Basketball recap: See the stories of Wichita’s 9 girls midseason tournament winners
50 burger
Maize South beat the No. 3 team in 6A East by 50 in a championship game.
The Mavericks thumped Mill Valley 67-17 on Saturday in the Wildcat Classic final in El Dorado. They couldn’t miss, and the Jaguars couldn’t buy a bucket. The Mavericks beat winless El Dorado only by 33.
“As much as we tell them not to, they look at those rankings,” coach Ben Hamilton said. “Earlier in the year when we weren’t in that top 10, that was on the board, and it was talked about every day. They turned red in the face.”
Maize South had five players with at least 10 points. Senior Lexi Snodgrass had 16. Junior Katie Wagner scored 14. Senior Lauren Johnson had 11. Senior Zayda Perez and junior Macy McCormack added 10.
In addition, the Mavs shut down Claire Kaifes, one of the best players in Kansas, who finished with 11.
Senior Lauren Johnson said the Mavs heard people call Friday’s semifinal between Mill Valley and Circle the “real championship game,” and that ignited a fire in them to come out and make a statement. The 50-point win over a previously 11-1 team did that.
“We’ve heard over and over, ‘We haven’t played anyone, we won’t have a chance against big schools,’ ” Johnson said. “That was a 6A school. That team is good. We came into shootaround this morning and had the focus.”
The title marked the Mavericks’ first at the Lady Cat Classic, and Perez was the first Maize South player to be named MVP since the tournament was created in 1994.
Havenly effort
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There are two fewer undefeated teams in Kansas because of one team in less than 24 hours.
Haven beat Nickerson in the semifinals of the Wildcat Classic and finished with a 54-40 win over Cheney in the championship game. It marks the Cats’ first home tournament title in six years.
“We have high goals this year,” coach Dwight Roper said. “We finished third in 3A last year, and we want to get in there and see what happens. But you got to win games like this to get there.”
Former Haven assistant coach David Chamberlain died unexpectedly 360 days before Saturday’s final. Senior Faith Paramore, who scored 56 points over the final two games, said to win the title is an unbelievable feeling.
“We wouldn’t be where we are today without him,” she said. “That was super, super tough on all of us. With all the success we’ve had last year and this year, we’re just doing it all for him.”
Haven was outstanding against the previously undefeated Cardinals. Without showing fatigue, the Wildcats were lights out from the perimeter and attacked the paint against their undersized opponents.
“Two weeks ago, we played Halstead who was also undefeated, and we knew we wanted to take that title down,” senior Arie Roper said. “Coming into the tournament, we knew we had two really good, undefeated teams.
“We didn’t want to just win the classic. We wanted to take that down.”
Back-to-back
For the first time in more than a decade, McPherson has won its home tournament for the second straight year.
The Bullpups beat previously undefeated Olathe South 49-37 in the Mid-America Classic championship game. Olathe South was the last team to win the MAC and had a five-game win streak over McPherson coming in.
Coach Chris Strathman said it was a massive win for his program.
“Last year we had to beat Chrissy Carr and a really good Manhattan team,” he said. “So now we’ve beaten two really good 6A teams in the past two years.
“Learning some things over the years, you can’t let them get comfortable and run their plays because they’ll just pick you apart.”
A pair of Pups landed on the All-Tournament team. Lakyn Schiefereke scored a game-high 13 points in the title game, and Grace Pyle added 11 off the bench.
The final looked comfortable and it was at times. The Pups led 31-18 at half but gave up a 10-2 run to start the third and cut the deficit to five.
Strathman said it came down to pace of play and execution to cushion the gap late.
Soaring into the second half
Since losing its only game of the season at Derby, Maize hasn’t had a game decided by fewer than seven points.
The Eagles won the Firebird Winter Classic in Lawrence with a 60-53 win over Blue Valley Southwest. They have won nine straight.
Maize got up by 20 over the Timberwolves, a team whose only losses were to Olathe South and Blue Valley North, coming in. But the Eagles got into foul trouble.
Southwest slowly started to climb back into it, but Maize coach Jerrod Handy said senior Alexis Cauthon and the Eagles started to execute late. Winning in a tournament format is always an important benchmark, Handy said.
“We try to use these midseason tournaments as a practice run for the state tournament,” he said.
The practice went to perfection as Cauthon and fellow senior Halie Jones were named to the All-Tournament team, and sophomore Sydney Holmes was named tournament MVP after scoring 16 in the title game.
With the win, Maize will have some added motivation and momentum heading into a tough start to the second half that includes undefeated teams Maize South on Friday and Derby on Feb. 4.
Fighting Falcons
There are two undefeated teams left in Class 6A.
Derby and Liberal are all that remain after Wichita Heights knocked off Washburn Rural 68-62 in the final of the Lady Thunderbird Tournament at Shawnee Heights.
The Falcons’ only loss is to Derby on the road. Coach Ken Palmer said his girls are showing “a lot of heart.”
“We were down,” he said. “They jumped out on us 7-0. They had a nice crowd, good players and great coaching. We just had to dig down and play hard. We had to play harder than them.
Heights sophomore Laniah Randle was named tournament MVP and scored 16 in the title game. Junior guard Taylor Jameson led the way with 22 over the Junior Blues and was named to the All-Tournament team.
Palmer said they weren’t the only ones getting after it this weekend. Zyanna Walker and Cyanna Stanley were key pieces to the midseason title.
“I always tell them, ‘You got to outwork the next man,’ ” Palmer said. “Once we started to do that, things started to go in our favor.”
Peddle down in Derby
They are on a train that looks to be headed to Koch Arena.
Derby cruised through its bracket at the Glacier’s Edge Tournament in Emporia and capped it with a 66-27 championship game victory over Topeka Seaman. The Panthers are 11-0.
Senior center Kennedy Brown was given a technical foul in the third quarter that surprisingly sparked the Panthers to a 17-0 run.
“We had to play the game that we know how to play,” junior Sydney Nilles told the Derby Informer. “We couldn’t sink down to their level. Everyone listened and agreed that we just needed to go out and play.”
Despite the tech, Brown was named the tournament MVP and scored 16 in the title game. Fellow senior Tor’e Alford added 14, and Nilles had 15.
With the Panthers’ win and Washburn Rural’s loss, Derby and Liberal are the only two undefeated teams remaining in Class 6A.
Inman out
Sedgwick has struggled at times this season, but the Cardinals are on a roll.
They won their home tournament with a 40-35 victory over Inman on Saturday. Their opponent entered as the No. 3 team in Class 2A. Sedgwick isn’t ranked.
The Cardinals started the season 4-3 with losses to Haven, Halstead and Nickerson. Since then, they have won four straight and are arguably the hottest team in the Heart of America League.
Trinity back to form
Much like Sedgwick, Trinity Academy had to fight through a brutal start to the season.
The Knights started 2-4 but have won six straight after a 62-58 win over Halstead in the championship game of the Eli J. Walter Tournament at Berean Academy.
Trinity slated a tough early schedule with Garden Plain, Cheney, Liberal and Inman. The Knights had to get through previously undefeated Central Christian and one-loss Halstead to capture the title.
Just Win-field
Winfield is quietly putting together a strong start.
The Vikings are 8-4 after winning the Wildcat Classic in Mulvane with a 41-34 victory over Conway Springs in the title game. Their only losses are to McPherson, Circle, Augusta and Wellington.
In the championship game, Emily Randall, who was named tournament MVP, scored 28 points with 16 coming in the fourth quarter. She accounted for almost 70 percent of the Winfield offense.
This story was originally published January 27, 2019 at 12:16 AM.