MANHATTAN – Having seen older brother Henry Hecox help lead Moundridge to Class 2A state championships in 2023 and 2024 and knowing her mother, Hillary, had won three state championships during her prep days at Little River, Hattie Hecox wanted nothing more than leave her own legacy in her family’s championship pedigree.
 
And after watching Henry and his Wildcat teammates see their bid for a three-peat and undefeated season end on Saturday in the boys’ Class 2A title game, that resolve to get a state title grew even more for Hecox.
 
“We talked about it in the locker room before the game how that just pushed us even more,” Hecox said. “We couldn’t not bring one back to our community.”
 
Whatever the motivation, Hecox and twin sister Halle have now joined their sibling and mom as state basketball champions. The sophomore sisters combined for 26 points in helping lead the Wildcats to a 62-51 victory over Doniphan West in Saturday’s championship game.
 
The title was the eighth overall for the tradition-rich girls program, tying the number the boys’ program has won, but the first for the girls since 2011.
 
“It was just so important to us,” Hattie Hecox said. “Seeing the boys do this twice, we know that they have deserved what they’ve gotten and that just pushed us to strive to this and want it for ourselves.”
 

 
All season long Moundridge had the look of a town capable of turning Kansas State’s “Wildcat Victory” fight song into the tune of the weekend at the Class 2A state tournament being played at Bramlage Coliseum. The two-time reigning champion boys maneuvered its way through the regular season with an unblemished mark, while the Wildcat girls dropped only two games, both to teams that went into their respective state tournaments undefeated – 3A Hesston and 1A Division I Little River.
 
But it wasn’t until her team got past perennial 2A tournament qualifier Hillsboro in the sub-state semifinals that Huxman began to envision a state championship as being something well within the Wildcats’ reach.
 
“We had to work exceptionally hard in that game and overcome a lot of adversity,” Huxman said of a 43-33 win over the Trojans. “Those girls just stayed locked in and were like, ‘We’re going to do this.’ And from that point on, I told my husband, ‘If we can win that one, we can win it all.’ And we did, which is awesome.”
 
Before the Wildcats even had a chance to take the floor against Doniphan West in the championship game, there was a bit of adversity to overcome. As Sterling began to take control of the boys’ championship game that was being played before the girls on Saturday, it was setting in that the boys’ three-peat wasn’t going to materialize.
 
“We love our boys and those girls really care about them and how they do,” Huxman said. “We sort of kept them in the locker room for the fourth quarter and didn’t necessarily let them watch the end because we knew it would be tough for them to recover mentally because those are people they care about a lot.
 
“But they knew what they needed to do mentally and they did that to stay in the game.”
 
If there were any lingering effects from the boys’ defeat, it sure didn’t show in how Moundridge came out in the championship game.
 
On the Wildcats’ opening possession of the game, Addy Patrick popped open in the corner and buried a 3-pointer. On the Wildcats’ next possession, Hecox flashed open on the wing and drained a 3-pointer of her own.
 
By the end of the first quarter, Moundridge already had knocked down four 3-pointers with Hecox adding a second and Mackie Conkling coming off the bench for one of her own.
 
The Wildcats went 4 of 6 from beyond the arc in the quarter and never really cooled off, finishing 8 of 19 from three for the game. Hecox and Conkling each hit three 3-pointers while Patrick and Halle Hecox each added one.
 

 
“We have great 3-point shooters on our team,” Huxman said. “And this year it seems like we’ve had games where one or two is one and then other nights, it’s a different one or two. But tonight, we were all on and that was really fun to see. We’ve been waiting for that because we know they’re capable of it and it was awesome to see it in this game.”
 
The first-quarter 3-point barrage helped stake the Wildcats to a 19-13 lead at the end of the period and the Wildcats quickly stretched that to a 10-point margin early in the second. But as quickly as that lead came, it disappeared.
 
