KSHSAA 1A State Basketball Recaps from Dodge City
(Courtesy of the Kansas State High School Activities Association)
Boys Quarterfinals Game 1: Little River 65 St. Francis 46
The Redskins took off with a 10 point lead in the first quarter ending in 21-11. Trey Rolfs and Jayden Garrison helped to take the win against the Indians by scoring a total of 22 points each in the game.
The second quarter proved beneficial to the Redskins, by them gaining another 15 points. The Indians tried to keep up, but could only manage 8 more points, starting off halftime with the Redskins ahead at 36-19.
Quarter three the Indians really kicked it up a notch and scored 22 points, but unfortunately, it wasn’t enough, the Redskins managed 16 points that quarter totaling up to Redskins 52 and Indians 41.
For the Indians, Jesse Baxter was their lead player, helping get them 18 total points. The Indians were not able to turn it over in the last quarter, final score Little River Redskins 65 and St. Francis Indians 46. The Redskins will advance to semifinals, the game will take place on Friday, March 13th at 4:45 p.m.
Allie Gier, Tournament Correspondent. Presented by BTI Equipment.
Game 2: Boys Quarterfinal St. John 59 Frankfort 38
Both teams started the game off aggressive, there was lots of back and forth between the two teams. The St. John Tigers proved to be more combative, however, taking off in the first quarter. The Tigers ended the quarter ahead by ten points, 14-4.
The same attitude was carried over into the second quarter but this time, with more passion. Frankfort Wildcats’ defense couldn’t withstand the Tiger’s rapidly advancing offense. With the Tigers adding 17 points to their rising score. They led at the half, 31-9.
The Wildcats started to turn things around in the third quarter, managing to score ten points while the Tigers only got nine. This perseverance started to become obvious by the time halftime was over. Their highest scoring player Gavin Cornelison scored a total of nine points that quarter, helping them to push back against the Tigers.
Quarter four was where tensions were high. The Tigers proved how quick they are on their feet and the Wildcats showed that they can fight back. One instance is number five, Cody Rodgers, (11), while the ball was mid-throw, was snatched out of the air to be passed and scored. For almost one minute, the Wildcats would not let the ball go to the other side of the court. With their persistence they managed to score 19 points. Finishing out the game, Tigers 59, Wildcats 38. The St. John Tigers will be advancing into the semifinals and will be playing the Little River Redskins on Friday March 13th at 4:45.
Allie Gier, Tournament Correspondent. Presented by BTI Equipment.
Game 3: Boys Quarterfinals Stockton 38 Berean 33
The Berean Warriors going into this are the number one seed, not losing a game yet this season. Stockton, on the other hand, are sitting at the number eight seed. Brean won the tip-off and held the ball at their end of the court for over thirty seconds. It was taken from them for a few seconds but the Warriors stole it back to score the first points of the game. Despite the seed placings, the first quarter ended with the Stockton Tigers ahead 9-4.
Quarter two let the Tigers have time to shine through their low seed. The Warriors fought with what they could, managing three more points this quarter. The Tigers nearly doubled their points, adding seven to their score. The Tigers finished the first half of the game with 16-7.
Stockton came back in quarter three ahead but Berean started to push back. Warriors Chase Wiebe, shot a three that changed the lead. That shot let the Warriors get ahead and end quarter three 21-20.
Wiebe led off the final quarter by making yet another three-pointer. Although in the lead for a bit, the Tigers got back as quickly as they fell. The last minute of the game, the intensity rose. Stockton got up by seven in the fourth quarter. The final score was Tigers 38, Warriors 33. Stockton was 9-11 at the end of their regular season, they then went on to win all three games at their regional tournament and won both games at sub-state, coming to the state tournament as the number eight seed. Stockton will be advancing to the SemiFinals and will play on Friday, March 13th at 8:15 p.m.
Game 4: Boys Quarterfinals South Central 41 Lebo 38
Both teams started off the game by passing the ball back and forth, up and down the court. That theme of switching back and forth became prominent in the first quarter. The South Central Timberwolves made the first goal of the game but the Lebo Wolves followed close behind. The theme seemed to have affected the score. The two teams consistently tied and took the lead from each other. They ended off the first quarter with South Central ahead 10-7.
Quarter two was in the Timberwolves favor, their score climbed as the time declined. Although Lebo gained ten points, they couldn’t keep up with the Timberwolves as they gained 12 this quarter. The Timberwolves led into halftime with 22-17.
In quarter three, Lebo started to climb back up, but with every attempt they made, it seemed the Timberwolves answered. Lebo was able to break that pattern near the end of the quarter, close to catching back up but were unable to. The Timberwolves ended the quarter in the close lead with 30-27.
Quarter four Lebo took the long awaited lead at the beginning of the quarter. Shortly after Lebo got the lead, the Timberwolves took it right back. It was tied up with about three minutes left on the clock, the Timberwolves took the lead by three points. South Central in an attempt to run out the clock at 40 seconds and a three point lead fouled, giving Lebo a chance to take the lead, but were unable to do so. The final score was South Central 41, Lebo 38. South Central will advance and play Stockton on Friday March 13th at 8:15.
