STATE GIRLS BASKETBALL STORYLINES 

CLASS 6A 
Koch Arena, Wichita 
 
SHAWNEE MISSION NORTHWEST AVENGES LATE-SEASON BLOWOUT LOSS TO OLATHE WEST TO ADVANCE

The Shawnee Mission Northwest girls team has become a state basketball staple under the guidance of Cougars head coach Tyler Stewart.

Although this year’s team winning its sub-state final required a fairly sizable upset in a 56-51 overtime win against Olathe West, which had delivered a 50-33 beatdown when these two teams met two weeks prior, Shawnee Mission Northwest is right where it belongs following a two-year absence from state.

“I think that our ability to stay connected to one another and keep fighting was the difference (against Olathe West),” Stewart said. “They hit us with a couple runs early in the game and early in the second half and we had answers for them. We also were able to really attack the offensive glass and attacked the paint to live at the free-throw line.”

The Cougars, who completed an undefeated run to the 6A title the last time they made it to state in 2021, return to Wichita with a 16-6 record and a lot of momentum from their late-season performances.

“We really strive on being situationally aware,” Stewart said. “We work on them every day at practice. This allows us to be prepared and not have any surprises.”

In addition to getting revenge on the Owls, Shawnee Mission Northwest recovered from the first meeting with Olathe West by blowing out two Sunflower League foes in Shawnee Mission North and Lawrence Free State. The Cougars also pounced on fellow state qualifier Olathe South in a 48-40 victory to close out a three-game homestand and the regular season.

Northwest relies on junior guard Gabby Jackson to drive the action for the team on offense. As an elite scorer at all three levels, Jackson averages a team-leading 17.5 points and 8.6 rebounds per game to go along with her 1.7 assists.

“Gabby is a player that can do it all for us, she is like a Swiss Army Knife,” Stewart said.

Jackson is also one of three Cougars averaging more than a steal per game. She leads the way with 1.7 while senior forward Paige Cheffey and junior guard Sienna Lewis add a combined 2.9 steals. Jackson’s 0.8 blocks per game also puts her right behind Cheffey’s 1.2 blocks for the team lead in that category as well.

Senior forward Kaitlin Parker, Lewis and sophomore guard Abby O’Connor provide additional scoring to supplement Jackson’s output on that end of the floor as each averages at least 5.9 points per game. O’Connor leads the team in assists with 2.1 per outing.

More than just her 7.7 points and 0.9 steals per game, Stewart refers to Parker as “the heart and soul of our team,” as well as an emotional leader for the Cougars.

Shawnee Mission Northwest will battle another perennial state competitor in Derby during the state quarterfinals. The Panthers have reached the state tournament in nine straight seasons, including a third-place finish last year.

“We will have to limit their transition points, find a way to stop (senior guard Destiny Smith), play physical in the post, and find positive possessions on the offensive end of the court,” Stewart said.
CLASS 5A 
White Auditorium, Emporia 
 

BLUE VALLEY SOUTHWEST CONQUERS SOLE UPSET SUB-STATE BRACKET TO BREAK INTO STACKED 5A FIELD

Blue Valley Southwest enters the Class 5A state tournament as the only team with 10 losses on its resume in a bracket so loaded that reigning seven-time champion St. Thomas Aquinas is the No. 7 seed with six losses.

That might worry another team in its situation, but the Timberwolves advanced to state by winning a sub-state bracket that all but proved that record does not matter when the playoffs roll around.

Even more, Blue Valley Southwest head coach TJ Taylor does not think his team’s record is a true indicator of where his team stacks up against the 5A competition.

“We don’t get a ton of games against other 5A schools in the state during the regular season,” Taylor said. “However, I can tell you getting to 10 regular-season wins this year was such a step forward for us.  Prior, we only had nine wins combined from the past three seasons.”

Indeed, the Timberwolves’ schedule leans heavy into the 6A heavyweights. But in the team’s limited outings against 5A competition, the team also left with mixed results.

Specifically, Blue Valley Southwest split two regular-season games with Spring Hill this year. Both were highly competitive, but the Broncos felt like they got the best of the dustups as their win took place in the finals of Wellsville’s Top Gun Tournament. Spring Hill also sported the better record by four games heading into sub-state.

