WICHITA – Shawnee Mission South girls coach Mark Western likes to draw from past experiences.
 
His Raider basketball team plays a pressuring defense he learned as an assistant coach in Colorado over 20 years ago.
 
That defense’s vulnerabilities were exposed in a non-league matchup with Blue Valley Northwest in mid-January.
 
But it worked Saturday in part to a senior who reminded Western of the veterans who led South to a state title in the same building two years ago.
 

Those historical reference points converged in the Class 6A state tournament championship game at Koch Arena, where Shawnee Mission South’s frenetic style eventually paved the way to a 57-45 victory in a rematch with Blue Valley Northwest.
 
Berndt, a 5-foot-10 senior, scored eight consecutive fourth-quarter points and finished with a game-high 19 as the Raiders extinguished the Huskies’ final challenge to earn their second 6A championship in three years and third overall. Shawnee Mission South finished 24-3.
 
“There was a point about halfway through the year where she decided to take over, assert herself and use her strengths, be a senior,” Western said of Berndt, whose flurry gave the Raiders a 56-42 lead with 2:07 remaining and started brewing South’s celebration.  “She’d seen it from Camryn Smith and Joss (Moore) and Zai (Funches) and Ashley VanElders, so she saw how to do it.
 
“But particularly Camryn. Laila kind of reminded me of when Cam would take over for us.”
 
Berndt distinguished herself while playing within the framework of an eight-player crew of chaos creators. South’s variations of man-to-man pressure disrupted opponents throughout the season, allowing the Raiders to stockpile victories outside of a pair of close losses to Olathe South and one to Liberty North (Mo).
 

The other team that came closest to cracking South’s code was Blue Valley Northwest. Of the Raiders’ 24 victories, only one – the 51-48 midseason home victory over the Huskies – came by single digits.
 
Northwest, led by senior standout Regan Becker, earned a second chance Saturday after qualifiying for state as the No. 8 seed with an 11-13 record. A quarterfinal win over previously unbeaten Wichita Heights, followed by a semifinal victory over Wichita East, gave the Huskies not only a shot at their first state title, but an above-.500 record.
 
And for most of the first half, they were at it again, leading 19-14 midway through the second quarter despite 29% shooting.
 
“Credit to Northwest and credit to Regan,” Western said. “The first time we threw pressure at her, she just picked it apart. I felt like the game plan for us was maybe just a little longer in terms of when it was going to happen.”
 
By “it,” Western meant the point at which the Raiders’ stealthy, trapping defense would start to drain Northwest’s energy and lead to scoring opportunities. Instead, the Raiders achieved the mission with a series of spurts, beginning with an 11-2 run that give them a 25-21 halftime lead.
 
“You’ve got to play four quarters with them and our shot wasn’t falling from early on,” Northwest coach Jeff Piggie said. “Our team continued to fight but we couldn’t get shots to fall.”
 

Still, Northwest, which finished 14 of 55 from the field (25.5%) and 3 of 24 from 3-point range (12.5%), chipped away at a pair of 11-point, second-half deficits. The Huskies scored six straight points in the third quarter to pull within 38-33 before South’s Ella Jack took a pass from Amiyah Carter and drained a 3-pointer from the top of the key at the buzzer.
 
The Raiders used baskets from Eleni Jouras and Carter to re-establish a 45-34 lead before Becker, Rylie Edwards and Molly Numrich combined on a 6-0 Northwest run. After Becker hit two free throws to make it 48-42, Berndt attacked the lane on four straight possessions hitting three layups and a pair of free throws that locked South into the driver’s seat.
 
Edwards finished with 10 points, and Becker, Kyra Becker and Numrich each had eight for Northwest, which finished 13-14 against challenging out-of-state competition and an Eastern Kansas League that produced the Class 5A champion (St. James Academy) and 4A runner-up (Bishop Miege).
 
“The dam broke and we just couldn’t plug it,” Piggie said. “They’re a great team. There’s a reason they’re state champs.”
 
South’s aggression left them without Kramer, Carter and Micah Kirkwood, all of whom fouled out in the fourth quarter. But the rest of South’s energetic eight – Elsie Slaven, Kylenna Potts, Jack, Jouras and Berndt – got the Raiders across the finish line.
 
“I felt like fatigue finally set in for both teams and we were rotating bodies in, and they didn’t have the same amount of depth,” Western said. “I felt like our pressure did what it was supposed to do in the second half, and we could be a little bit more aggressive. We were fortunate to get it done.”
 

CLASS 6A GIRLS CHAMPIONSHIP
 
SHAWNEE MISSION SOUTH 57, BLUE VALLEY NORTHWEST 45
 
Blue Valley Northwest … 9 … 12 … 12 … 12 … – … 45
Shawnee Mission South … 10 … 13 … 18 … 16 … – … 57
 
Blue Valley Northwest (13-14) – K. Becker 3-8 0-0 8, Edwards 3-9 4-6 10, R. Becker 2-15 4-4 8, Numrich 2-7 3-4 8, Domazet 2-5 1-2 5, Eils 2-7 2-3 6, Dahl 0-4 0-0 0. Totals 14-55 14-19 45.
 
Shawnee Mission South (24-3) – Kirkwood 1-6 1-1 3, Slaven 4-6 1-1 9, Potts 3-11 0-0 6, Jack 2-8 0-0 5, Johnson-Berndt 7-11 4-5 19, Kramer 2-9 0-0 4, Carter 3-5 0-0 6, Jouras 2-3 1-1 5. Totals 24-59 7-8 57.
 
3-point goals – Blue Valley Northwest 3-24 (K. Becker 2-4, Numrich 1-5, R. Becker 0-3, Eils 0-3, Dahl 0-3, Edwards 0-6); Shawnee Mission South 2-14 (Jack 1-2, Johnson-Berndt 1-2, Jouras 0-1, Kirkwood 0-2, Kramer 0-3, Potts 0-4). Rebounds – Blue Valley Northwest 40 (Edwards 10); Shawnee Mission South 40 (Johnson-Berndt, Jouras 6). Assists – Blue Valley Northwest 6 (Eils 3); Shawnee Mission South 10 (Kirkwood 4). Turnovers – Blue Valley Northwest 9, Shawnee Mission South 9. Total fouls – Blue Valley Northwest 10, Shawnee Mission South 20. Fouled out – Shawnee Mission South: Kirkwood, Kramer, Carter.