By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- Playing Piper in Wednesday's opening round of the Class 5A girls state tournament wasn't necessarily an ideal matchup for defending state champ Seaman.
Seaman senior Jaida Stallbaumer receives a hug from teammate Kinley Wilhelm (25) after a big shot at the end of the third quarter in Wednesday's 66-54 state tournament win over Piper. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Junior Maddie Gragg led Seaman with 20 points in Wednesday's 66-54 state tournament win over Piper. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
The draw meant that the undefeated Vikings would have to beat a good Piper team for a third time after the Pirates had given Seaman its two closest games of the season -- two and one-point nail-biters -- in the regular season in United Kansas Conference play.
But instead of grousing about the matchup, the No. 2-seeded Vikings, now 23-0, embraced the challenge, using a big third quarter to turn back the Pirates 66-54 at White Auditorium and move on to Friday's 6 p.m. semifinal to face No. 3 seed Andover, a 49-44 winner over St. James Academy.
"It just comes down to pursuing,'' Seaman coach Matt Tinsley said of the first-round matchup. "You don't want to be on the defensive, we just don't want to just get through it. We want to be in attack mode.
"We weathered the storm, we slowed the game down in the second half and we made plays when we needed to make plays.''
"We were happy (to draw Piper) because we know how they play, we know what their players want to do,'' said Seaman junior Maddie Gragg, who led the Vikings with 20 points. "We know how they want do drive, how they want to shoot 3s, so I was happy.''
Piper (18-5) led 17-14 at the end of the opening quarter and went up 25-18 at the 4:45 mark of the second quarter, but Seaman rallied to take a 26-25 lead with 2:11 remaining in the half on a Jaida Stallbaumer free throw.
Piper regained the lead on a Grace McCallop 3-pointer and there was a tie at 28 before Reniah Hollinshed gave the Pirates a 30-28 halftime advantage.
"I told the girls at halftime, 'We've been in this situation before. This is what we've got to do, just come out and be ourselves,' '' Tinsley said.
Piper led 33-32 after a Avary Vallejo 3-pointer, but Seaman went on an 11-0 run to take a 43-33 lead on an Anna Becker hoop with 3:23 left in the third stanza.
Seaman finished the quarter with a 6-0 run, capped by a Stallbaumer buzzer-beater, to take a 52-40 cushion into the fourth quarter.
The Viking advantage grew to a game-high 16 points (56-40) with 6:40 remaining on a basket by Kinley Wilhelm but the Pirates made things interesting with a 12-1 run that got Piper within five (57-52) before Seaman ended the game with a 9-2 run.
Gragg went three of five from 3-point range and seven of eight from the free throw line en route to tying G. McCallop for game-high honors.
Stallbaumer, who had a breakout state tournament performance in the 2024 state tournament as a junior, came through again in a big way Wednesday, scoring 18 points on seven of 12 shooting from the field.
"Last year at state here against Andover her eyes lit up and she had 16 points in the third quarter alone,'' Tinsley said. "I told her walking into the gym, 'Hey, this is your gym.' She gave me that little smile and I knew she was going to have a good night.''
"The state tournament is always like the most exciting tournament and all the fans, all our fans, the student section also helps out a lot, so the state tournament I guess I play my best, but it feels like a normal game to me,'' Stallbaumer said.
Stallbaumer was able to get to the rim on several drives, which opened things up for the Viking offense.
"My threes haven't been falling so if I see an opening for a drive and if they keep falling I'm going to keep going, so that's what I did,'' she said.
Seaman senior Ava Esser (40) had a double-double with 10 points and 11 rebounds in Wednesday's 66-54 state tournament win over Piper. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Esser, a 6-foot senior, added a double-double for the Vikings with 10 points and 11 rebounds while Becker had 9 points and six assists.
G. McCallop had 20 points and Faith McCallop 17 for the Pirates, but Seaman made the Piper stars work hard for their points, with the McCallops combining to go 13 of 41 from the field.
ANDOVER 49, ST. JAMES ACADEMY 44 -- No. 3 seed Andover, coached by former Topeka High coach Hannah Alexander, took control down the stretch to take a 49-44 first-round win over No. 6 St. James Academy in Wednesday's final game of the night.
The Trojans, who improved to 22-1, trailed 18-16 after a low scoring first half, but used a 15-10 third quarter to take a 31-28 lead and held off the Thunder (18-5) the rest of the way.