But when these two squads faced off in the sub-state opener, Blue Valley Southwest was able to power its way to a 60-52 victory.

After that, a team with double-digit losses was guaranteed to advance out of that sub-state bracket. A 5-15 Pittsburg team knocked off 14-5 Highland Park in their opening round game.

Pittsburg looked poised to repeat its previous pair of two game win streaks, which netted the team all but one of its wins over the regular season. The Dragons kept the heat on Blue Valley Southwest, but did not have enough firepower as the Timberwolves earned the 47-41 victory.

Blue Valley Southwest junior guard Lily Unruh leads the way for this team with 11.5 points per game.

Taylor said that Unruh is the team’s go-to scorer whenever the Timberwolves need a bucket.

“She has made some incredibly tough shots in key moments this season,” Taylor said. “I would argue she has one of the purest midrange, stop-on-a-dime jumpers in the state. She is also very good at reading passes and knowing when to strike to go after steals and deflections.”

While Unruh is the clear focal point, three other players are sizable contributors on offense. Sophomore guard Mia Hansen and junior point guard Madison Mann average at least 6.6 points per game while junior forward Olivia Payne adds another 5.8 points.

Taylor describes Hansen as going 100 miles per hour, all of the time, while Mann is the floor general for this group.

While Unruh sets the tone on offense, Hansen is the one who sets the tone on defense for this team, typically matching up with the opponent’s strongest offensive weapon.

As for Mann, Taylor said she has taken the steps necessary to make sure the team is successful at rotating the ball around the floor and getting the offense moving.

“She is who we count on to get to the paint and draw defenders to then create scoring opportunities,” Taylor said. “On defense, she does well being a pest and creating havoc.”

Freshman guard Teegan Vietti leads the next group of scorers with 4.7 points per game while sophomore guard Kylie Cross, senior forward Ashley Chaput and junior forward Karter Skillman each ring in around 4.4 points per game.

Chaput, who leads the team in rebounds with 5.7 per game, is one of three seniors, along with guard Maryam El-Demerdash and Reese Burgener, who provide leadership to this young, up-and-coming squad.

“None of this is possible without the three seniors we do have,” Taylor said, adding that the seniors have endured the growing pains of this team’s rebuilding process of the previous three years. “Without these three seniors, we do not have the foundation and framework to be in the situation we are now. All of us, including our underclassmen, made good strides this season.  

“I think more than anything, now our kids are starting to believe in themselves and that we can have success and be deserving of good things.”

Although the team only won one of its final six games of the regular season, the Timberwolves knew that their play was better than their record showed going up against tough Eastern Kansas League foes.

“We play most of our league schedule toward the back end of our season, which is a grind, to say the least,” Taylor said. “We know our league is one of the toughest, if not the toughest, in the state every year.

“We are the only public 5A school in our league.  So, we knew the EKL down the stretch was going to prep us for a great opportunity to compete with the 5A schools come postseason.”
CLASS 4A 
Tony’s Pizza Events Center, Salina 
 

FORT SCOTT RECOVERS FROM STING OF LAST YEAR'S HEARTBREAKING LOSS IN SUB-STATE FINALS, RELOAD ROSTER AS TIGERS END DECADE-LONG STATE DROUGHT

Fort Scott thought it would be able to end its decade-long state drought last season.

The Tigers rolled into that postseason with a 19-3 record and three seniors leading the charge. But an overtime loss at the buzzer against Hayden in their sub-state final sent the team back to Fort Scott with a lot of questions. The main was did the team miss its best shot to punch its ticket to state anytime soon?

The team would need to replace the production of three standout seniors in Jescie Comstock, Kenzie Murphy and Ellie Smith.

“This had been a great opportunity for some of our other young ladies to step in to meet the challenges ahead,” said Pechone Stepps, Fort Scott head coach.

Fort Scott answered all the questions and met all those challenges with strong play from start to finish during the 2023-24 regular season as the Tigers improved their record to 21-1. The team not only earned a three-peat as the Southeast Kansas League champs, but they returned to the sub-state final once again.

