As soon as she got her hands on the Lyon County League Tournament trophy, Lilly Skalsky was not about to let it out of her grasp
 
She held it in the team photo. She carried it into the lockerroom. And still had it firmly clutched in her hands after she and her Olpe teammates emerged from the lockerroom to greet their fans.
 
She’d waited too long to hold it to let it go.
 
“We’ve really wanted it for a long time,” Skalsky said of the tournament trophy, which Olpe secured with a 65-59 victory over Marais des Cygnes Valley in Saturday’s championship game. “These past four years, we’ve made it to the championship game and we hadn’t been able to get it done. Doing it together as a team this year, it really meant a lot to us.”
 
One of seven seniors on Olpe’s roster this season, Skalsky and her classmates had been part of three straight Eagle teams that had finished runner-up in the league tournament. Each of those runner-up finishes came to Lebo, which went on to post two Class 1A Division II runner-up state finishes and a third-place state showing.
 
But with the Wolves suffering heavy graduation losses and Olpe returning all but one player off last year’s runner-up team, a passing of a torch of sorts was seemingly in order, particularly when the Eagles topped the Wolves 39-31 curing their regular-season meeting.

 
Olpe’s toughest test in league play ahead of the tournament came in a seven-point win over Marais des Cygnes Valley to clinch the league regular-season title. The Trojans then ended Lebo’s three-year tourney reign with a 43-35 semifinal win while Olpe cruised into the finals with a 49-36 win over Burlingame.
 
Olpe got out quickly in the title game behind nine first-quarter points, leading 21-12 at the end of that period and still holding a 30-20 lead at halftime.
 
But thanks to a huge second half by Trojan standout Akyra Traver, the Eagles found themselves trailing 45-44 going into the final quarter. Traver scored 16 of MdCV’s 25 third-quarter points and then added seven more in the final period.
 
But Olpe countered with a balanced fourth quarter as multiple Eagles stepped up in the final period. Kayla Steinke scored six of her 15 points in the period, hitting a big 3-pointer late, while Alisa Skalsky added six of her 10 in the quarter as well as Olpe was able to pull away and then hold off the Trojans for their first league tournament title since 2021.
 
“It took an entire team effort,” Lilly Skalsky said. “We came together in the huddle and knew that if we wanted it we had to work right now and play good defense and that’s what led to our offense. Our team does really well with the drive and the kick and sharing the ball.”
 

 
The four-year drought from Olpe’s last league tournament title was the longest such title-less stretch for the program at the tourney since the girls tournament started back up in 1974 after previously being held from 1922-1930.
 
Olpe got its first league tourney title in 1977 and in the 48 years starting with that title in 1977, the Eagles captured 31 titles, including eight straight from 2006-13 and four straight from 2018-21.
 
With another 13 runner-up finishes during that stretch, the expectations are the highest for the program when it comes to the league tournament. Which added a little more pressure to this year’s team to end the drought.
 
“We love that kind of standard,” Olpe coach Deena Wilson said. “It pushes our girls to want it just as much.”
 
Olpe’s only loss before the league tournament came to Cherryvale in December at the Yates Center Tournament. The schedule going forward is extremely tough, with Olpe having games against the likes of Lyndon, Wabaunsee (Flinthills Shootout champion), Osage City (Flint Hills League regular season champion) and Nemaha Central.
 
But Wilson said the sweep of the league titles will go a long ways toward success in those games.
 
“This will really help our confidence,” Wilson said. “It is really special for these girls. They’ve played a lot of basketball together throughout the years. So it means a lot to come back and put one together after being so close the past few years. Their leadership as seniors and everybody else that stepped tonight … and it’s not just about tonight, but everything leading up to it. Everybody plays their role and it’s just a team effort.”
 
Skalsky scored 23 points in the championship game, capping a tournament where she averaged 13.7 points per game. 
 

 
Marais des Cygnes Valley’s runner-up finish was the best for the program since beating Olpe for the title in 2014. Traver had a huge tournament, scoring 33 points in the championship game – a tournament title game record – and also grabbing 14 rebounds.
 
She averaged 17 points per game in the tournament and is closing in on 1,300 career points after going over 500 career rebounds and 300 career steals and assists at the tournament.
 

 
LITTLE RIVER GETS PLENTY OUT OF TWO-DAY WHIRLWIND
 
Had Little River gotten off to a slow start in Saturday’s weather-delayed championship game of the St. John Mid-Winter Classic, it would have been understandable.
 
After all, the night before the Redskins played in what arguably was one of the biggest games the program has played in for quite some time. And yes, the Redskins have played in each of the last two Class 1A Division I state championship games.
 
On Friday, Little River welcomed Wichita East in a battle of Class 1A vs. Class 6A. Little River has a high school enrollment of 92 students. Wichita East has an enrollment of 2,481.
 
But given the opportunity to play such a game, Redskins coach Cy Rolfs didn’t blink an eye.
 
“We were excited for the opportunity to play in a game like that,” he said. “We knew it would be a good challenge, but knew that we were capable of competing at a high level. The game provided exactly what we needed, a chance to learn and get better. On top of that, it was an incredible environment that we won’t forget.”
 
Tied 30-30 at halftime with Wichita East, which was ranked No. 5 in the KBCA poll going into the game, Little River (No. 1 in 1A Division II) couldn’t quite knock off the Blue Aces, who claimed a 61-55 victory.
 
Little River bounced back right away on Saturday, rolling past Inman 69-43 to claim the championship at the St. John tourney. The Redskins jumped out to a 17-10 first-quarter lead in the title game and led 33-18 before exploding for 22 third-quarter points to blow the game wide open.
 
Arika Feldman led the way with 25 points while Havana Olander added 14 and Evie Look had 11. Feldman had scored 19 in the loss to East while Olander added 10.
 
