Three Topeka-area teams advance to KSHSAA state basketball championships

Five Topeka-area teams entered the state tournament semifinal on Friday. Three Shawnee County teams remain as Washburn Rural girls, Seaman girls and Silver Lake girls will all battle for a chance to call themselves state champions on Saturday.

Friday was the end of the road for Highland Park boys and Hayden girls, but they have a chance to take third place in Saturday’s consolation games.

Washburn Rural girls advance to third straight state title appearance

It was a battle for the ages between No. 7 Washburn Rural and No. 3 Derby as the Class 6A Semifinal needed overtime before the Junior Blues won 69-62 to advance to their third straight state championship game.

“That was the best it has been,” Washburn Rural head coach Kevin Bordewick said. “We were engaged, we were involved, invested. We battled.”

The Junior Blues (15-7) struggled to get out of the gates and trailed 23-19 with a few minutes left in the first half. Then they started to catch fire from deep as Zoe Canfield nailed two triples and Maddie Vickery nailed another at the buzzer. It was much-needed momentum entering the locker room with a three-point lead.

“That was huge, getting the momentum going into halftime,” Canfield said. “We needed that. Without that, it would have been a lot tougher to play the rest of the game the way that we did.”

Then the second half was a battle of attrition. Both teams traded runs. Derby’s Macayla Askew seemed to get everything she wanted at the rim. Although she only scored six points in the first half, she finished with a game-high 35 points and scored 15 of Derby’s 17 third-quarter points.

Still, Washburn Rural maintained its lead. Canfield and Vickery were playing perfectly with their pick-and-roll action. Vickery led the team with 24 points and Canfield added 18.

“It has come naturally,” Canfield said about her relationship with Vickery. “She’s such a great player and is easy to play off of in the pick-and-roll and I thought it worked to our advantage tonight.”

Washburn Rural led by four with a minute left, but Derby (19-3) tied the game with back-to-back layups. Canfield’s last shot attempt did not go off in time to force overtime.

“I looked at their faces and I turned to the coaches, ‘I don’t know where we’re at mentally,'” Bordewick said. “But, man, we took off. We had the first four points of overtime and we just battled.”

The Junior Blues were determined to win, allowing only four points in overtime by playing great defense. Madison Lemke put her body on the line for a charge in the final minute to seemingly ice the game.

“It flat-out saved us,” Bordewick said. “It was beautiful on her part.”

As time expired, Washburn Rural flooded the floor in jubilation before an emotional Canfield exited the floor. Last year, she was recovering from a new injury. This year, she will get to compete for a state title against No. 1 Shawnee Mission South (21-1) at 4 p.m. inside Wichita State’s Koch Arena.

“This is everything,” Canfield shared. “We’ve all worked so hard and this time last year, I could barely even walk up and down the stairs. It doesn’t get much better than this.”

KSHSAA state basketball: Scores, schedule, live updates from state tournament

Silver Lake girls take battle of Shawnee County

Many Shawnee County fans were clamoring for a Silver Lake and Hayden matchup all season, and they were finally treated to the Class 3A State Semifinal on Friday. No. 1-seeded Silver Lakeedged out a 64-49 win over No. 5 Hayden.

“Definitely adrenaline, there was so much noise in the gym. We’re playing Hayden, who is like five minutes away from us,” Silver Lake’s Kailyn Hanni said. “In the second half, we turned it on and now we’re playing for a state championship.”

The Wildcats started on the front foot taking a three-point lead after the first quarter through ball movement and paint touches. Amelia Ramsey was crucial as she scored seven points in the opening quarter.

Then the Eagles (25-0) started to make their move. They ended the half on a 12-6 run highlighted by a 3-pointer from Kaylee Deiter, who finished 3-for-3 from beyond the arc. There were seven lead changes and six ties in the first half alone.

The Wildcats (20-5) would never take the lead again as Silver Lake worked hard in transition moving the ball quickly through the hands of Hanni, who scored 12 points and had eight assists. When the ball is moving, Silver Lake is at its best: It had 19 assists on 23 made baskets.

“Before every game, we show our girls ball movement highlights,” Silver Lake head coach Kyle Porter said. “It shows us making great plays and sharing the ball. With our team, you can’t just stop one player.”

The recipient of many of those good passes was Makenzie McDaniel. The Emporia State signee tied a game-high 20 points on 10-for-15 shooting to go along with 12 rebounds for a double-double.

“I feel like we are really good transition offense,” McDaniel said. “If we just run the floor, we’ve got quick guards and so we can pretty much outrun anybody.”

Hayden struggled to find answers. The Wildcats’ top scorer was Ramsey with 20 points on 7-for-11 shooting. After a great start, they shot under 30% in the second half and will play in Saturday’s third-place game against No. 2 Goodland (21-4) at 2 p.m.“We have had some adversity this year,” Hayden head coach Carvel Reynoldson said. “These girls know how to fight. I just wish that we could have gotten a little bit more stuff to fall around the rim.”

Silver Lake will look to finish a perfect season against No. 3 Hesston (20-3) for the state title at 6:15 p.m.

Day two: What we learned from Thursday's KSHSAA state basketball tournament action

Seaman girls notch close win to advance to state title

Seaman girls needed a late push in the Class 5A State Semifinal as the No. 4-seeded Vikings took down top-ranked Andover 49-45. The win advances Seaman to Saturday’s state title game.

The Vikings (22-2) trailed by five points at halftime, but a 20-3 run to start the second half gave them a commanding lead late in the third quarter.

Andover (23-1) responded with a 9-0 run halfway through the fourth to cut its deficit to four. But Seaman, making made clutch baskets in the closing minutes to punch their ticket to the title game.

The Vikings were led by the Stallbaumer sisters. Jaida Stallbaumer scored a game-high 16 points on 6-for-8 shooting while Taylin Stallbaumer added 14 points on 3-for-9 shooting, but Taylin was a clutch 7-for-7 from the free-throw line. They were the only Seaman players to reach double figures.

Seaman will try to etch its name in history against No. 2 Maize South (23-1) in the Class 5A State Championship at 6:15 p.m. in Emporia’s White Auditorium.

Day one: What we learned from KSHSAA boys, girls basketball state tournaments

Highland Park boys suffer agonizing defeat in overtime

No. 2 Highland Park’s (22-2) championship dreams came to an abrupt end in the Class 5A State Semifinal on Friday when they lost to No. 3 Kapaun Mt. Carmel (21-3) in overtime, 67-64.

Highland Park led by double-digits in the third quarter. But the Crusaders started to chip away as William Thengvall was incredible, scoring a game-high 31 points on 11-for-21 shooting. He scored 21 in the second half and overtime.

In overtime, Highland Park led by one point in the final 30 seconds. The Scots tried to pressure the Crusaders using a full-court press, but Kapaun broke it and found Blaise Dalian in the corner. Dalian nailed the go-ahead triple and the Scots never recovered.

Highland Park’s Mikey Williams and Ja’Corey Robinson each scored 20 points. Robinson also grabbed 12 rebounds for the double-double.

The Scots will play in Saturday’s Class 5A third-place game against Maize South at noon in Emporia’s White Auditorium.

Liam Keating covers high school sports for The Topeka Capital-Journal. Send stats or information to him at Lkeating@gannett.com.

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: 3 Topeka-area teams advance to Kansas state basketball championships