By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Top-ranked Seaman's 24-game winning streak appeared to be in serious jeopardy for much of Wednesday's United Kansas Conference makeup game against No. 5 Piper.
Junior Maddie Gragg hit a follow shot at the buzzer to give Seaman a 48-47 win over Piper Wednesday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But Maddie Gragg and the Vikings found a way to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat, with the junior standout hitting a follow shot at the buzzer to give Seaman a 48-47 victory and the outright UKC title.
"Just find a way to win,'' Seaman coach Matt Tinsley said. "We have some tough kids in that locker room, oh my goodness, and (Piper) got us out of our comfort zone.
"But these girls are just so tough and they battled and we got back in it. We made it interesting by missing free throws late, but we had kids step up and I don't have enough time here to talk about everything that these kids did to contribute but it was definitely a team effort against a great team. We're happy with the win, especially playing back-to-back games. This has been a tough week.''
Seaman, which improved to 19-0 overall and 15-0 in the conference with their 25th straight win, trailed the Pirates (15-4, 12-3) by four points at the end of the opening quarter, by as many as seven points in the second and third quarters and by five in the fourth stanza, but the Vikings never lost contact.
After trailing by five (43-38) with less than three and a half minutes left, Seaman used an 8-2 run to take its first lead of the second half (46-45) with just 30.8 seconds remaining on two Gragg free throws.
Piper senior star Grace McCallop answered at the other end with 16 seconds left to put the Pirates back in front 47-46 before Seaman called a timeout with 14.1 seconds remaining to set up its final play.
Viking senior star Anna Becker drove the length of the court and missed a shot, but after players from both teams got their hands on the ball, Gragg scooped up the loose ball and scored just before the final buzzer.
"Maddie always has great ball awareness and got it and put it up,'' Tinsley said. "That just shows that we can be tougher than any situation we face.''
"I think there were like seven tips during that,'' Gragg said. "I didn't know how much time there was but I was just like, 'Shoot it, make it.'
''It's been a while since I made one like that, probably since like kindergarten.''
Seaman senior Kinley Wilhelm, defending Piper's Faith McCallop, scored 12 points and grabbed eight rebounds in Wednesday's 48-47 UKC win over Piper. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Gragg finished with a team-high 14 points while senior Kinley Wilhelm also had a big night for the Vikings, finishing with 12 points while also grabbing eight rebounds.
"We've had a lot of practice that we can be down but we've just got to keep our heads up, stay together as a team, stay collected, have that winning mentality and do what we need to do,'' Wilhelm said. "Winning (league) is obviously great. It makes us feel good and gets us ready for postseason.''
G. McCallop led all scorers with 18 points while her younger sister, junior Faith McCallop, added 13 points, and sophomore Brylee Gerber 10 points.
Wednesday's come-from-behind win was Seaman's second nailbiter with Piper, with the Vikings taking a 69-67 win over the Pirates in the season-opener.
Seaman will close out its regular season at Shawnee Heights Friday.
SEAMAN GIRLS 48, PIPER 47
Piper 16 14 11 6 -- 47
Seaman 12 13 11 12 -- 48
Piper (15-4, 12-3) – G. McCallop 7-17 2-2 18, F. McCallop 3-10 5-6 13, Ochs 0-1 0-0 0, Gerber 5-12 0-0 10, Vallejo 2-7 0-0 6, Benedetto 0-0 0-0 0, Roth 0-3 0-0 0, Hollinshed 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-50 7-8 47.
Seaman (19-0, 15-0) – Stallbaumer 0-5 0-2 0, Becker 3-13 2-4 8, Wilhelm 4-9 3-4 12, Gragg 5-9 3-4 14, Esser 2-6 3-4 7, Miller 2-2 1-2 6, Beaton 0-1 1-2 1. Totals 16-44 13-22 48.
3-point goals – Piper 6 (G. McCallop 2, F. McCallop 2, Vallejo 2), Seaman 3 (Wilhelm, Gragg, Miller). Total fouls – Piper 18, Seaman 12. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
