The difference between a good basketball season and a great one can often be found in a team’s ability to seal the deal in close games.
 
Arkansas City’s girls are starting to make that a habit.
 
Challenged late in the fourth quarter Saturday by tournament host Mulvane, Ark City kept its poise and held on for a 51-42 victory to win the Wildcat Classic for the second consecutive year.
 
Senior Savannah Phillips scored a team-high 15 points in the final and was a repeat choice as tournament MVP for the Bulldogs, who improved to 11-1 with convincing tournament victories over Winfield and Wichita Collegiate and the gut check against Mulvane that stretched their winning streak to four games.

 
“It’s something you’ve got to learn,” said Ark City coach Tyler Henderson, whose team was ranked 10^th in the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association’s Class 5A poll. “You’ve got to learn how to win. It takes some time when all you’ve known is losing, losing, losing for as many years as we have. This is progress.”
 
Indeed, the Bulldogs have been climbing to get to this point.
 
Winless the season before Phillips and fellow senior starters Saliyah Henderson-Johnson and Kierslynn Waggoner entered high school, Ark City won two games during the trio’s freshman season, four the following year and then went 7-14 last season, collecting its first Wildcat Classic title along the way.
But after losing eight of its last nine games last season to stop some of that momentum, Ark City has thrived this winter. The Bulldogs improved to 5-0 in games decided by single digits with the win over Mulvane.
 
“I feel like we have a lot more chemistry,” said Phillips, who scored 22 points in a 62-31 opening-round victory over Winfield and 19 in a 65-32 win over Collegiate. “I feel like after last summer and playing together in travel ball, we’re just playing really well together.
 
“We’re not selfish with the ball. We’re sharing it a lot.”
 
In Saturday’s title game, Ark City used its height advantage to counter a game-high 23 points from Mulvane freshman guard Brittani Peschel. The Bulldogs closed the first half on 13-0 run for a 23-14 lead, holding Mulvane scoreless for the final 7:46 of the second quarter.
 
Ark City made a further push late in the third, when sophomore Maliyah Bell beat the shot-clock buzzer with a 3-pointer near the top of the key to give the Bulldogs their biggest lead at 35-21. But Mulvane, looking to collect its first Wildcat Classic title since 2014, rallied to cut its deficit to three points on two occasions, first on a 3-pointer by senior Olivia Ellis with 4:04 remaining and then on Peschel’s drive, which made it 44-41 with 2:20 to play.

 
“We told each other we had to lock in and get back on defense because that’s what we were struggling with,” said Phillips, who punctuated the victory with a layup in the closing seconds. “They were getting fast breaks and we were getting called for fouls. We had to get back to just being straight up and trying to hold our ground.”
 
Henderson-Johnson and Waggoner joined Phillips on the all-tournament team for the Bulldogs, whose only loss is to 5A No. 3 Andover. The rest of Ark City’s regular-season schedule features Ark Valley-Chisholm Trail II games, starting Tuesday night at Eisenhower.
 
“There’s a lot maturity with this group,” Henderson said. “They’ve grown a lot and taken some tough losses in previous years. They’ve really learned from that. We talk a lot about learning from our mistakes and our experiences, and that’s been big.”
 

MAIZE SOUTH EDGES 4A NO. 1 HAYDEN FOR THIRD STRAIGHT EL DORADO TITLE
 
El Dorado Lady Cat Classic titles seldom come easily for Maize South.
 
But each version of the Mavericks seems to know how to get the job done.
 
Maize South, No. 6 in Class 5A, built a big enough lead in a pivotal third quarter Saturday to hold off Hayden, the last unbeaten in 4A, 50-48 for its sixth El Dorado title in seven years.
 
Senior Skylar Seals hit four 3-pointers and scored 16 points in the title game for Maize South, which won its eighth straight game to improve to 12-1.
 
“Topeka Hayden is a very talented, well-coached basketball team,” Maize South coach Ben Hamilton said. “It is great for a team this time of year to get what felt like a state tournament-caliber game.”
 
Hamilton and his team would know, having reached the 5A championship game a year ago before falling to Seaman 54-41 to complete a 23-2 season. That included a fourth-quarter rally in last year’s Lady Cat Classic title game that pushed the Mavs past Kapaun Mt. Carmel 48-43.

 
In this year’s tournament, Maize South started its charge a quarter sooner, holding Hayden (12-1) without a field goal in the third as it turned a 31-27 halftime deficit into a 43-34 lead.
 
Hayden, plagued by 7-of-18 free-throw shooting, still managed to make a run at the Mavericks, using a 3-pointer by Norma Greco and a steal and layup by Hailey Schmidtlein to pull within two points with 19 seconds to play.
 