Doniphan West went on its own run of 3-pointers in the second quarter to get right back in it with Courtney Johnson playing the marksman role for the Mustangs. The sharp-shooting guard hit three consecutive shots from beyond the arc to pull West back within three and the Mustangs were able to keep it right there at halftime, trailing 31-28.
 

 
“We made a run,” Doniphan West coach Perry Smith said. “But they had an answer. We’ve been a team that’s been able to get stops all year, I think we held teams to around 37 points per game. We’ve been pretty good defensively but tonight I thought they exposed us. Our rotations were slow and not getting back to shooters fast enough.
 
“But to their credit, they hit some shots. That’s a nice shooting team and really can attack you in a lot of different ways.”
 
If West was a step slow, it was understandable after having to go to two overtimes to outlast St. Mary’s Colgan in the 8 p.m. semifinal on Friday night. Particularly given that the Mustangs are a team that likes to full-court pressure their opponents from start to finish.
 
While the Mustangs were able to ride their adrenaline through the first half, it eventually caught up with them.
 
Halle Hecox opened the second half with her lone 3-pointer and two possessions later, Hattie added her third trey. Cammi Unruh scored back-to-back on driving layups to start a 14-0 run that Conkling capped with back-to-back 3-pointers as Moundridge blew open the game to lead 51-32.
 
Even with Doniphan West coming off its exhausting semifinal win, Huxman said the Wildcats’ plan wasn’t necessarily to try and run them out of the gym. In fact, she said, it was somewhat the opposite.
 
“They do a great job of pushing the ball and that’s their style of play,” Huxman said. “So we actually were almost trying to do the exact opposite. If we could get a push, great, but otherwise it was, ‘Let’s make them play defense on us. Let’s make them stop us.’ It lended into their hands to play fast.”
 
Down 16 at the end of the third, Doniphan West opened the fourth with three quick points but never could gain much more ground as Moundridge maintained a double-digit margin until the final 1:20.
 
“I can’t say enough about this group of girls, I just love them so much,” Moundridge coach Kaleigh Huxman said. “They have just grown immensely mentally this year. Even standing in the line waiting to get our medals, they were like, ‘This doesn’t even feel real. Did we just win state?’
 
“They have just attacked every game looking to take care of business. We’ve told them all year long that your identity is not wrapped up in this game. Go out there and play hard and walk off the court knowing you’ve given everything you had. That’s what we asked of them tonight and they did it.”
 

 
Hattie Hecox finished with a game-high 19 points and Unruh added 13. All five Moundridge starters finished with at least five points and Conkling added nine off the bench.
 
Bidding for a second state title in three years after winning the Class 1A Division I title in 2023, Doniphan West finished with a 19-6 record, led in the title game by Courtney Johnson’s 21 points with Katie Johnson – the hero in the semifinal win – adding 11.
 
“The kids don’t understand it and I probably don’t appreciate it right now, but as the weeks go on, they’ll appreciate the run we’ve been on and how we played the last half of the season,” Smith said.
 
With its state title drought ended, Moundridge can already look ahead to next year with thoughts of matching the boys and getting a repeat championship. This year’s team featured no seniors and Unruh, Patrick and Macy Kaminkow are the only juniors.
 
 “We have everyone back and are looking forward to next year aleady,” Hecox said. “But we still want to celebrate this one right now.”
 

 
THIRD PLACE
 
INMAN 60, ST. MARY’S COLGAN 57 – After a rough shooting night in its semifinal loss when it made just four field goals over the final three quarters, Inman saw those woes linger into the first half of the consolation game against St. Mary’s Colgan.
 
The Teutons shot 26.7% in the first quarter and 30.8% in the second.
 
But they trailed just 23-22 at the break and once their shooting touch returned in the second half, the Teutons were able to stay just a step ahead of a weary Colgan team that not only had a short turnaround from its double-overtime semifinal loss to Doniphan West, but also saw junior standout guard Jakayla Davis trying to play through a knee injury suffered in the second half of that game.
 
