As bright as Anna Becker’s future appears to be, it’s going to take something pretty special to top her accomplishments in the 2024 calendar year.
 
From milestones to titles, the Seaman standout point guard has bridged her junior and senior seasons with one memorable highlight after another. Becker’s achievements – from both an individual and team aspect – have left a standard for future Vikings to strive for.
 
“It’s so cool and so rewarding,” Becker said of a year and career that has her at or near the top of several career statistical lists for the Vikings. “I want to be a role model, not just on the court, but in the classroom and in the community. I’m happy to leave my mark.”
 
Safe so say, Becker has done that. 
 
Already the two-time reigning player of the year in the United Kansas Conference, Becker has gone about stamping her legacy this season. In the Vikings’ season-opening win over Piper, Becker became Seaman’s all-time leader in assists, overtaking former Viking standout Camryn Turner, who racked up 253 in her three-year career from 2017-20.
 
The next night out, against Lansing on Dec. 10, Becker supplanted Turner as Seaman’s career leader in steals with Turner getting 211 in her career.
 
Neither of those accomplishments should be all that surprising to anyone who has watched Becker play the past three-plus seasons. A tenacious defender who doubles as Seaman’s point guard as well, creating havoc on one end of the floor and being a top-notch distributor has long been her calling card.
 
“I think they’re both a great accomplishment and I came into the season knowing I wanted to break those records and continue to build on them,” said Becker, who now has 278 career assists and 220 career steals in Seaman’s 5-0 start this season. “I came in her knowing I was going to work hard and be a leader and I think I’ve accomplished that. I just knew I had to get better every year.
 
“Obviously I loved watching Camryn, she was such a great athlete. She could do it all and that’s what I wanted to do with my game.”
 
If any part of her game has evolved throughout her high school career, it’s been Becker’s scoring ability. Not necessarily from a production standpoint – she averaged 14 points per game as a freshman, 13 per game as a sophomore and 16 per game last year before upping that average to 18.6 points per game this season – but rather in the manner in which she gets her points.
 
While in past years, her defensive prowess led to transition offense, Becker has become a more potent half-court scorer this season.
 
In Seaman’s win over Turner on Dec. 17, Becker scored her 1,000th career points and 1,018 now in her career, she ranks fourth on Seaman’s career scoring list, just 94 away from all-time leader Tatyanna Legette, who scored 1,112 from 2011-15.
 

 
“Every year at our postseason individual meeting I talked to her about expanding her game and being a complete player,” Seaman coach Matt Tinsley said. “Where I have seen improvement in her game over the years is with her mid-range game, finishing through contact and her strength.
 
“This year, she’s really picking her spot well to score and knowing when to get her teammates involved. After last season I challenged her to improve her 3-point field goal percentage and she is shooting 41% this year.”
 
Becker said she’s made a concentrated effort to continue to improve her game year after year, trying to add new dimensions as she readies for her college career at the Division I level, having signed with Drake.
 
“I’m always working,” she said. “I think this year I’ve done a better job of scoring in what the defense gives me. If I need to pull up, I will. If I need to attack the basket or if they go under a screen, I’m shooting a three. And then it’s just finding what the defense gives us and getting my teammates in good spots to score as well.
 
“I think (half-court offense) has improved a lot this year not just for myself but for the team. We’ve always relied a lot on transition which we want to continue to do. But we knew we had to get better at it and that included myself.”
 
Becker’s desire to constantly improve was a trait Tinsley noticed early on.
 
“Since I first saw Anna playing as a fourth-grader one summer during our camp, I knew she had the drive,” he said. “I remember seeing a girl who loved the game. When she plays, she goes hard. She has the switch turned on. Anna has the skill, but she also has the will and she’s good because she puts in the work.”

For all the individual accolades that have come Becker’s way this season, her most treasured accomplishment came last March when she led Seaman to the Class 5A state championship, the first for the Viking program since 1991. 
 
Seaman is ranked No. 1 in 5A this season, sitting 5-0 going into 2025.
 
“Anna has definitely left her mark on our program for sure and the trajectory of our program would be different if we didn’t have her,” Tinsley said. “The records she has speak for themselves but she’ll tell you the relationship with her teammates is more important. She and her teammates these four years have bought into our culture of hard work and teamwork. She garners a lot of attention, rightfully so, but really all her and her teammates care about is winning.
 
“As a coach you want your leaders to do it the right way and she’s done it the right way.”
 