Feldman averaged 20.3 points per game at the tourney, while Olander and Avery Lafferty each hit double figures twice at the tourney.
 
“It was great to finish off the St. John tournament on a high note,” Rolfs said. “I thought for putting forth the effort we did on Friday night, we responded extremely well with another good outing in the championship game the next day. I’m proud of our group and excited to watch their continued growth.”
 

 
SACRED HEART SHOWS ITS METTLE IN HILLSBORO TITLE RUN
 
It wouldn’t be difficult to find a deeper or more experienced team than the one Carl Hines coaches this season at Sacred Heart.
 
But the Knights feature plenty of other intangibles that served them well at the Hillsboro Trojan Classic.
 
Unfazed by a chilly-shooting first half in Saturday’s rescheduled championship game against a taller Moundridge, Sacred Heart warmed up after the break and displayed enough poise down the stretch to knock off Class 2A’s top-ranked Wildcats 47-41 for the title.
 
Freshman Emmy Lee scored 16 points and junior Addie Lee – playing on a swollen knee she aggravated during a non-tournament victory the previous night against Hutchinson Trinity –  added 15 for the Knights, who made four 3-pointers and 10 of 15 free throws in the second half for the victory.
 
Sacred Heart, which improved to 14-3, also defeated host Hillsboro 48-28 in a 4 vs. 5 quarterfinal matchup, then reached the title game with a 52-39 victory over top-seeded Remington. Saturday’s championship came eight days after the Knights’ semifinal victory due to inclement weather.
 
“For us this year it was a like a state tournament in January,” Hines said. “We got to see how we shape up, how we stack up against all those 2A teams. To come into Hillsboro and beat Hillsboro like we did was fantastic. We kind of took their will away from them. And then Remington is good. The 6-1 girl they’ve got (Emily O’Brien) is a load.
 
“Then to come in here against Moundridge, I told them we’re playing with house money. It was outstanding to finish the basketball game like we did and have the poise that we showed because we’re not real old.”
 

 
Sacred Heart, which played its starting five the entire game in its victory over Remington, used its bench sparingly in the final against Moundridge. The Knights shot 28% from the field in the first half, but trailed just 20-17.
 
The game stayed close throughout the third, with the Knights taking a 31-28 into the fourth as freshman Brynn Bechard scored the final points of the quarter to cap a Sacred Heart possession that lasted over a minute.
 
After each of the Lees hit 3-pointers in the first three minutes of the fourth quarter, the Knights led 37-31.
 
Moundridge, which got 12 points from Halle Hecox and 10 from Hattie Hecox, countered with seven unanswered points, taking a 38-37 lead on Cammi Unruh’s shot off the glass with 3:00 remaining. But Addie Lee countered with two free throws, then added four pivotal points with just over a minute remaining as senior Skylar Douglas hit one of two free throws and rebounded the miss, turning it into a three-point play that put Sacred Heart up 43-38.
 
Douglas, who scored 22 points in the tournament opener against Hillsboro and 13 in the win over Remington, finished with 12 against Moundridge.
 
“This team has a really high basketball IQ and we’ve got five girls who can score,” Hines said. “We’re not real deep, but the five that we start, they can play.
 
“Our bigs are good and we guard well. They’ve all got motors and they shoot it and get downhill.”
 

 
WASHBURN RURAL CLAIMS TITLE AT GLACIER’S EDGE
 
Getting a balanced performance throughout the tournament, Washburn Rural captured the Glacier’s Edge Invitational crown in Emporia. The Junior Blues fought off a tough challenge from Wichita Southeast in the championship game, pulling out a 48-42 victory.
 
“Wichita Southeast is a very fast, aggressive team and are a much better team than their record indicates,” Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. “We felt we played pretty hard and overcome some foul troubles because of how Southeast attacked the basket. We responded pretty well and it was very much a great team win for us with our group this year.”
 
With standout Maddie Vickery out since the start of the season with an injury, Rural has found a go-to standout in freshman Brynn Anderson, who was named MVP of the Glacier’s Edge. Anderson scored 20 points in the championship game and averaged 13.3 points and 6 rebounds per game in the tourney.
 
But Rural got contributions across the board in going 3-0 on the week. Josie Carlgren was in double figures each of the three games, averaging 11.3 points per game, including a double-double with 13 points and 12 rebounds in a 45-31 semifinal win over host Emporia.
 
Brooklyn Rutherford, Ella Hirschi and Hallie Walker each had games where they scored at least 8 points and Walker averaged 7.7 rebounds per game at the tourney. Bordewick also cited the defensive play of reserves Aly Hinck and Kam Smith.
 
 
OTHER GIRLS’ BASKETBALL STANDOUTS

• Hayden finished runner-up at the El Dorado Wildcat Classic, falling 42-32 to Maize South in the championship game. Hailey Schmidtlein was named to the all-tournament team and averaged 13 points per game at the tourney.
• Topeka High’s Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton broke the Trojans’ single-game scoring record with a 37-point outing in the Trojans’ 65-57 loss to Derby in the semifinals of the Capital City Classic. Despite the Trojans finishing sixth at the tournament, Rayton was named the tourney MVP.
• KK Emmot helped Shawnee Heights to a third-place finish at the Capital City Classic, averaging 20.3 points per game in the tourney with a high of 29 against Lawrence. Imani McGlory averaged 14.7 points per game in the tourney, including 20 against Garden City in the third-place game.
• Southeast of Saline’s Kyiah Samuelson poured in a career-high 30 points against Ellsworth on Friday, hitting 6 of 8 3-pointers in the game.
• Hiawatha’s Kenzie Nelson recorded her 500th career rebound on Friday against Perry-Lecompton, grabbing 16 in the game.