By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- No. 2 seed Silver Lake never trailed in Wednesday's Class 3A girls quarterfinal against Hesston at White Auditorium after scoring the first six points of the night.
But the 26-1 Eagles had to fight off multiple Swather runs before finishing off a 54-45 win to advance to Friday's 3:30 p.m. semifinal at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
Silver Lake senior Kailyn Hanni (4) scored 29 points with six steals in Wednesday's 54-45 Class 3A quarterfinal win over Hesston Wednesday at White Auditorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"Huge credit to Hesston,'' Silver Lake coach Kyle Porter said. "They're a great basketball team and I think they played up to their potential tonight. They played at a really high level, especially their bigs, their young bigs. They did a great job.
"The first half I felt like we were about ready to break it open and then they went on that run in the second quarter to finish it. They did a much better job of trying to play through their bigs the third quarter. We got in foul trouble and we had to adapt and improvise there and we were able to take their best punch and then throw one of our own and finish the game out. I'm super proud of our team.''
Silver Lake, which is in the 3A Final Four for the fifth straight season, including a state title in 2024 and a runnerup finish a year ago, will face No. 3 seed Holcomb (25-2) on Friday after the Longhorns advanced with a 45-32 quarterfinal win over Ellsworth.
Silver Lake led 15-9 at the end of the opening quarter after a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from sophomore Karys Deiter and went up 27-13 after a traditional three-point play from Eagle senior star Kailyn Hanni.
But Hesston ended the half with an 8-1 run to cut its deficit to 28-21 and after falling behind 36-23 at the 5:35 mark of the third quarter the Swathers put together a 16-3 rally to tie the game at 39 with 6:16 remaining.
Silver Lake junior Savanah Wende reacts after hitting a big 3-pointer in Wednesday's 54-45 Class 3A quarterfinal win over Hesston at White Auditorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The tie lasted just 21 seconds, however, with junior Savanah Wende draining a 3-pointer to give Silver Lake a 42-39 advantage, part of a 10-2 Eagle run that put them back in control.
Hanni connected on three of four free throws over the final 49.6 seconds, closing out a game-high 29-point performance while hitting 11 of 16 free throws and coming up with six steals.
Silver Lake sophomore Karys Deiter had nine points, seven rebounds and four steals in Wednesday's 54-45 Class 3A quarterfinal win over Hesston at White Auditorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Deiter added nine points with seven rebounds and four steals as Silver Lake forced 26 Hesston turnovers, while Wende had seven points with a pair of 3-pointers.
Jacy Proctor, a 6-foot-1 sophomore, led Hesston (17-10) with 15 points and seven rebounds while 6-foot freshman Tessa Martin added 12 points.
"They played their best, and that's credit to them,'' Hanni said of the Swathers. "They prepared well and they punched us in the mouth in the second half there and we just took it and we kept going.''
Hanni said Wednesday's close game should help give the Eagles confidence as they try to finish out their title run on Friday and Saturday in Hutchinson.
"I think it will, just playing with that adrenalin and just maybe the pressure of being at the state tournament, I think this will help us,'' she said.
SILVER LAKE GIRLS 54, HESSTON 45
Hesston 9 12 11 13 -- 45
Silver Lake 15 13 11 15 -- 54
Hesston (17-10) – Williams 2-4 0-0 4, Lehman 1-3 0-0 2, Yoder 2-9 2-4 6, Proctor 6-11 3-5 15, Grilliot 0-2 0-0 0, Warden 1-6 0-0 3, Wray 1-2 0-0 3, Martin 5-5 2-4 12. Totals 18-42 7-13 45.
Silver Lake (26-1) – Kailyn Hanni 9-18 11-16 29, Whitehead 2-7 0-0 4, Heiman 1-1 0-0 2, Deiter 3-8 2-2 9, Wende 2-9 1-2 7, Erb 0-0 0-0 0, Kylie Hanni 1-1 0-0 3. Totals 18-44 14-20 54.
3-point goals – Hesston 2-13 (Warden 1-3, Wray 1-2, Yoder 0-5, Williams 0-1, Lehman 0-1, Proctor 0-1), Silver Lake 4-17 (Wende 2-8, Deiter 1-3, Kylie Hanni 1-1, Whitehead 0-3, Kailyn Hanni 0-2). Total fouls – Hesston 17, Silver Lake 12. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- none.
