State basketball: Gregg Marshall gives pep talk to Campus, Andover Central girls win
Before playing in the Class 6A semifinals, the Campus boys basketball team heard from someone who knows a thing or two about winning high-stakes games at Koch Arena.
Former Wichita State men’s basketball coach Gregg Marshall, the all-time winningest coach at Koch Arena, was the team’s guest motivational speaker on Thursday afternoon. The Colts went out that night and clawed out a 42-37 win over Lawrence Free State at the Roundhouse to advance to their first state championship game since 1988.
“It was so nice of him to give up his time to come talk to us and his speech was just off the charts,” said Campus coach Chris Davis of Marshall, who resigned last November at the heels of an internal investigation into abuse allegations. “Our kids were focused and had all of their attention on him and listened to the message. That’s a memory for a lifetime from somebody who’s been pretty successful in March. I think we got the right guy.”
Campus senior Sterling Chapman led the way with a game-high 20 points, including a 6-for-6 performance from the foul line in the final three minutes of the game, to go along with 11 rebounds, three assists and three steals. Stevie Strong added 10 points in the low-scoring, defensive battle.
Chapman gave Campus a lead it would not surrender again early in the fourth quarter. Free State trimmed the deficit to 36-35 with 32 seconds left, but Chapman made two free throws to extend the lead. When Free State scored again with 15 seconds to claw to within 38-37, Chapman again went to the line and made two free throws to extend the lead. Chris Martin sealed the victory in the closing seconds with two more free throws for Campus to provide the final result.
“We weren’t going to be denied,” Davis said.
After an undefeated season was ended abruptly in the state semifinals last season due to the coronavirus pandemic, Campus is savoring every moment of its chance to chase its first state title in more than three decades.
Campus (21-2) will play Blue Valley North (20-3) in Saturday’s 2 p.m. Class 6A championship game at Koch Arena.
“We talked about the five seniors from last year and how they didn’t get this opportunity to finish,” Davis said. “We owe them a little something. It is a satisfaction knowing that we are going to get through the end and we’re going to get a chance to win it all.”
Andover Central girls win 45th in a row to advance to 5A title
Over the course of a 45-game winning streak, there is going to come a game when a team needs some good fortunate and good shooting on its side.
Trailing by 17 points in the second half of its Class 5A semifinals game against Salina Central on Thursday, Andover Central met that moment when its winning streak was put to the test on the biggest stage at White Auditorium in Emporia.
Andover Central showed the resilience of a champion in burying Salina Central by 24 points over the game’s final 10 minutes to pull out a 65-56 victory. The Jaguars (24-0) will play St. Thomas Aquinas for their first state championship since winning it all in 2010 in Saturday’s 2 p.m. finals.
“Once they started rolling, the looks in their eyes from the first half to that fourth quarter were night and day,” Andover Central coach Stana Jefferson said. “They had this look of, ‘We will not lose.’ So when they stepped out in the fourth quarter, I had a pretty darn good feeling that we were going to come out on top.”
Brittany Harshaw, a Creighton commit, led all scorers with 23 points and added nine rebounds, while Andover Central also had significant contributions from Bailey Wilborn (15 points), Maddie Amekporfor (12 points, 11 rebounds) and Ellie Stearns (eight points, six rebounds, four steals). Aubrie Kerscht led Salina Central (19-5) with 21 points, while McKayla Cunningham (16 points, 11 rebounds) and Chaliscia Samilton (13 points, 10 rebounds) both had double-doubles.
Andover Central also reached the 5A semifinals in last year’s state tournament, only to find out it had been canceled after its opening-round win. The Jaguars returned nearly the same team as last season’s 22-1 squad.
Jefferson said this undefeated team has many similar traits of the two undefeated teams she coached Andover Central to titles in 2008 and 2010.
“All three of those teams are extremely tough mentally and they just had this refuse-to-lose attitude when they walk on,” Jefferson said. “This group, they’re not cocky, but they’re confident. They just feed off one another. When one kid is down, the other four is picking them up.
“To go undefeated for this long is a lot of pressure, but they’re mature enough to handle it. When we won (Thursday), they were more excited about practicing tomorrow I think than they were for even winning the game. They’re a a fun group to coach.”
When Salina Central built its 17-point lead early in the third quarter, a flip switched in Andover Central and the Jaguars rallied to within five points heading into the fourth quarter. Andover Central was sparked by Mary Wheatley, a senior off the bench who finished with five points and a season-high eight rebounds. Andover Central took its first lead, 45-44, with five minutes remaining and proceeded to close out the game like they have for the past 44 times.
Cheney girls advance to Class 3A championship game
Behind 37 combined points from Kylee Scheer and Brynn McCormick, the Cheney girls won a back-and-forth affair with Frontenac in a 62-46 victory to advance to the Class 3A championship game on Saturday against either Hugoton or Sabetha at Hutchinson Sports Arena.
Not only do the Cardinals (24-0) have a chance to complete an undefeated season, but they can also write their own title chapter after the last three Cheney teams (2011, 2017, 2019) reached the state championship game and lost.
The Cheney girls will be looking for just their second state title in school history and the first since 2010 when coach Rod Scheer and his oldest daughter, Payton, won a title together. Now he hopes to do the same with his youngest daughter, Kylee, who scored a game-high 23 points on 8-of-17 shooting against Frontenac.
Frontenac led 14-11 after the first quarter, but Cheney dominated the second period, 20-4, behind 11 points from Scheer to open up a 31-18 lead. That nearly disappeared when Frontenac rallied to within 44-40 at the end of the fourth quarter, but Cheney extended its lead early in the fourth and never let up. Olivia Albers chipped in three points, 11 rebounds and four assists for Cheney.
In the Class 1A Div. I semifinals in Dodge City, the Norwich girls erased an eight-point deficit to rally for a 54-49 win over Doniphan West. The Eagles (20-3) will play undefeated Olpe (24-0) in the state championship game looking for the program’s second title since winning it all in 1988.
Brittany Gosch led all scorers with 20 points for Norwich, while also adding seven rebounds and five assists. Avery Rosenhagen and Kira Kelly both chipped in 12 points for Norwich, which played in a state title game as recently as 2013.
Hillsboro advances in 2A, while Augusta, McPherson fall in 4A
For the first time in more than two decades, the Hillsboro boys will be playing for a state championship. The Trojans advanced to Saturday’s Class 2A title game against Wabaunsee after pulling out a 51-45 win over Lyndon at Bramlage Coliseum in Manhattan.
Brekyn Ratzlaff led Hillsboro with 14 points, while Grayson Ratzlaff scored 11 points and added five assists and Matthew Potucek finished with nine points and 10 rebounds. Hillsboro used a 17-3 advantage in the second quarter to break open the game.
In the 4A semifinals in Salina, both area teams suffered defeat. Top-ranked Bishop Miege easily handled McPherson in a 78-51 win, while Augusta was barely edged out by Louisburg in a 58-55 loss. A third-place game will not be played, meaning both teams will share third-place honors.
6A boys: Blue Valley North 71, Lawrence 63
5A girls: St. Thomas Aquinas 64, Lansing 44
3A girls: Sabetha 57, Hugoton 55
2A boys: Wabaunsee 73, Hoxie 56
1A-Div. I girls: Olpe 38, Hodgeman County
This story was originally published March 12, 2021 at 6:00 AM.
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