Bob Lutz: Maize’s Keiryn Swenson struggles with another championship-game defeat

The game was over. It had been over for a long time, probably since Wichita South built an early 17-2 lead over Maize in the Class 6A girls basketball championship game at Koch Arena.

Yet almost 30 minutes after it ended, Maize senior Keiryn Swenson, the Gatorade player of the year in Kansas, was having trouble with her emotions.

This was Swenson’s final shot. She’s a senior, off to Arkansas in a few months where she’ll play basketball and throw the javelin. Her days at Maize are winding down and the pain of Saturday’s 56-48 loss was just too much for her to bear.

She acknowledged her fragile emotional state while trying to hold back tears.

“Yeah, I honestly don’t see this ever going away,” the 6-foot-2 Swenson said. “I think I can speak for Daley (Handy) and the other seniors on the team. Luckily, the other players get another chance next year. And I hope they do it.”

Swenson, though, couldn’t do it. She concluded an outstanding high school basketball career without the one thing she wanted most.

A championship.

“I love basketball,” she said. “This is one of the biggest goals I’ve always wanted. Winning a state championship was my No. 1 goal right off the bat this season. If anything, it’ll take a very, very long time to get over this.”

Swenson is 18. Her whole life is ahead of her. She’s not the first high school kid to compress life into the short term. She’ll come to realize what those of us far past high school understand – that life’s disappointments have a way of blending in with the good times.

Swenson, though, is thoughtful and mature beyond her age. It’s impossible not to feel bad for her feeling bad.

She had been focused on winning a 6A title since the Eagles lost to South in last year’s title game. Maize went into Saturday’s game with a 24-0 record.

But South is on a roll. The Titans have won three straight 6A championships and have the bulk of their team returning for the 2015-16 season.

South is well-coached by Antwain Scales with a deliberate offense, tough defense and outstanding athletes. Maize didn’t score its first field goal until the 2:57 mark of the second quarter.

South won despite taking 22 shots, 20 fewer than Maize, making one three-pointer and being outrebounded 25-21. The difference was at the free-throw line, where the Titans were 31 of 40 because Maize had to foul to try to get back into the game.

The Eagles scored 32 of their 48 points in the fourth quarter.

Swenson said she didn’t sleep Friday night because of her anticipation for the championship game. She was convinced this was Maize’s year.

“I thought for sure we could do it,” Swenson said. “And we probably could have if we would have changed a few things about our game.”

The slow start was a killer. The last thing the Eagles wanted was a deep early hole.

“We were trying to figure out how we could speed them up,” Swenson said. “That was our game plan. They’re really good ballhandlers and we weren’t able to get any quick scores off of them.”

It was Swenson’s fourth time in the 6A tournament. The Eagles won their first-round game every year, but were eliminated in the semifinals by Olathe South and Wichita Heights the first two years.

Last year, Maize reached the title game against South, but that one went a lot like Saturday’s game. The Eagles were challenged to score, as are most of South’s opponents. The Titans allowed Washburn Rural 19 points in the 6A semifinals Friday night.

I asked Swenson if the upcoming spring break might make things a little easier. She said she hadn’t even thought about it. She was in the moment and the moment was painful and disappointing. She could not imagine the moment ever lifting. She believe she would be stuck in the moment forever.

Of course, she won’t. A full life awaits her, starting with high school graduation and the excitement of playing Division I sports at a great university like Arkansas. So many adventures are to come.

People my age know these things. People her age have a difficult time believing a dark cloud will lift.

It was difficult not to give her a pep talk, or to tell her things would be OK. But it wasn’t the time for that.

It was best to let her wallow and express her misery. She needed to cry because such a great career was over without the championship trophy she dreamed of.

Down the hall in the locker-room area at Koch Arena, the South girls were celebrating another championship.

Number three.

Meanwhile, Swenson asked if she could sit down on a folding chair before talking to a reporter.

She was so sad. But despite what she thinks now, it won’t last.

This story was originally published March 14, 2015 at 7:20 PM with the headline "Bob Lutz: Maize’s Keiryn Swenson struggles with another championship-game defeat."