Allie Gier, Tournament Correspondent. Presented by BTI Equipment.
This one will be one for the memory books for the Centralia Lady Panthers as they rallied from an 18-point deficit at the start of the fourth quarter to outscore previously unbeaten Cunningham to escape with a 48-46 triumph in the opening quarterfinal game of the Class 1A State Girls Championship at United Wireless Arena in Dodge City on Thursday afternoon.
Senior Kennedy Becker scored the game-winner for the Lady Panthers on a wide-open layup with 14 seconds and then the Panthers did their best defensive effort to keep Lady ‘Cat Morgan Meyers from tying the game when her driving left-handed layup just rolled off the rim with 3 seconds remaining as the Panthers picked off the miss and ran out the clock.
The celebration was a stunning outcome for the Panthers who trailed 21-15 and 34-22 in the opening half and then fell further behind at 43-25 when Meyers scored all of her teams’ 9 points in the third quarter to seemingly put the game out of reach.
But just as the Lady ‘Cats offense had been firing on all cylinders, they went cold in the fourth. It was bittersweet for Meyers, a 5-6 junior guard, who led all scorers with 24 points, as she missed three of four free throws in the final quarter as well as two missed floaters in the final minute.
Becker topped the Lady Panthers’ scoring with 21 points as she cashed in 9-of-10 field goals. Morgan Kramer added 10 to the winning cause. Meyers was the lone Cunningham player in double figures.
The loss ended the dream season for the Lady Wildcats, who finish at 24-1. Centralia, meanwhile, moves into Friday’s 3 p.m. semifinal against the winner of the Olpe-Norwich quarterfinal. The Lady Panthers improved their season record to 18-8. It will be the Panthers’ 13th appearance in the final four and was their 30th state tournament victory. Should they advance to Saturday’s scheduled title game, it would be their 10th championship appearance.
Brett Marshall, Tournament Correspondent. Brought to you by BTI Equipment.
It was a steady start to finish for the Olpe Lady Eagles as they swept past the Norwich Lady Eagles, 59-43, in the second game Thursday of the Class 1A State Championship quarterfinals at United Wireless Arena.
The victory for the No. 3-seeded and unbeaten Eagles (25-0) sends them into Friday’s semifinals at 3 p.m. against Centralia’s Panthers.
After building a nearly double-digit lead by halftime, the Olpe girls expanded the advantage with a 21-15 surge in the third quarter. Maya Bishop scored 7 of those points in that stretch.
Turnovers played a big role in the game’s outcome as Norwich was guilty of 22 miscues forced by a tenacious pressing defense by Olpe. Olpe, meanwhile, had just 9 turnovers.
In the final quarter, after trailing 49-34, Norwich could only close to within 13 points on two occasions. Both teams shot the ball well, with Olpe hitting 22-of-45 shots for 45.8 percent while Norwich was 17-of-33 for 51.5 percent.
Olpe had a balanced scoring attack with four players in double figures. Bishop and Macy Smith shared scoring honors with 14 points each, Mary Heins added 12 and Neleh Davis contributed 10. For Norwich, which ends its season with a 21-4 record, got a game-high 17 points from Avery Rosenhagen.
Olpe got out to a fast start, leading early 7-2 only to have Norwich battle back to close to within 11-7 before the first quarter ended with the Gold and White Eagles up 11-7. With junior Hattie Fisher hitting a pair of 3-pointers early and then late in the second, Olpe jumped in front 28-19 by intermission.
Smith’s 10 points led a balanced Olpe scoring attack in the first half, as five different players got in the book while the team hit 11-of-24 baskets for a solid 45.8 percent. Ten turnovers hampered the Norwich White and Black Eagles. Rosenhagern had 7 points to lead Norwich by halftime.
Brett Marshall, TOurnament Correspondent. Presented by BTI Equipment.
If 7 is heaven, then the Central Plains Lady Oilers are one step closer to the prize in the sky.
The six-time defending state champion Lady Oilers opened defense of their 2019 Class 1A state championship with a dominating 93-47 victory over the out-gunned Ingalls Lady Bulldogs in a matchup of the No. 1 vs. No. 8 seeded teams on Thursday night at United Wireless Arena in Dodge City.
With Thursday’s triumph, the Lady Oilers improved to 25-0 and now are in the semifinals for the seventh straight year and eighth time in the last nine seasons. They will take on the Otis-Bison-Hanover winner, which was the final game Thursday night.
The cast of players who paved the way was the usual for coach Pat Stiles as senior Emily Ryan surpassed the 3,000-point mark by scoring 20 points, in just 20 minutes, 20 seconds of action before departing for good at the 3:08 mark of the third quarter and her team up 71-17. She entered the game with 2,987 points and crossed the threshold at the 5:50 mark of the second quarter when she took a nifty assist from sophomore Kassidy Nixon for a sweeping layup from the right side to put her team up 35-3. There was no game stoppage, no celebration by Ryan, her team or the bench. The beat just goes on for this group.
