For first time since 1988, Wichita Southeast girls basketball has qualified for state
For the first time since 1988, the Wichita Southeast girls basketball team will play in the Kansas high school state tournament.
It was hard for the players to wrap their minds around accomplishing something for the first time in 35 years at the school, but it would also be a mistake to think this was a surprise.
In the third season under coach Donald Dixon, Saturday’s 57-51 win at Liberal in a sub-state championship game was the expectation.
“No one had faith in us, but we had faith in ourselves the whole time,” said junior Ma’Khiya Jones.
“We feel like we’ve been on the map,” junior Jakhia Jones added. “We deserved this.”
Southeast has had spurts over the last three decades of being competitive, but has failed to advance out of sub-state play. Even though the Golden Buffaloes entered with the No. 7 seed in the Class 6A West bracket, meaning they would have to travel for the sub-state finals, they were confident this season would be different.
That’s because Dixon has his players committed to the defensive end more than ever.
“We’re quick, we’re scrappy and we get after it,” Dixon said. “We thrive on defense. We’ve held a lot of good teams under their scoring average, so that is definitely our identity. We build our team around that.”
That defense was once again on display in Saturday’s sub-state championship game at Liberal, which entered with a 18-3 record. Southeast’s aggressive defense delivered it the lead from the beginning in what was essentially a wire-to-wire victory.
On a team without a premier scorer — Ma’Khiya Jones leads the team with 10.3 points and 8.0 rebounds — defense is critical.
“Honestly, we don’t have a choice because we don’t have that high scorer,” said Jakhia Jones. “We’re undersized, but we definitely proved we can go against anybody.”
Southeast advanced to the state tournament for just the fifth time in school history with a 16-6 record and will play at Koch Arena on Thursday. Official state pairings and schedules are expected to be released by the KSHSAA on Sunday.
The team’s lone senior is Zionne Williams, while other contributors include Leela Jones, Alana Webb, Aniyah Harris, Trinity Dixon, Quinacy Galbert and Adrian Neal.
“It’s a great feeling because this is what you coach for,” Dixon said. “A lot of people doubted my kids that I have on this roster and I felt like they needed a win like this to show everyone else that they’re capable. We’re excited to make it to state, but the job isn’t finished. We’ll see if we can make an imprint at state now.”
Elsewhere in the area, the Derby girls won their eighth straight sub-state championship with a 57-29 win over Wichita East. The Panthers (20-2) are expected to receive the No. 2 seed in the state tournament.
In Class 4A, Andale (19-3), McPherson (20-2) and Wellington (21-1) all easily advanced back to the state tournament and are expected to be the three top seeds. All three teams played in Salina last year with Wellington finishing fourth, while McPherson punched its ticket back to the state tournament for the 28th time in the last 31 seasons.
In Class 3A, Cheney (21-2) qualified for the state tournament for the fifth time in the last seven seasons with a 52-36 victory.
In Class 2A, Berean Academy (22-1) is back at state for the third straight year with a 45-39 win over Remington in a sub-state final. Hillsboro (20-3) punched its ticket to state for the first time since 2014 with a 46-30 win over Bennington, while Wichita Independent (19-4) qualified for state for just the second time in school history with a 45-20 victory over Bluestem.
In the Class 1A Div. 1 ranks, Canton-Galva and Norwich advanced, while Hutchinson Central Christian made it out of a Class 1A Div. 2 sub-state.
Kansas high school girls basketball sub-state scores
Class 6A girls
Derby 57, Wichita East 29
Lawrence 78, Wichita South 53
Wichita Southeast 57, Liberal 51
Class 4A girls
Andale 43, Mulvane 25
Hugoton 58, Circle 31
McPherson 74, Rock Creek 40
Wellington 66, Chapman 33
Class 3A girls
Cheney 52, Hesston 36
Class 2A girls
Berean Academy 45, Remington 39
Hillsboro 46, Bennington 30
Wichita Independent 45, Bluestem 20
Class 1A Division 1 girls
Canton-Galva 52, Sylvan-Lucas 39
Norwich 46, Wichita Classical 21
Class 1A Division 2 girls
Hutchinson Central Christian 49, Wakefield 30
This story was originally published March 5, 2023 at 6:00 AM.
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