OTHER GIRLS BASKETBALL STANDOUTS

• Hayden’s girls knocked off defending Class 6A state champion Shawnee Mission South 56-37 to finish the 2024 portion of their schedule with a 5-0 record. Brylee Meier had 18 points in the game while Amelia Ramsey added 12 points, pushing her over 1,000 career points.
• Hiawatha got big games from beyond the arc from Kylie Nelson and Alija Contreras in a win over Horton on Dec. 10. Contreras hit 5 3-pointers on her way to a 22-point night, while also adding 5 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 steals. Nelson added 4 3-pointers, 5 rebounds, 3 assists and 5 steals in the 66-47 win.
• A recent Fort Hays State commit, Little River’s Arika Feldman had back-to-back huge games for the Redskins in wins over state-ranked Moundridge and Wakefield to close out 2024. Feldman had 20 points, 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 2 blocks and 2 steals against Moundridge and then had 28 points (18 in the first quarter), 4 rebounds, 3 assists, 4 steals and 4 blocks against Wakefield.
• Highland Park sophomore Pearmella Carter scored 30 points against Turner and 22 against Wyandotte as the Scots have started the season 3-0. She’s also grabbed 23 rebounds in the two games. Tahtionna Broils is averaging 10 points, 8 rebounds and has 14 steals in the three games.
• Topeka West’s Imani McGlory scored 25 points in the Chargers’ loss to Shawnee Heights, and is averaging 16.5 points per game and is shooting 41% from 3-point range.
• Blue Valley-Randolph’s girls are 4-1 at the break after beating Rural Vista 53-20 in the 2024 finale. Freshman Bryleigh Brockman scored 22 points for the second time this season and added 7 steals and 3 assists. Brynlyn Brockman added 11 points and 12 rebounds.
• In a 60-43 win over Valley Falls, Atchison County’s Kinzee Bauerle had 39 points, 8 rebounds and 7 steals while Kori Wagner had a triple double with 11 points, 12 rebounds and 12 assists.
• Rossville’s girls are 3-2 at the break with Rylee Dick averaging 24.8 points per game while hitting 25 of 49 3-pointers and adding 4.5 assists and 3.5 steals per game. Nora Burdiek is at 18.6 points, 12.2 rebounds and 3.5 steals per game.
• West Franklin’s Madison Scott had 26 points, 6 rebounds and 3 steals against Council Grove in a 53-29 win, the Falcons’ first this season.
• Elyria Christian’s Grace Prescott scored 23 points and added 5 rebounds, 5 assists and 4 steals in a 46-17 win over Solomon on Dec. 20.

 
 

WABAUNSEE BOYS OFF TO STRONG START
 
Even in returning four starters off last year’s 4-15 team, Wabaunsee’s boys had plenty of unknowns going into the 2024-25 season.
 
For starters, the Chargers had a new coach in Tim Klein, who took over for the departed Christian Ulsaker after being his JV/assistant coach the past two seasons. In addition, the Chargers moved to a new league this year, joining the Flint Hills League after the Mid-East League merged with the Big Seven League.
 
But the old saying goes, change can be good and Wabaunsee can certainly attest to that. The Chargers have already surpassed last year’s win total with their 5-1 start to this season – the program’s best start since the 2019-20 season.
 
Wabaunsee served notice right away, topping West Franklin – a team that went 16-4 last year but lost four starters – 61-50 in the season opener, the programs first win in the opener in three years. It was also a victory in their league debut.
 
At their home tournament, the Chargers went 2-1, falling to Frankfort 49-46 in overtime after being down 12 points with four minutes to play in regulation, and then beating Manhattan CHIEF 60-55 (first time since 2021) before closing out the tourney with a 61-28 romp past Northern Heights in which 10 different Chargers scored.
 
Wabaunsee returned to league action before the break and picked up big wins over Chase County (59-52) and Osage City (51-48), hitting free throws in the final seconds to secure the win against the Indians.
 
“I am very proud of the progress mainly because of their grit and resilience,” Klein said of Wabaunsee’s quick start. “We are planning more exciting things in the second third of the season, but it will take twice as much work. But being where we are right now and getting some landmark wins is going to feed the Chargers for awhile.”
 
OTHER BOYS BASKETBALL STANDOUTS

• Rock Creek’s boys are off to a 4-0 start for the first time since 2019-20. Coley Burgess averaged 15 points and Eli Bell averaged 13 points in two wins in the final week of 2024.
• Council Grove’s Brycen Palmquist broke the Braves’ career steals record in the Braves’ win over Clifton-Clyde on Dec. 12 and has added 15 more since, pushing his career total to 161 to top the old mark of 143 set by Koen Hula. Palmquist is averaging 5.4 steals per game as well as 18.2 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.6 assist for the 4-1 Braves, scoring 23 against West Franklin in the 2024 finale.
• St. Marys’ Ben DeVader has made 19 3-pointers in the Bears’ 5-0 start this season. DeVader made 4 3-pointers and scored 16 points against Maranatha and had 3 threes and 18 points against Riley County.
• Shawnee Heights scored a big 75-45 win over fellow-ranked United Kansas Conference rival Topeka West as Jaret Sanchez scored 25 points and had 7 rebounds and Deacon Pomeroy had 15 points and 6 rebounds.
• Valley Falls is 4-1 to start the season with four players averaging double-figure scoring. Damian Cervantez leads the way at 17.8 points per game and had 17 in a win over Atchison County just before the break after scoring 20 against Troy earlier in the week. Trenten VanHoutan added 25 points and 7 rebounds against Atchison County and is right behind Cervantez with 17 points per game while Collin Kearney is at 14.2 points per game and Hayden Kearney is at 10.2.
• Wamego’s Gavin Marquardt hit 9 of 9 shots and finished with 19 points in the Red Raiders’ 83-42 win over Chapman on Dec. 17. He also added 5 rebounds.