In the process, the Lady Oilers also extended their state-record winning streak to 136 games, which ranks third nationally all-time. The 93 points fell short of the Class 1A state mark of 104 set by Little River in 1995 against Waconda East and also by Weskan against Claflin’s Lady Wildcats (pre-Central Plains days) when all-time Kansas scoring leader Jackie Stiles was playing.
The Lady Oilers got their well-greased offense going early, scoring the first 7 points, then went on an 8-1 run and closed out the first quarter on top 23-3. That lead was expanded to 57-14 at halftime after another explosion of 34 points in the second period to just 11 for the Lady Bulldogs.
In the early third, the Lady Oilers went on another surge, this time 14-3 to go up 71-17 and it was 73-27 at the end of the period. Substituting freely, coach Stiles at one point had one freshman, a sophomore, two juniors and a reserve senior on the floor.
Ryan’s 20-point output gave her 3,007 with two games remaining and she is well shy of No. 2 all-time scoring leader Laurie Koehn of Moundridge, who tallied 3,160. Stiles, the daughter of the current Oiler coach, finished her amazing prep career with 3,603 points. Susan Wolf of Andover (2,847) and Sublette’s Shalee Lehning (2,510) round out the top 5 all-time scorers for Kansas girls.
If anything is evident about this Central Plains team, though, it is that Ryan, while the ringleader, is not the only weapon in the Oilers’ arsenal. Junior Lexi Oeser came off the bench to score 12 points, sophomore Kassidy Nixon and senior Delaney Rugan each scored 11 points while junior Jennah Jeffrey and senior Addison Crites contributed 10 apiece.
The Lady Oilers hit a blistering 37 of 63 field goals for 58.7 percent. Ryan showed her all-around skills by grabbing 5 rebounds, handing out 5 assists, making 6 steals and blocking 3 shots. Ingalls’ 47 points were the most yielded by the Oilers as most of their regular season games had the running clock in the fourth quarter. Ingalls finished its season with a 16-9 record.
Brett Marshall, Tournament Correspondent. Presented by BTI Equipment.
Otis-Bison was hoping to come away with an opportunity to face defending Class 1A state champion Central Plains for a third time this season. Hanover was searching for a victory that would propel them into the semifinals Friday in a rematch with the Lady Oilers from the 2019 state championship game.
When the final buzzer sounded, it was the Hanover Lady WildCats who came out on top with a hard-fought 41-36 triumph in the final quarterfinal game of this year’s opening round. And nobody wanted an opportunity to end Central Plains’ drive for an unprecedented seventh straight title.
But midway through the final game, the sponsoring Kansas State High School Activities Association announced that the remainder of the 2020 state championships would be cancelled due to the Coronavirus-19 outbreak. The KSHSAA announcement came on Twitter and Facebook.
So the victory by Hanover leaves them with a 24-1 season record while Otis-Bison, with the other two losses to Central Plains, finishes its season at 22-3.
It was a bittersweet ending for Otis-Bison’s Madeleine Wiltse, who is headed to Kearney State, Neb., next year. The 6-2 senior post ended her career with a game-high 25 points coming on 12 of 17 shooting. She added in 13 rebounds for a double-double in her career finale.
For Hanover, which had won 1A-I championships in 2017 and 2018, Tianna Lohse led the scoring with 16 points and Cadlee Stallbaumer added 10. Otis-Bison hit 16 of 36 field goals for 44.4 percent while Hanover was chilly at 11 of 49 for 22.4 percent. The big difference came at the free throw line, Hanover going 14 of 21 to Otis-Bison’s 4 of 12.
After trailing by five at intermission, the Lady Wildcats outscored the Lady Cougars 13-8 in the third to send the game to the fourth all knotted at 30-all. The final five-point margin was the largest of the game for Hanover.
In the first half, it was the Wiltse show for the Lady Cougars as the senior tallied 18 of her team’s 22 points to give them a 22-17 lead at the break. It had been a 12-8 Otis-Bison edge after one quarter.
The Lady Wildcats, meanwhile, had struggled with their shooting in the first 16 minutes, managing just 5 of 25 from the field for a chilly 20 percent. The Lady Cougars, on the other hand, were 11 of 22 for an even 50 percent.
Hanover had gotten just 6 points from Stallbaumer and 5 from Lohse.
Brett Marshall, Tournament Correspondent. Presented by BTI Equipment.
Game 5: Girls Quarterfinal Centralia 48 Cunningham 46
Game 6: Girls Quarterfinal Olpe 59 Norwich 43
Game 7: Girls Quarterfinal Central Plains 93 Ingalls 47
Game 8: Girls Quarterfinal Hanover 41 Otis-Bison 36
