By John Mesh
The Halstead High School girls basketball team advanced to Saturday’s Kansas Class 3A state championship game with a 46-33 victory over Colby Friday at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
The Silver Lake girls, the defending 3A girls state champions, rallied from a 48-40 deficit at the end of third quarter to defeat Hesston 65-58 in the semifinals.
Halstead (24-1) will play Silver Lake (23-2) in the 4 p.m. girls championship game on Saturday. Colby (22-3) will play Hesston (24-1) in the noon girls third-place game on Saturday.
The Halstead Dragons and Colby Eagles were tied 11-11 at the end of the first quarter. Halstead outscored Colby 15-7 in the second quarter to take a 26-18 halftime lead.
Halstead led Colby 32-25 after three quarters and outscored the Eagles 14-8 in the fourth quarter for the 13-point victory. Halstead led for 26 minutes in the 32-minute game.
Bailey Bernal led the Halstead Dragons with 16 points and 6 rebounds. Addison Wills and Jordy Schroeder each scored 10 points. Onnyka Nedich added 6 points and Dalaina Schutte 4.
Shaylee Holzmeister led the Colby Eagles with 9 points and 15 rebounds. Logan Nolan scored 8 points, Alison Flanagin 6, Alisabeth Barton 6 and Brenn Stanley 4.
In the 6:15 p.m. Saturday boys championship game, Hesston (23-2) will play Goodland (22-3). Galena (23-1) will play Silver Lake (19-6) for third place at 2 p.m.
In the 3A boys semifinals, Hesston advanced to the championship game with a 60-42 victory over Galena. The Swathers led 19-4 after one quarter, 35-17 at halftime and 50-34 after three quarters.
In the other semifinal, Goodland defeated Silver Lake 66-60.
Class 4A
Wellington defeated Buhler 46-30 in the Kansas Class 4A girls state semifinals Friday at the Tony’s Pizza Events Center.
In the other 4A girls semifinal game, Shawnee Mission-Bishop Miege defeated Topeka Hayden 59-42.
No. 1-seed Wellington (23-1) will play No. 6 Bishop Miege (19-4) in the 4A girls championship game at 6:15 p.m. Saturday.
No. 5-seed Buhler (19-5) will play No. 2 Topeka Hayden (21-3) in the 4A girls third-place game at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Buhler and Wellington were tied 11-11 after one quarter. Wellington led 18-17 at halftime and 34-19 at the end of the third quarter.
Buhler was led by senior Natalya Krafels with 11 points and 9 rebounds. Gracie Oard and Ella Voss scored 7 points each.
Valerie Norwood led Wellington with 20 points, 10 rebounds and 6 assists. Brittan Zeka added 12 points and 7 rebounds.
Wellington’s record the past four years is 92-7.
In the 4A boys semifinals Friday, defending champion McPherson defeated previously unbeaten No. 1 seed Ottawa 52-50 in overtime.
McPherson senior Gabe Pyle hit his second game-winning buzzer-beater during the state tournament. Pyle, who led McPherson with 16 points, beat Baldwin on Wednesday.
In the other boys semifinal game Friday, Rock Creek defeated Andale 63-48.
The 4A state boys championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday will feature McPherson (20-4) vs. Rock Creek (22-2). The third-place boys game at noon features Ottawa (23-1) vs. Andale (20-4).
Class 2A
The Sterling boys basketball team (22-3) will play defending champion Moundridge (25-0) in the Class 2A boys state championship at 4 p.m. Saturday at Kansas State University’s Bramlage Coliseum.
In the boys semifinals Friday, Sterling defeated Ell-Saline 76-50 and Moundridge defeated Valley Falls 75-46.
Valley Falls (20-5) will play Ell-Saline (21-4) in the noon boys third-place game.
Zachary Dashiell and Blake Smith each scored 20 points for the Sterling boys. Boston Ekart added 16. Brogan Rowley paced Ell-Saline with 16 points. Trey Williams scored 12 and Garrison Zerger 11.
Henry Hecox led Moundridge with 17 points, Bear Moddlemog added 16 and Heath Churchill 15. Collin Kearney led Valley Falls with 20 points. Trenton Vanhoutan scored 11 points.
The Inman girls basketball team lost to Moundridge 46-26 in the Kansas State High School Class 2A girls state basketball tournament semifinals at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.
In the other 2A girls semifinal, Doniphan West defeated Pittsburg-St. Mary’s Colgan 61-60 in double overtime.
