By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
WICHITA -- The Washburn Rural girls made an improbable run from the seventh seed to reach the Class 6A state title game for the third consecutive season.
Washburn Rural poses for a team picture after finishing second in the Class 6A state tournament, the Junior Blues' third straight trip to the championship game. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
But the Junior Blues couldn’t overcome top-seeded Shawnee Mission South, losing 47-37 Saturday afternoon at Wichita State University.
The Raiders entered the game with a 23-1 record and had a plan to take away Washburn Rural’s standout freshman Maddie Vickery.
Vickery scored 24 points in back-to-back games to lead the Junior Blues to the final. There she was faced by two athletic senior posts, both standing over six feet tall, that the Raiders used to bottle her up in the paint and get a hand in her face on the perimeter. Vickery scored 11 points, but they came on 16 shot attempts.
Senior Zoe Canfield led Washburn Rural with 18 points, incuding four 3-pointers, in Saturday's 47-37 loss to SM South in the Class 6A title game. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Freshman Maddie Vickery capped a big state tournament performance for Washburn Rural with 11 points in Saturday's 47-37 loss to SM South in the Class 6A title game. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Senior Zoe Canfield did her best in the second half to keep the Junior Blues in the fight. She hit four long 3-pointers after halftime, but her 18 points weren’t quite enough.
“They were trying to jam Zoe and Maddie, and unfortunately we didn’t get anybody else open to get shots,” Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. “We needed to be more aggressive with the other kids, at least initiating some things. We just didn’t do that well enough.
“We’re a team that depends on those two. Zoe was hitting unbelievable 3s, but we needed more kids to get involved. That’s my fault as a coach. I didn’t coach them that way.”
The first two periods were a low-scoring slugfest. A first quarter tied at 5-5 was followed by a second period that ended tied, 13-13.
Washburn Rural showed patience at the offensive end, slowly dribbling the ball around the perimeter when the Raiders sagged into their man-to-man defense. When the Junior Blues got the slightest opportunity to push the ball in transition they took it, desperate to create some shots near the goal.
Canfield tied the game midway through the third period at 22-22 with a long 3-pointer. But a 9-2 run by the Raiders ended the third period with the Junior Blues trailing, 34-26.
The Junior Blues never cut the lead to less than five points for the remainder of the game.
Shawnee Mission bigs Azaliah Funches and Ashley VanElders were responsible for closing down the paint. Guards Camryn Smith and Ashley Kramer led the Raiders in scoring with 17 and 11 points, respectively.
Bordewick praised the Raiders' talent and their execution.
“They’re very talented,” Bordewick said. “They’re big. They’re athletic. They’ve got all the parts. So obviously they’ve only lost once and that was to (4A state champion Bishop) Miege, which is a very good team.
“I thought we battled them for three quarters, maybe three and a half. But we just didn’t take care of the ball, didn’t finish plays the way we should.”
The Junior Blues shook up the tournament by knocking off second-seeded Wichita Heights and third-seeded Derby to reach the finals. They finished the season with a 17-8 record.
“I’m so proud of them,” Bordewick said. “Nobody thought we’d get this far, and we were right in it most of the way. We just let it slip at the end.”
SHAWNEE MISSION SOUTH GIRLS 47, WASHBURN RURAL 37
Washburn Rural 5 8 13 11 -- 37
Shawnee Mission South 5 8 21 13 -- 47
Washburn Rural (17-8) – Vickery 4-16 2-2 11, Hinck 2-5 1-2 5, Ochs 0-2 0-0 0, Canfield 5-11 4-6 18, Brunk 1-2 0-0 3, Hirschi 0-2 0-0 0, Lemke 0-0 0-0 0, Hayes 0-0 0-0 0, Rutherford 0-0 0-0 0, Horyna 0-0 0-0 0, Carlgren 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 12-38 7-10 37.
Shawnee Mission South (24-1) – Moore 0-3 1-4 1, Funches 2-7 5-8 9, Smith 7-14 3-6 17, Johnson-Berndt 2-6 0-2 5, VanElders 2-4 0-0 4, Kramer 4-9 0-0 11, Slaven 0-0 0-0 0, Jack 0-0 0-0 0, Gardner 0-0 0-0 0, Jouras 0-0 0-0 0, Miglianti 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 17-43 9-20 47.
3-point goals – Washburn Rural 6 (Canfield 4, Vickery 1, Bunck 1), Shawnee Mission South 4 (Kramer 3, Johnson-Berndt 1). Total fouls – Washburn Rural 17, Shawnee Mission South 16. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.