This time the Tigers would not be denied, earning a 50-39 victory over Independence after already delivering a 46-13 beatdown to Paola in the previous round. The Tigers will return to state for the first time since 2013.

“Even though we came up a little short of our ultimate goal of making it to state last season, it motivated this group to continue to build on that foundation that has been established within the program,” Stepps said.

Fort Scott’s only loss this year is from out of state, losing to Nevada (Mo.) by one point in the semifinals of the Frontenac Four-State Classic midseason tournament. Fort Scott owns multiple wins over fellow 4A state qualifier Labette County, as well as a win over 3A state qualifier Girard.

With so much production lost to graduation, it has been senior guard Keegan Yarick who has led the team this season. Yarick averages 18.0 points, 9.1 rebounds, 4.4 assists and 4.4 steals per game. She is flanked by a pair of talented juniors in guard Allie Brown and forward Kylee Comstock, who is the younger sister of one of the outgoing Class of 2023 stars. Brown averages 9.4 points and 3.4 steals per game while Comstock averages nearly a double-double with 11 points and 9.2 rebounds per contest.

Now that the team has reached state once again, the Tigers will try to keep this season going and reach the state semifinals for the first time since they finished third in 4A back in 2013.

CLASS 3A 
Hutchinson Sports Arena 
 

HERITAGE CHRISTIAN LEANS ON PLAYERS FROM VOLLEYBALL STATE CHAMPS TO LEAD PROGRAM TO SECOND STATE APPEARANCE

Olathe Heritage Christian set the school’s single season record with 20 wins this year as the Chargers reached state for just the second time in the program’s history.

After the team reached state in 2019, losing in the 2A state quarterfinals to Wabaunsee, the Chargers faced a tough rebuilding year before the Class of 2024 players joined the team as freshmen in 2020-21.

Cole said that that group struggled early, but they ended up coming out the other end stronger for it.

“Now we've won three consecutive conference titles and been able to win sub-state this season,” Cole said. “They've learned how to respond well to adversity. It's been a joy to coach these girls and they've grown so much as players and people over these last few years.”

Heritage Christian sports a 20-3 record after powering past Anderson County 59-47 in the sub-state finals. Of the Chargers’ three losses this season, only their overtime loss to Osage City in the second game of the season was against a Kansas opponent.

Despite the double-digit margin at the end of the game, Anderson County seemed to have the Chargers on the ropes early in that game. Heritage Christian needed to rally back from an 12-point deficit in the first half before ultimately winning by that margin.

Cole said that her team also got off to a slow start against Humboldt in the previous round.

“But we knew that we could cause problems for both of those teams with our quickness and athleticism defensively,” Cole said. “Against Anderson County, we were down 12 in the first half and continued to put the pressure on, and got great defensive efforts from everyone.”

Senior guard Caelyn Ferguson, senior forward Anna Schenk and freshman Mia Vinson lead the charge for the Chargers. 

If those names sound familiar, that’s because they were also key members of Heritage Christian’s state championship volleyball team this year, which won its fourth straight state title in that sport.

Ferguson, who reached 1,000 career points earlier this season, leads the team in scoring with 19.1 points per game. She really turned up the heat on offense in the sub-state, scoring at least 25 points in each of the team’s three games, including a 31-point, 13-rebound performance in the sub-state final.

Schenk, who will look to keep building on the program’s all-time leading rebounder mark, is averaging 9.6 points and 8.2 rebounds per game this season.

Vinson, who also provided an infusion of energy in her first high school volleyball season in the fall, showed that she was also ready for the big time during the basketball season despite being a freshman joining an already talented roster. She’s averaging 8.8 points and 2.6 steals per game.

The team looked as if it was ready to take this leap forward last year, only to lose by one point in the team’s sub-state opener a year ago.

“It was certainly a disappointing end to the season, but the biggest motivation for our team has been getting to state and leaving a legacy regardless of what happened last season,” Cole said. “After two strong seasons where we weren't able to do that, it was the driving factor this season, and we've achieved it. But we hope we're not done yet.”