Moundridge (23-2) will play Doniphan West (19-5) in the 6:15 p.m. championship game and Inman (20-4) will play Pittsburg-St. Mary’s Colgan (22-3) in the 2 p.m. third-place game.
Inman led 11-9 after one quarter. However, Moundridge took a 28-16 lead into the locker room at halftime and outscored Inman 18-10 in the second half.
Morgan Froese and Suttyn Harris each scored 8 points for Inman. Cammi Unruh and Hattie Hecox led Moundridge with 14 points apiece.
Class 1A Division I
The Little River girls (23-0) will play Centralia (25-0) in the Class 1A Division I girls state championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday.
Quinter (21-4) will play Troy (22-2) in the noon third-place girls game.
In the Class 1A DI girls semifinals, Little River defeated Quinter 68-52 and Centralia defeated Troy 58-40.
Olpe (23-2) is headed to the Class 1A Division I boys state championship after beating Central Plains 44-34 in the semifinals Friday afternoon at Dodge City’s Wireless Arena.
South Central defeated South Gray 64-49 in the other Friday night boys semifinal game.
Olpe will play South Central (23-2) in the 6:15 p.m. championship game. Central Plains (19-5) will play South Gray (20-5) in the 2 p.m. third-place game.
Class 1A Division II
The Cunningham boys basketball team advanced to the state title game for the second straight year as they knocked off Elyria Christian 79-69 in the Class 1A Division II boys semifinals.
The Cunningham-Elyria Christian semifinal had three 30-point scorers — Luke Albers (32) and Will Wegerer (30) from Cunningham and Ty Romero (30) from Elyria Christian
Cunningham closed the game on a 11-1 run over the last two-plus minutes to reach title game again.
The No. 1-seeded Wildcats, the defending state champions, are now 25-0 on the year. Cunningham will play Axtell (24-1) at 6:15 p.m. Saturday in the championship game.
The Linn High School girls basketball team is headed to the Class 1A Division II girls state championship game with 54-39 win over Attica.
Linn advanced to a championship game for the first time in school history.
Baileigh Peters led the Linn Bulldogs with 19 points.
Linn (18-6) will play Twin Valley League rival Hanover (22-2) in the 4 p.m. girls championship game. Hanover defeated Lebo 37-24 in the other girls semifinal game.
Attica (21-4) will play Lebo (21-3) in the noon third-place girls game.
Class 5A
The St. Thomas Aquinas Saints (17-7) will play Topeka Seaman (24-0) in the Class 5A state girls championship game at 4 p.m. Saturday at Emporia’s White Auditorium.
The St. Thomas Aquinas girls held on for a 68-54 victory over Spring Hill in the Class 5A girls state semifinals.
In the other 5A girls semifinal game, Topeka Seaman defeated Andover 55-49. Senior Kinley Wilhelm led the way for the Vikings with 18 points and 12 rebounds, followed by senior Anna Becker with 12 points.
Spring Hill (20-4) will play Andover (22-2) for third place at noon Saturday.
Alex Crouse finished with 22 points and Laila Boylan had 20 to lead Aquinas. Sofia Calovich posted a double-double. Isla Herman scored 19 points and Sydney Buscher had 17 for Spring Hill.
In the Class 5A boys semifinals, Topeka-Highland Park remained undefeated with an intense 60-55 win over Kansas City Piper Friday afternoon.
The Scots (24-0) advanced to the 5A state boys title game at 6:15 p.m. Saturday against Kapaun-Mount Carmel (21-3). The Kapaun Crusaders defeated Andover 55-43 in the late boys semifinal game Friday.
Kansas City Piper (20-4) will play Andover (20-4) in the third-place boys game at 2 p.m. Saturday.
Class 6A
Shawnee Mission Northwest (21-3) will play Olathe North (18-6) in the Class 6A boys state basketball tournament at 4 p.m. Saturday at Wichita State University’s Koch Arena.
In the 6A boys semifinals Friday, Shawnee Mission Northwest defeated Maize 63-55 and Olathe North defeated Wichita Heights 65-58.
Maize (17-7) will play Wichita Heights (21-3) in the third-place game at noon.
The Derby girls (21-3) will play Blue Valley North (20-4) in the 6:15 p.m. state championship game. Olathe North (18-6) will play Wichita Heights (20-4) in the 2 p.m. third-place game.
In the 6A girls semifinals Friday, Derby defeated Olathe North 68-55 and Blue Valley North defeated Wichita Heights 65-42.