As Derby loses best friends and state champions, the Panthers may welcome a new duo
In 2017, The Eagle published a story featuring two top high school girls basketball players, and best friends, in the Wichita area.
Derby’s Kennedy Brown and Tor’e Alford were chasing a state championship heading into their junior season. The duo eventually led the Panthers to their first title in school history. Three years later, Derby has another pair of Division I talents that might end up rivaling what Brown and Alford became.
Brown’s younger sister, Addy, is a 6-foot-2 post who already holds six Division I offers. Her best friend, Maryn Archer, is one of the top point guards in the country in the recruiting Class of 2023. And she has verbally pledged to Arkansas.
Together, they started on a Class 6A semifinal Derby team that finished the season 21-2, just two wins away from a second state championship in three years.
And they were freshmen.
“They both just have that bulldog mentality,” Derby coach Jodie Karsak said. “I would take those two in an alley any day. They understand they’re in another level when they’re physical and strong. ... But the best thing about them is that they out-work their talent.”
Archer and Brown started playing basketball together in third grade. They instantly had a connection on and off the floor, they said. By the time they were at Derby Middle Schools, their stats — averaging about 20 points per game each — caught the attention of those in the high school ranks. They were already taking unofficial visits to Division I campuses.
Two stars were entering the atmosphere.
This past season, each earned Class 6A honorable mention from The Eagle. They were two of five freshmen to earn 6A All-State honors.
“Derby is a great place to be,” Archer said. “We understand how each other plays, and we know the level we expect out of each other. It’s just a really good situation to be in right now.”
Kennedy, Addy’s older sister, went on to become the first McDonald’s All-American girls basketball player in Kansas high school history before going to play at Oregon State. At 6-6, her game was predicated on dominating in the paint and stretching the floor behind the three-point line.
Addy has watched Kennedy since they started playing basketball. Addy has many of the same skills, Karsak said, but she and Archer are, “fighters.” Addy said she started down that more physical path in eighth grade.
“Typically when you look at an athlete, you can see whether they’re fight or flight,” Karsak said. “Are they going to want to body-up or reverse out of that contact? Addy is as physical a player as I’ve ever gotten to coach.”
Alford, the former Derby point guard, had arguably the most creativity in all of Kansas in her final two seasons as a Panther. She was pledged to Division I Missouri State before heading to Hutchinson Community College. The parallels between Alford and Archer are plentiful.
“She’s just a great point guard,” Addy said. “She sees the floor really well, and that makes the game so much more fun and easier for me.”
Like Addy did growing up, Archer said she watched Kennedy play for years. She said she loved the way Kennedy and Alford played into each other’s strengths.
Archer said she respects the work they put in to establish the foundation that she and Addy hope to continue to build upon.
“We are filling those roles pretty nice,” Brown said. “Me and Maryn are stepping in right were Tor’e and Kennedy left off. It helps that we have really good teammates around us. We are going to be really good again this year. Karsak expects just as good, if not better.”