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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
SALINA -- The Hayden girls basketball team pulled away from Clay Center Thursday in the first round of the Class 4A state tournament, 56-44, to advance to a semifinal date with Bishop Miege, winners of the last five 4A championships.
Hayden girls basketball coach Carvel Reynoldson talks to his Wildcats during Thursday's 56-44 Class 4A state tournament win over Clay Center. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
The Tigers gave Hayden all they could handle for the first two periods.
Senior post Raegann McDonald accounted for 12 of Clay Center’s 24 points prior to intermission. Hayden clung to a 26-24 lead at the break, prompting some defensive changes.
“They played a great first half,” Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson said of Clay Center. “They did a great job posting us up. So, we made an adjustment on how we were going to guard (McDonald). And I think it helped.
“Of course, it always helps to hit shots and we were able to find people under the basket.”
Making a big impact in the second half was Hayden freshman Hailey Schmidtlein, who scored 12 of her 16 points after halftime. She was disruptive on defense and got loose in the open court.
“She’s the heart and soul of our defense, and offensively she’s just a little bit different,” Reynoldson said of Schmidtlein. “She can break out in transition.”
“Honestly, I felt lots of nerves. But coach said, ‘Just go have fun out there.’ Our mindset is just to go out and play with everything you’ve got,” Schmidtlein said of her first exposure to state tournament basketball.
Senior Millie Ramsey (right) led Hayden with 17 points in Thursday's 56-44 Class 4A state tournament win over Clay Center. [Photo by Todd Fertig/TSN]
Leading Hayden with 17 points was senior Millie Ramsey, followed by Schmidtlein’s 16. Seniors Brylee Meier and Norma Greco added 13 and 10, respectively.
Schmidtlein has been watching the Hayden Wildcats for years. Her sister, Riley, was a 2022 graduate. Hailey Schmidtlein understands the rich tradition of the Hayden program.
“It doesn’t feel real,” Schmidtlein said. “Like, it’s insane from watching my sister play and now I’m the one on the court. It’s just a crazy feeling.”
The freshman praised her older teammates, particularly the four seniors.
“They’ve not only been great leaders, but they’ve taught me how to be a leader,” Schmidtlein said. “They’ve shown me so much love and support, being a freshman starting with four seniors. They don’t treat me any different.”
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
WICHITA -- The Washburn Rural boys’ run to state was ended by the tournament-tested Wichita Heights Falcons 64-44 Wednesday night at Koch Arena.
Senior Amare Jones (0) led Washburn Rural with 16 points in Wednesday's 64-44 state tournament loss to Wichita Heights. [File photo/TSN]
The veterans of the past three Class 6A championship finals had too much experience, too much length and too much athleticism for the Junior Blues in the first-round matchup.
The Junior Blues crawled out of a hole to pull to a 13-11 deficit to close the first period. But they went more than six minutes without a field goal in the second period and fell behind 29-16 at the intermission. The Falcons padded their lead by a few points in each of the next two periods.
Scoring was a challenge from start to finish for Washburn Rural. They hit 14-41 shots, 5-19 from behind the arc. They collected just six offensive rebounds off their misses.
“The power of Wichita Heights and what coach Joe Auer has created there is their defense,” said Washburn Rural coach Alex Hutchins. “They are so hard to keep pace with just because they make it so much work to score. And even when you do score, you’re so taxed just trying to get that bucket that it makes it even harder to defend because of how much it took out of you to score.
“When you play a team that is that athletic and that disciplined and that well-coached, you don’t get some of the shots that you’re used to getting.”
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- Top seed and undefeated Highland Park got everything it wanted from No. 8 Andover Central in Thursday's Class 5A boys state tournament opener at White Auditorium, but senior Mikey Williams made sure that the Scots lived to see another day.
Senior Mikey Williams scored a game-high 33 points in Thursday's 65-56 Class 5A state tournament win over Andover Central. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Williams scored a career-high 33 points, including an amazing 7 of 7 performance from 3-point range as Highland Park advanced to Friday's 4 p.m. semifinal with a 65-56 win over Central.
"I just knew going into it I had to step up,'' Williams said. "We know we rely on Ja'Corey (Robinson) and Jamon (Wilson) and all our other guys to step up, but I know in every game I can't just rely on another guy I know I've got to step up and do it for myself and do it for my team and do whatever it takes to get us to the next round and that's what I had to do.''
The Jaguars trailed by just a 24-22 margin at the end of the first quarter and led 35-33 at halftime before the Scots rallied in the third stanza for a 61-56 advantage.
Hi Park went up by 10 (56-46) on a Williams hoop with 6:19 remaining, but the Jaguars cut their deficit to two (58-56) at the 3:20 mark before the Scots ended the game with a 7-0 run.
The Scots also got 14 points (7 of 9 shooting) and a game-high eight rebounds from senior Isaiah Kelley.
Andover Central, which stayed in the hunt with a 10 of 21 performance from 3-point range, was led by Jayden Brown with 17 points (4 of 8 3s) while Jace Jefferson added 12 points on four treys and Jason Adler also had 12 points.
Highland Park advanced to the state semifinals for the third straight season to face last year's runnerup, Piper, a 70-52 winner over Shawnee Heights.
