – Deges 0-1 0-0 0, Helm 3-9 3-3 9, Stapleton 5-8 1-2 15, Huelskamp 3-5 0-0 6, Reed 7-17 4-8 20, Jantz 0-1 0-0 0, Meairs 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 19-44 8-13 52.
Centralia (23-2) – H. Kramer 8-12 0-0 20, T. Kramer 4-10 2-5 10, Deters 2-1 3-3 7, Thompson 0-0 0-0 0, Gibbs 6-13 3-4 15, Kuckelman 0-0 0-0 0, Haverkamp 0-0 0-0 0, Rempe 1-2 0-0 2, Haverkamp 2-4 0-0 4. Totals 23-51 6-9 58.
3-pointers – South Gray 6-12 (Stapleton 4-7, Reed 2-2, Deges 0-1, Helm 0-1, Meairs 0-1). Centralia 6-15 (H. Kramer 4-5, T. Kramer 2-5, Deters 0-3, Rempe 0-1, Haverkamp 0-1). Rebounds – South Gray 21 (Reed 5), Centralia 35 (Deters 9). Assists – South Gray 8 (Helm 3), Centralia 10 (Haverkamp 3). Turnovers – South Gray 18, Centralia 16. Total fouls – South Gray 13, Centralia 12. Fouled out – none.