5A girls: Maize advances to third championship game in last four years

Taylor Holmes knows the feeling of having an undefeated season end in a championship game. She also knows what it feels like to fall short of even reaching the state tournament.

In her senior season, the drive for Holmes has been chasing the feeling of finally winning a championship. Maize took a step closer on Friday by defeating Salina Central for a third time this season, 54-35, to advance to the Class 5A finals on Saturday against either St. Thomas Aquinas or Leavenworth.

It will be the third time in the last four seasons Maize has played for a championship after falling to Wichita South in the 6A finals in 2014 and 2015.

“It’s hurt (losing) a lot and not making it last year sucked,” Holmes said. “We’ve all wanted to get back here this whole season and I’m so excited now that we’ve done it.”

Maize excels because all five players on the court play together seamlessly, but the three seniors — Holmes, Brecken Roe, and Caitlyn Stewart — have made Maize a worthy adversary to either Kansas City powerhouse in the finals.

On Friday, Roe made all four of her three-point shots to score a game-high 18 points, while Holmes added 15 points and four steals, and Stewart committed one turnover while handling the point guard duties and added three steals.

“These guys make sure we play together and we play hard,” Maize coach Jerrod Handy said. “They’ve had the same goals the whole year. They know they’re going to get pushed in practice and they might get yelled at, but they keep coming back every single day because they all have that same dream.”

For a third time this season (Maize defeated Salina Central 50-33 on Jan. 13 and 62-47 on Feb. 17), Maize’s length on the defensive end was too much for Salina Central to handle.

The Mustangs love to shoot beyond the arc, but they made 3 of 15 attempts on Friday and finished shooting 30 percent for the game with 18 turnovers.

“We just have that chemistry,” Roe said. “We all know where we’re going to be all the time and we know what to do all the time.”

The game was tied at 15 with 2:42 remaining in the second quarter, but Roe would change the game with three straight makes from beyond the arc. Her three-pointer capped a 5-0 run for Maize to end the half, then she made two straight threes and Holmes made it three straight for Maize to start the third quarter on a 9-2 run.

Once Maize established a double-digit lead, 29-17, it remained in control for the final 13 minutes of the game.

“These seniors have had a lot of experience and I know they’re excited to get back to playing in that championship game,” Handy said. “I feel really good about them and how they’re going to handle that situation on Saturday.”

This story was originally published March 10, 2017 at 6:59 PM with the headline "5A girls: Maize advances to third championship game in last four years."