Andover, which will face defending champion Seaman in a 6 p.m. semifinal on Friday, had three players crack double-digits, led by sophomore Bella Bouddhara with 16 points.
Senior Aliyah Green had a double-double with 10 points and a game-high 12 rebounds while sophomore Asia'H Sullivan scored 10 points.
Senior Riley Kerwin scored a game-high 20 points with three 3-pointers for St. James while junior Regan Becker had a double-double with12 points and 11 rebounds.
ST. THOMAS AQUINAS 51, HAYS 48 -- No. 8 seed St. Thomas Aquinas, a perennial 5A contender, scored the final three points of the game, all by junior Alexandra Crouse, to pull out a 51-48 win over top seed and previously unbeaten Hays in Wednesday's opening game of the tournament.
Cruose hit a bucket with 43 seconds remaining to break a 48-48 tie and then hit a free throw with 12.7 seconds left to account for the final margin for the Saints (16-7), who do not have a senior on their roster.
After trailing 10-2 early and 10-5 at the end of the first quarter, Hays (22-1) led by as many as eight points in the second stanza on the way to a 23-19 halftime lead.
Aquinas and Hays battled back and forth in the third and the game was tied 38-all at the start of the fourth quarter, which included seven lead changes and a tie.
Crouse led the Saints with 21 points while sophomore Laila Boylan added 16.
Senior Molly Martin led Hays with 21 points (four 3-pointers) while freshman Jenna Schmeidler added 18.
SPRING HILL 61, MAIZE SOUTH -- No. 4 seed Spring Hill landed the final blow in a crazy first-round contest, pulling out a 61-56 victory over No. 5 seed Maize South.
Spring Hill (20-3) led 15-11 after the first quarter and took a 34-22 lead to the locker room at halftime before Maize South (19-4) answered with a 23-7 third quarter to go in front 45-41.
The Broncos fought back with a run of their own, however, out-scoring the Mavericks 20-11 the rest of the way.
Senior Sydney Buscher had game-high totals of 26 points and 13 points to lead Spring Hill while Bronco junior Isla Herman also registered a double-double with 16 points and 12 rebounds while hitting all of her team's four 3-pointers.
Sophomore Jaela Thompson led Maize South with 19 points while junior Charley Hill added 13 points and junior Aliyah Singhateh grabbed 11 rebounds.
The Broncos advanced to a 2 p.m. semifinal on Friday to face St. Thomas Aquinas, which knocked off top seed Hays 51-48 in Wednesday's first game.
SEAMAN GIRLS 66, PIPER 54
Piper 17 13 10 14 -- 54
Seaman 14 14 24 14 -- 66
Piper (18-5) -- Vallejo 1-4 0-0 3, Roth 1-4 0-0 3, G. McCallop 8-21 1-1 20, F. McCallop 5-20 4-4 17, Gerber 4-7 1-2 9, Benedetto 0-0 0-0 0, McPherson 0-0 0-0 0, Teasley 0-0 0-0 0, H. McCallop 0-1 0-0 0, Ochs 0-0 0-0 0, Hollinshed 1-2 0-0 2, Eidson 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-59 6-7 54.
Seaman (23-0) -- J. Stallbaumer 7-12 4-8 18, Becker 3-11 3-4 9, Wilhelm 2-9 0-0 5, Gragg 5-8 7-8 20, Esser 4-5 2-4 10, Frickey 0-0 0-0 0, Ketron 0-0 0-0 0, Miller 1-1 2-2 4, Spencer 0-0 0-0 0, Beaton 0-1 0-0 0, Dreher. Totals 22-47 18-26 66.
3-point shots -- Piper 8-23 (G. McCallop 3-7, F. McCallop 3-10, Vallejo 1-3, Roth 1-2, H. McCallop 0-1), Seaman 4-14 (Gragg 3-5, Wilhelm 1-2, J. Stallbaumer 0-3, Becker 0-3, Beaton 0-1). Total fouls -- Piper 21, Seaman 10. Fouled out -- Gerber. Technical fouls -- none.
CLASS 5A GIRLS STATE BASKETBALL
Wednesday's results
St. Thomas Aquinas 51, Hays 48
Spring Hill 61, Maize South 56
Seaman 66, Piper 54
Andover 49, St. James Academy 44
Friday's games
2 p.m. -- St. Thomas Aquinas (16-7) vs. Spring Hill (20-3)
6 -- Seaman (23-0) vs. Andover (22-1)
