Wellington girls basketball upends Miege powerhouse for first Kansas high school title
If you want to be the champ, you’ve got to beat the champ.
For the Wellington girls basketball team, there was no greater satisfaction than winning the Class 4A state championship Saturday by unseating Bishop Miege, the five-time reigning champion, in a 53-48 victory at Tony’s Pizza Events Center in Salina
Miege had claimed nine of the previous 10 state titles.
Since dropping down to the 4A level for the 2013-14 season, the Kansas City private school has been a powerhouse. In the past 12 seasons, Miege had compiled a 27-1 record at the state tournament — its only loss coming in the 4A-I title game in 2018 when an Oklahoma-bound Taylor Robertson led McPherson to a 62-58 win over the Stags in overtime.
Other than that? Absolute perfection, including three straight wins over Wellington that dashed the Crusaders’ title hopes the past three years at the state tournament. In fact, Miege had been responsible for three of Wellington’s six losses the past three seasons.
But those past games tell the story of how Wellington closed the gap on the state’s premier program with 25 state championships.
The Crusaders were run off the court in 2022 and 2023, losing by 40 and 41 points, but they pushed Bishop Miege to the end in last year’s 4A title game in an eventual 75-64 loss.
On Saturday, Wellington was ready for the rematch.
Wellington actually led for the majority of the game, but Miege showed its championship pedigree during a rally that tied the score at 37-37 with 6 minutes, 52 seconds remaining in the fourth quarter. It would have been easy for the Crusaders to think, ‘Here we go again.’ Instead, they pushed back.
Senior Britt Zeka drilled a 3-pointer to break the tie, then scored again with a left-handed floater in the lane to give Wellington a cushion. Fellow senior Val Norwood capped a 7-0 run with a layup, and suddenly Wellington led 44-37 entering the final three minutes.
When the Stags made a final push, Zeka and Norwood scored again to help Wellington secure one of the most rare accomplishments in Kansas high school basketball: a victory over Miege at the state tournament.
The Crusaders finished the season with a 24-1 record coached by Eric Adams and with the help from Norwood, Zeka, Lyndi Barton, Dru Zeka, Kirstyn Gregory, Cruz Cornejo, Ella Goodrum, Kyndal Rusk, Viv Wright and Kylan Gregory.
And for the first time in school history, the Wellington girls basketball team celebrated a state championship that felt a long time coming.
This story was originally published March 15, 2025 at 7:43 PM.
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