CLASS 2A 
United Wireless Arena, Dodge City 
 

EUREKA ADJUSTS TO CHANGES, EARNS BACK-TO-BACK STATE TRIPS
 
After waiting until 2019 to make its first state tournament appearance, Eureka earned its third trip in the last six seasons with a 60-26 victory over Maranatha Christian Academy on Saturday in the Class 2A sub-state final at Pleasanton.
 
And this season has turned out to be prophetic for Tornadoes coach Shelly Hoyt.
 
Hoyt suggested in the preseason there could be growing pains for her team, which has no seniors on a nine-player roster. Among the departures from last season’s 21-3 team were sisters Ashley and Aliyah Singhateh, who transferred to Maize South. Ashley was an All-Class 3A first-team selection.
 
Indeed, the first month and a half featured ups and downs. The Tornadoes were 4-4 after a 57-31 loss to Hesston in the opening round of Hillsboro’s Trojan Classic, their third double-digit defeat.
 
One day later, Eureka edged Riley County 40-37 and launched itself on a 15-game winning streak heading into Wednesday’s Class 2A quarterfinals against unbeaten Pittsburg Colgan.
 
“We picked up two really big wins in the Hillsboro tournament that really helped us a gain a lot of confidence,” said Hoyt, who took Hoxie to 10 state tournaments and Utica to one before her arrival in Eureka. “Early on, Brenna Rucker, our sophomore – she’s going to be pretty special – but she wasn’t playing well. It wasn’t from a lack of being in the gym, trust me.
 
“I don’t know if it was trying to carry too much of the load or whatever it was. We had a good discussion and she kind of came out of that.”
 
The addition of Bishop Carroll transfer Laynie Winfrey has helped Rucker flourish, Hoyt said. With Winfrey, a 5-foot-10 junior, taking over point-guard duties, Rucker’s scoring average has climbed from just over 11 points last season to a team-high 16.7 with 7.7 rebounds this season.
 
Winfrey has added 13.4 points, 6.6 rebounds, 4.8 assists and 3.1 steals per game.
 
“Our two best players are so selfless,” Hoyt said. “They’re just great leaders and our issues weren’t a lack of them trusting the other kids. Maybe it was the other way around – them not trusting themselves. Once Brenna kind of got back on track, I think she just started trusting the process a little bit more.”
 
Eureka’s first two state appearances under Hoyt ended with quarterfinal losses to eventual 3A champion Royal Valley in 2019 and 3A runner-up Cheney a year ago. The Tornadoes’ first 2A state foray doesn’t figure to be any easier, with Colgan featuring 6-foot senior standout Lily Brown, an All-2A first-team choice last season, and sophomore guard Jakayla Davis.
 
Still, the Tornadoes are riding a wave of momentum after holding all three of their sub-state opponents to 33 points or less.
 
“Our best offense is our defense,” Hoyt said. “We can’t do a lot of things that I’d like to do because of our numbers. But for the most part our defense is pretty solid.
 
“They’re bought in and they’re locked in and they’re hungry dogs right now.”
 

UNBEATEN WICHITA COUNTY HOPES TO HIT ‘PEAK’ IN STATE TOURNEY 

It’s been a banner year for the Wichita County girls basketball program, but the Indians are far from satisfied entering the Class 2A state tournament. 

After breaking through last year for its first state tournament berth in 22 seasons, Wichita County now has their sights set higher.

“At the beginning of the season I had high expectations as a coach and the girls had very high expectations for themselves,” Wichita County coach Bryce Nickelson said. “We’ve had a ton of success, but we don’t want this to be our peak.”

It’s been a dominant year for the 23-0 Indians, who notched their first undefeated regular season in program history. 

The Indians are paced by a trio of sisters – senior Megan Ricke, junior Ashlynn Ricke and sophomore Breanne Ricke. Megan averages a team-high 16.6 points while Ashlynn adds 11.4 and Breanne 8.8 per game. 

“The three sisters are a huge part of what we do, and I absolutely love the sister aspect of it,” Nickelson said. “They’re extremely competitive. Every single day they’re going at each other, trying to make each other improve. They just love the game of basketball, and that’s just across our team in general. Everybody loves basketball, and they’re also extremely passionate about getting better.”