The Wildcats’ comeback was stopped by its inability to get Maize South to the free-throw line before the remaining time expired.
 
Sophomore Jaela Thompson, a McPherson transfer who scored 18 points in the Mavericks’ 58-44 semifinal victory over Kapaun, backed Seals with 10 points in the title game. Brylee Meier led Hayden, No. 1 in 4A, with 15 points.
 
Thompson, Kaylee Brunton and Aliyah Singhateh made the all-tournament team for Maize South, which is unbeaten since the holiday break heading into Tuesday’s game at Hutchinson.
 
“We feel our team is trending in the right direction as it is always our goal to be playing our best basketball come March,” Hamilton said.
 

 UNBEATEN HALSTEAD REPEATS AS HAVEN CHAMPION
 
Faced with trying to defend a tournament title on its opponent’s home court, Halstead didn’t back down in a 47-31 victory over Central Kansas League rival Haven on Saturday to capture its second straight Haven Wildcat Classic championship.
 
All-tournament team selection Piper Schroeder scored 14 points and grabbed seven rebounds in the title game as the Dragons moved to 12-0 with tournament victories over Class 6A Maize, 5A Valley Center and fellow 3A member Haven, which fell to 10-3.
 
Halstead, No. 2 in 3A, pounced on the seventh-ranked Wildcats to take a 21-5 lead after one quarter and stretched it to 31-10 at halftime. The Dragons didn’t yield much in the second half, putting together a defensive effort over the three games reminiscent of their 2024 run in the Wildcat Classic.
 
“It was a very challenging tournament for us to go against Valley Center and Haven, which have a real size advantage on us,” Halstead coach Derek Schutte said. “We are a very balanced team and had different girls step up on offense and defense each game.”
 
Schroeder was joined on the all-tournament team by fellow sophomore Bailey Bernal, who led Halstead in each of its first two games. Bernal, a 5-foot-9 forward, scored 10 points and grabbed five rebounds in the Dragons’ 44-26 opening-round victory over Maize.
 
Bernal scored a team-high 12 points and added four rebounds and four steals in a 38-32 semifinal win over Valley Center, last year’s runner-up to Halstead. Senior Kaci Young added 10 points and four rebounds for the Dragons, who forced 24 Hornet turnovers.
 
Halstead exited last year’s tournament with a nine-game winning streak. The Dragons’ latest title run sets up a CKL showdown with unbeaten Hesston, which is No. 1 in 3A. The Swathers edged Halstead 47-46 in last year’s 3A sub-state finals.
 
“It is always special to win the Haven tournament,” Schutte said. “It features 6A to 3A teams that are historically very good. And it allows us to keep pace for a potential top seed in a very challenging sub-state.”
 

 REDGATE TOPS 1,000 CAREER POINTS AS ATTICA DEFENDS 54 CLASSIC TITLE
 
The 54 Classic has provided a lot of good memories in recent seasons for the Attica Bulldogs.
 
That didn’t change last week, especially for senior Zoie Redgate.
 
Redgate earned tournament MVP honors for the third straight year, eclipsed 1,000 career points, won her third career 3-point contest title and led the Bulldogs to their third consecutive 54 Classic crown. Attica, No. 7 in the Class 1A Division II rankings, defeated Norwich 39-27 in Saturday’s championship game at Skyline High School in Pratt.
 
Redgate made three 3-pointers and finished with 18 points in the title game as Attica improved to 11-3. The Bulldogs yielded a combined total of 71 points in tournament victories over Kinsley, South Barber and Norwich.
 
“I was very pleased with our aggressive defense and rebounding during the tournament,” Attica coach Scotty McCartney said.
 
Junior Cady Hemphill and sophomore Libby Swingle were all-tournament selections along with Redgate, who got her 1,000^th career point in a 52-22 opening-round victory over Kinsley. Swingle scored 21 points in the tournament opener and finished with 16 in a 67-22 win over South Barber that returned the Bulldogs to the final.
 
McCartney credited the play of his veterans, Redgate and Baylee Ricke, for helping Attica navigate a more comfortable path to the title than last year’s tournament, when the Bulldogs had to rally past Norwich for a one-point semifinal win before outdueling Cunningham in overtime for the title.
 
“I was very impressed by our senior leadership and will to win,” McCartney said. “Zoie had her best game on Saturday to will the team to victory.
 
“Cady and Baylee lack some size, but their heart and hustle got them some much needed rebounds against a very physical Norwich team. And Libby Swingle was another highlight of the tournament. She came out on all three games attacking the basket.”