By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
The top-ranked Seaman girls entered Tuesday's home United Kansas Conference contest against Piper still feeling the after-effects of three straight tough single-digit battles in last week's Glaciers Edge Tournament at Emporia.
Seaman junior Taylin Stallbaumer scored 15 points with three 3-pointers in Tuesday's 56-43 UKC win over Piper. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Sophomore Anna Becker scored 14 points in Tuesday's 56-43 Seaman UKC win over Piper. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But after falling behind early and taking a tenuous six-point lead into the fourth quarter, the Vikings, coming off the Glaciers Edge tournament championship, got the job done, pulling away down the stretch for a 56-43 victory.
"We looked like a mentally and physically exhausted team at times tonight,'' Seaman coach Matt Tinsley said. "Defensively I think we were just tired. (Piper) played hard and they're a better team than they were when we played them early in the year (63-35 Viking win), but you're always happy with a win.
"Our talk after the game was, 'Let's get rested up, some kids are a little under the weather and we've got to get ready for a good game Friday against De Soto.' ''
The Vikings, who improved to 12-1 overall and 8-1 in the UKC, got off to an 8-1 lead out of the gate but the Pirates (10-5, 7-4) fought back to take an 11-10 lead at the end of the opening quarter and went up 15-10 with 6:48 left in the half before Seaman rallied to take a 27-20 lead into the locker room at the break.
Seaman went up by 11 (33-22) on a Jaida Stallbaumer 3-pointer early in the third quarter but the Pirates wouldn't go away, scoring the final four points of the quarter to cut their deficit to 43-37.
The Vikings took control at that point, however, opening the fourth quarter with an 8-0 run to take a game's biggest 51-37 advantage with five minutes remaining.
Seaman went on to lead by as many as 16 points down the stretch on the way to its sixth straight victory.
Junior Taylin Stallbaumer, who hit the game-winning 3-pointer in last Saturday's 46-43 tournament championship win over Emporia, led the Vikings with 15 points with three 3-pointers against Piper while sophomore Anna Becker added 14 points.
Junior Lauren Marron scored a game-high 16 points for Piper with three 3-pointes while junior Sage Grann added 10 points.
The Vikings will be on the road Friday at De Soto.
SEAMAN GIRLS 56, PIPER 43
Piper 11 9 17 6 -- 43
Seaman 10 17 16 13 -- 56
Piper (10-5, 7-4) -- A. Vallejo 1-2 1-2 3, Clark 0-2 2-2 2, Marron 6-12 1-1 16, Roth 1-3 1-2 3, Grann 2-4 5-10 10, Lockwood 2-3 2-2 6, Collins 1-2 1-2 3, Ochs 0-1 0-0 0, T. Vallejo 0-0 0-0 0, Fryatt 0-0 0-0 0, Arwine 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-29 13-21 43.
Seaman (12-1, 8-1) -- J. Stallbaumer 3-5 0-0 7, T. Stallbaumer 6-13 0-0 15, Becker 6-14 2-3 14, Gragg 3-9 0-0 6, Gormley 0-1 0-0 0, Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Schumann 1-2 0-0 2, Miller 1-2 0-0 3, E. Stallbaumer 0-0 0-0 0, Wilhelm 3-7 0-0 7, Moulden 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 23-54 4-5 56.
3-point goals -- Piper 4 (Marron 3, Grann), Seaman 6 (T. Stallbaumer 3, J. Stallbaumer, Wilhelm, Miller). Total fouls -- Piper 9, Seaman 16. Fouled out -- none.