Other key players include seniors Sidney Bierman and Erika Terriquez and junior Sammy Medina. 

The Indians own an average margin of victory of 22 points per game. They captured the Hi-Plains League Tournament championship for the first time this season. 

Nickelson said pressure is a huge part of the Indians’ identity. 

“We’re going to press you the entire game, we’re going to make you make mistakes the entire game,” Nickelson said. “Our halfcourt offense isn’t the best in the state by any means, so we have to find other ways to score points. I bet you 60 to 70 percent of our offense comes in transition.”

Nickelson said the community has embraced the remarkable turnaround by the girls basketball program over the last two seasons. The seniors have won 63 games in four years after the program had won 55 in the previous 10 years.

“Our girls program hasn’t had a lot of success in the last 20 years,” Nickelson said. “Our seniors, when they were in eighth grade, the high school had won one basketball game the year before. We preach every single day, ‘Culture, culture, culture.’” 

Wichita County is the top seed in the tournament and will face Valley Heights (18-5) in the first round at 2 p.m. Wednesday. Other first-round matchups are Hoxie (22-1) vs. Riverside (21-2) at 4 p.m., Pittsburg-St. Mary’s Colgan (23-0) vs. Eureka (19-4) at 6 p.m. and Hillsboro (22-1) vs. Wichita Independent (19-3) at 8 p.m. 

“Going into the state tournament, everybody is a great team,” Nickelson said. “Out here, we don’t always face the Hillsboros and the St. Mary’s-Colgans. You’re not going to get a whole lot better skill wise (at this point in practice), so we try to pick and choose little things that could be the difference between winning and losing a close game. 

“We’re not the most skilled team, we’re not the most athletic team, so we’re going to have to learn how to outwork everybody in the state tournament.”
CLASS 1A DIVISION I 
Colby Event Center 
 

MISSING ITS HOME GYM, RAWLINS COUNTY EXCITED FOR SHORT TRIP TO COLBY

Atwood-Rawlins County hasn’t had a true home-court advantage all season long, but playing the Class 1A Division I state tournament at the Colby Event Center will be the next best thing for the Buffaloes. 

Rawlins County High School was heavily damaged by a fire caused by arson over the summer, leaving the school and the gym unusable. 

As a result, the Buffaloes traveled to nearby communities to play their home games. Ironically, they played a handful of games at  the Colby Event Center, just a 30-minute drive from Atwood. 

“It’s been a lot of patience from a lot of people – our teams, our families, our community,” Atwood girls basketball coach and athletic director Deone Horinek said. “A lot of times we’ll have a game scheduled somewhere and something will come up and we’ll have to move it to another gym. 

“A lot of working together. We played in four different gyms in Northwest Kansas (McDonald, two gyms in Colby and Oberlin). And practice schedules have been crazy, because we practice in five different gyms.”

Atwood-Rawlins County (19-4) will be making its first state tournament appearance since 1992 and just the fifth overall. They will face South Gray (22-1) at 6 p.m. Thursday in the first round. 

Horinek praised Atwood’s student body for how they’ve responded to the fire damage, which has forced students to take their classes in other buildings around Atwood. 

“We are in about Week 3 in our new modular classrooms (on the northeast corner of the football field),” Horinek said. “We spent the first seven months in the United Methodist Church basement. We also shared some spaces with the elementary school for the first seven months.

“The whole student body has done great with this whole thing. The kids are really close after this. There’s been a lot of bonding.”

For the girls basketball team, which qualified for state by beating Quinter in the sub-state final for a third time this season, playing at the Event Center will be a nice reward. 

“We played more home games in the Event Center than we played anywhere else,” Horinek said. “We called it our temporary home. 

“It’s really cool. I think the community and the surrounding area will pack the gym. It’s so cool to have it that close to us.”

After struggling in the Northwest Kansas League tournament, the Buffaloes hit their stride in late January and proceeded to win 10 games in a row. 

