Wichita South girls win third straight 6A championship

History knocked. The South High girls basketball team answered.

“Just because we believe,” South coach Antwain Scales said. “We believe and we persevered. We have that common goal, and that’s to win a state championship.”

Behind a dominating performance on both ends of the floor – including a methodical offensive attack – the Titans won their third consecutive Class 6A title Saturday with a 56-48 win over Maize at Koch Arena.

No 6A girls team had won three straight titles before Saturday.

“It gets more exciting every year,” said 6-foot-2 South junior center Kendrian Elliott. “This group of seniors, I’ve spent a lot of time with and it felt really good to send them out with a championship. I think Maize wanted us all along and we knew that.”

The Titans came out of the gate dictating tempo in the rematch of last year’s 6A title game, eating up almost four minutes of clock on their first two offensive possessions and allowing no second chances for Maize (24-1) on the other end. The Eagles started 0 of 12.

South (23-2) led 8-2 after the first quarter and 21-10 at halftime, with Maize not making its first basket until a Daley Handy shot with 2:57 left in the second quarter.

Even when Maize got South’s lead back down to single digits at 19-10 on a basket by Brecken Roe, the Titans answered with a baseline jumper from Kyla Callins with 10 seconds left before the break.

South went on the attack right away in the third quarter, with Kirea Rogers driving the lane for a basket on the Titans’ first possession. Even back-to-back three-pointers by Maize’s Haylee Roland only cut South’s lead to 27-16.

South responded with a 6-0 run to end the third quarter.

“We’re a tight-knit group, we’re close,” South point guard Ericka Mattingly said. “That helps on the court. You can see that connection out there.”

Maize rallied in the fourth quarter behind Kansas Gatorade Player of the Year Keiryn Swenson, who finished with 17 points. The Eagles got within single digits following a three-pointer by Taylor Holmes with a minute left, but South closed out the win at the free-throw line.

“The game plan was to double-team Keiryn, and if we could stop her, we feel like we’ve won at that point,” said Callins, who scored 10 points.

Mattingly led South with 16 points, while Kirea Rogers added 11 points.

“It’s hard to make them feel better ... they had a great season, and I just tried to remind them how well they played together this year, how well they represented the school,” Maize coach Jerrod Handy said. “I know it’s no consolation ... but they always did the right thing. I love this team.

“South has won three state championships for a reason. They do such a good job controlling the ball and not getting frustrated. You’ve got to get up on a team like that early to have a chance, and we knew they were going to come out and play well.”

After the final buzzer, South’s celebration moved from the bench to midcourt, then to the railing behind one of the baskets at Koch Arena in front of the South student section. The Titans held up three fingers – for the three titles – then collected their medals and team trophy.

Not long after the game was over, talk began of what might still be to come. South returns Elliott, Mattingly and Callins.

“I don’t know about all that (talk),” Callins said. “Soon, we’ll start working hard again, start getting ready. And then this whole thing starts all over again.”

This story was originally published March 15, 2015 at 6:54 AM with the headline "Wichita South girls win third straight 6A championship."