HIGHLAND PARK BOYS 65, ANDOVER CENTRAL 56
Andover Central 22 13 11 10 -- 56
Highland Park 24 9 18 14 -- 65
Andover Central (14-9) -- Brown 5-13 3-6 17, Degarmo 1-5 0-0 3, Jefferson 4-7 0-0 12, Meschke 1-2 1-2, Adler 5-10 2-4 12, Neal 0-0 0-0 0, Archibald 0-0 0-0 0, Balke 1-5 0-0 2, Stupka 3-7 0-0 7, Inslee 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-49 6-12 56.
Highland Park (23-0) -- Wilson 0-4 1-2 1, Hales 0-2 0-0 0, Kelley 7-9 0-1 14, Williams 12-14 2-6 33, Robinson 1-5 5-6 7, Brown 0-0 2-2 2, Jones 1-2 0-1 2, Kingcannon 3-4 0-0 6, Montgomery 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 24-40 10-18 65.
3-point shots -- Andover Central 10-21 (Brown 4-8, Jefferson 4-6, Degarmo 1-1, Stupka 1-3, Balke 0-3), Highland Park 7-10 (Williams 7-7, Robinson 0-2, Hales 0-1). Total fouls -- Andover Central 21, Highland Park 17. Fouled out -- Degarmo, Adler. Technical fouls -- Robinson.
Shawnee Heights senior Jaret Sanchez led the T-Birds with 16 points in Thursday's 70-52 Class 5A state tournament loss to Piper. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
PIPER BOYS 70, SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 52 -- After spotting Piper a 13-point halftime advantage, Shawnee Heights gave itself a chance to win Thursday's first-round game before a disasterous start to the fourth quarter ended the T-Birds' hopes.
No. 5 seed Piper, now 20-3, opened up a 21-12 first-quarter advantage and boosted its lead to 39-26 at the halftime break.
But Shawnee Heights (19-4) came to life in the third quarter, outscoring the Pirates 22-11 to get within two points (50-48) at the beginning of the fourth period.
The T-Birds then had an opportunity to take the lead, but missed back-to-back 3-pointers and turned the ball over on its next possession as the Pirates scored the first 15 points of the quarter to put Shawnee Heights away.
"We went out and we fought and 'O' (Ontarius Emmot) was shooting a wide open three to go ahead and misses it and gets a rebound and shoots it again and gets it blocked and they go down and hit a three, so instead of being up one, we're down five,'' Heights coach Ken Darting said. "And when you've played that hard to get back in it ... we just got emotionally drained and tired, physically tired.
"But you can't spot a good team that much and come back.''
Heights went scoreless over the first five minutes of the quarter and was outscored 22-4 over the final eight minutes as Piper took its third straight win over the T-Birds this season and fourth straight dating back to last year's first-round state game.
Phillip Moore led Piper with 18 points while Isaiah Sayles added 16 points and Derrick Jackson 10 as the Pirates shot 60.9 percent from the field, including a nine of 15 performance from 3-point range.
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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.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn University men's basketball team will be the No. 1 seed and the host team for the 2025 NCAA Central Regional Tournament starting on Saturday, March 15, in Lee Arena.
Washburn's men's basketball team watches the NCAA Selection Show Sunday night in the Lee Arena court level suite. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Washburn, 26-3 on the season after a quarterfinal loss to Central Oklahoma in the MIAA Tournament, will open its regional bid against No. 8 seed Harding (22-9) at 5 p.m. Saturday in the third of four quarterfinal games.
MIAA Tournament champion Fort Hays State (23-9) is also in the regional field and has been installed as the No, 7 seed.
The Tigers will face No. 2 Minnesota State-Moorhead (23-8) in Saturday's 2:30 p.m. game.
Other Saturday quarterfinals will pit No. 3 seed Winona State (21-10) against No. 6 Southwest Minnesota State (20-9) at 12 p.m. and No. 4 Minot State (21-10) against No. 5 Concordia St. Paul (21-8) at 7:30 p.m.
The Ichabods will be making their fifth NCAA appearance in eight years under Washburn head coach Brett Ballard and WU will host the NCAA regional for the first time since the 2001 NCAA South Central Regional when the Ichabods advanced to the NCAA championship game.
Washburn has also hosted NCAA Regionals in 1992, 1994, 1995 and 2001 going a combined 5-3.
Overall the Ichabods are 16-16 in the NCAA Tournament and 13-13 in the NCAA regionals.
NCAA CENTRAL REGIONAL
At Lee Arena
Saturday's games
12 p.m. -- Winona State (3: 21-10) vs. Southwest Minnesota State (6: 20-9)
2:30 -- Minnesota State-Moorhead (2: 23-8) vs. Fort Hays State (7: 23-9)
5 -- Washburn (1: 26-3) vs. Harding (8: 22-9)
7:30 -- Minot State (4: 21-10) vs. Concordia St. Paul (5: 21-8)
Sunday, March 16
5 p.m. -- Game 1 winner vs Game 2 winner
7:30 -- Game 3 winner vs Game 4 winner
Tuesday, March 18
Championship game