“It was literally just getting our mindset right to take on the second half of the season,” Horinek said. “They clicked. The girls bonded well on the court. Every game was a little bit better and then all the sudden you’re playing your best basketball at the end of the season. Everybody has a role, and they really embraced that.”

Senior Abby Micek leads a balanced attack at 11.9 points per game while junior Tayten Dewey adds 11.7 per game, followed by sophomore Kayte Shively (10.2) and freshman Camden Franklin (9.5). 

Other key players are senior Kaci Dirks, junior Kennedy Trimm, freshman Tessa Bolen, senior Emma Draper, sophomore Mariah Mosley, junior Paige Lankas, freshman Josie Ginther and junior Allison Rippe. 

South Gray is the No. 2 seed. The Rebels’ lone loss came in the SPIAA Tournament final against Spearville. 

“From a size matchup, it looks like we’re fairly similar,” Horinek said. “I think the key for us is how we handle things and what we do. At this point in time, we’ve probably seen an offense or defense similar to what we’re going to see, it’s how we react to it and how we handle the pressure and how we adjust.”


CLASS 1A DIVISION II 
Barton Community College, Great Bend
 

NORTHERN VALLEY OVERCOMES ADVERSITY TO MAKE STATE WITH 7 PLAYERS 

The Northern Valley girls kept the faith despite starting the season 1-8. 

The Huskies were missing a key piece for the early part of the season as Audrey Bina recovered from knee surgery. When she returned around Christmas, first-year Northern Valley coach Dean Lewis soon felt the team starting to click. 

A short time later, the Huskies were dealt another blow in January, losing four-year stater Mary Baird to a torn ACL. 

Left with just seven players, Northern Valley continued to plug away and ultimately found a way to reap the rewards, punching its ticket to state with a 54-50 win over Wheatland-Grinnell in the sub-state title game.

“When you overcome all that, it’s incredibly gratifying, just the perseverance of the girls,” Lewis said. “I think they believed me when I said, ‘I think we can still do this thing.’

“When Mary went down, they decided, ‘We’re not going to let that be the end of our season.’ ”

The Huskies (12-11) avenged two previous losses to Wheatland-Grinnell, including a heartbreaking loss to the Thunderhawks in the Western Kansas Liberty League Tournament final. 

“The thing we talked about going into it is beating a team three times is just tough,” said Lewis, who earned his 200th career win in the sub-state final after previously coaching in Missouri. “They knew it was going to be a battle, and it was.

“We added probably two or three different sets that we hadn’t shown yet. When you do that, you’re just trying to figure out how can you get six or eight more points from the last time we played them. It worked out really well. It was exactly the kind of game that I’m sure both teams were expecting, and we just got a couple more plays than they did.”

Having just seven players makes for interesting practice situations for the Huskies. 

“We have become incredibly creative in how we prepare things,” Lewis said. “The thing is, if we’re working on a screen and roll or something, we don’t have people standing around because everybody’s involved. We do most things 3-on-3. And then we figured how to prepare for a zone, 4 on 3. 

“It’s such a great group of kids that have good attitudes. We’ve kind of bought into just getting better every day, and because of that we don’t get hung up on little things.”

Lewis said Bina has been a big difference maker. She notched a triple-double this season with a 16-point, 24-rebound, 12-block performance. Bina, a 6-foot sophomore, averages 8 points, 10.5 rebounds and 3.5 blocks. 

Senior guard Austyn Cox is Northern Valley’s leading scorer at 13 points per game, adding 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals per game.

Other starters are senior Braxton Cox, junior Delaney Sides and freshman Jordyn Cox. Jaycee Gebhard and Iris Schemper are the Huskies’ reserves. 

Northern Valley will face top-seeded South Haven (21-2) at 2 p.m. on Thursday. 

Lewis said the Huskies will enter the state with a nothing-to-lose mentality. 

“In the league tournament, we were the sixth seed. In the sub-state tournament, we were the sixth seed,” Lewis said. “We knew we were better than our seed. Now in this tournament, I’m not sure we are much better than an eighth-seed because there’s so many good teams at this point of the season. 

“We’ve been stressing just being a good defensive team that finds a way to score. You just keep battling and that’s what we’re going to do. We’re going to see how it turns out.”