Dealing with different braces on her left knee, Davis still gutted out a 25-point performance in which she finished 13 of 14 at the free throw line. But Inman was able to pull out the win, holding the Panthers off the entire fourth quarter.
 
Suttyn Harris hit 6 of 14 shots and 6 of 8 free throws for 18 points. Morgan Froese added 14 points while Taylor Froese, Ellie Thimmesch and Maddie Parsons each scored eight.
 

CLASS 2A GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP GAME BOXSCORE
 
MOUNDRIDGE 62, DONIPHAN WEST 51
 
Doniphan West … 13 … 15 … 7 … 16 … -- … 51
 
Moundridge … 19 … 12 … 20 … 11 … -- … 62
 
Doniphan West (19-6) – C. Johnson 9-13 0-0 21, Edie 3-12 2-2 9, Foster 1-3 2-7 4, K. Johnson 5-7 1-2 11, Smith 2-5 2-2 6, Whetstine 0-2 0-0 0, Falk 0-0 0-0 0, Rawles 0-0 0-0 0, Buckley 0-0 0-0 0, McCauley 0-0 0-0 0, Owen 0-0 0-0 0, Keebler 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-42 7-13 51.
 
Moundridge (24-2) – Ad. Patrick 1-7 2-2 5, Unruh 6-13 1-2 13, Hal. Hecox 2-7 2-2 7, Hat. Hecox 7-10 2-3 19, Kaminkow 4-4 1-3 9, Stos 0-1 0-0 0, Conkling 3-5 0-0 9, As. Patrick 0-0 0-0 0, Graber 0-0 0-0 0, Schriner 0-0 0-0 0, Durst 0-0 0-0 0, Rierson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 23-47 8-12 62.
 
3-point goals – Doniphan West 4-9 (C. Johnson 3-4, Edie 1-3, Whetstine 0-2); Moundridge 8-19 (Hat. Hecox 3-4, Conkling 3-5, Ad. Patrick 1-6, Unruh 0-1). Rebounds – Doniphan West 18 (K. Johnson 8); Moundridge 24 (Kaminkow 8). Assists – Doniphan West 14 (Foster 5); Moundridge 11 (Hat. Hecox 3, Kaminkow 3). Turnovers – Doniphan West 12, Moundridge 11. Total fouls – Doniphan West 11, Moundridge 16. Fouled out – none.
 
THIRD PLACE
 
INMAN 60, ST. MARY’S COLGAN 57
 
St. Mary’s Colgan … 17 … 6 … 16 … 18 … -- … 57
 
Inman … 10 … 12 … 19 … 19 … -- … 60
 
St. Mary’s Colgan (22-4) – O’Brien 6-11 1-2 17, Harris 3-7 1-2 7, Swezey 0-1 0-0 0, Jak. Davis 6-11 13-14 25, Osborn 0-0 1-2 1, Imhof 1-3 2-2 5, Jan. Davis 9-1 0-0 0, Ascanio 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 16-35 20-24 57
 
Inman (21-4) – T. Froese 2-3 3-4 8, Eddy 1-6 0-0 2, Thimmesch 3-10 2-2 8, M. Froese 6-11 2-2 14, Harris 6-14 6-8 18, Nichols 0-1 2-2 2, Parsons 2-2 3-6 8, B. Black 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-47 18-24 60.
 
3-point goals – Colgan 5-12 (O’Brien 4-6, Imhof 1-3, Harris 0-2, Jan. Davis 0-1); Inman 2-13 (T. Froese 1-2, Parsons 1-1). Rebounds – Colgan 15 (Harris 3, Osborn 3); Inman 27 (Harris 10). Assists – Colgan 5 (Five with 1); Inman 8 (T. Froese 4). Turnovers – Colgan 19, Inman 15. Total fouls – Colgan 21, Inman 19. Fouled out – Colgan: Jak. Davis.