Andale girls and boys basketball take different routes to same state berth
Abbi Winter didn’t have time to think, which actually might have helped.
The ball found Andale’s junior point guard late in the third quarter of this past Saturday’s Class 4A sub-state championship game with the clock dwindling and Hugoton’s center closing hard in her direction. Winter, a naturally pass-first floor leader who has spent much of the season looking to set everyone else up, simply rose up and fired from well beyond the 3-point line.
Splash.
White-hot for one quarter and fearless in a moment that demanded it, Winter buried the shot, sending the Andale girls basketball team and its fans into a frenzy and punctuating the kind of takeover her first-year head coach had been pleading to see all season.
Andale needed every bit of it.
Behind Winter’s explosion in the third quarter, Andale rallied from a sluggish first half and held on late for a 43-39 win over Hugoton to capture a sub-state title and send the program back to the Class 4A state tournament for the fifth straight season.
“I see Abbi six days a week and every day I’m begging her to shoot the ball more,” Andale coach J.R. Toliver said. “She finally did (against Hugoton) and that was the turning point for us. When we can get her to confidently step up and start shooting the ball like that, the sky is going to be the limit for this team.”
Now Andale, the No. 5 seed with a 17-6 record, will face No. 4 Topeka Hayden (19-6) at 6 p.m. Tuesday at White Auditorium in Emporia. The winner advances to Thursday’s semifinals with the rest of the tournament set for Hutchinson Sports Arena.
For a program with high expectations, that return trip to state felt especially meaningful this season because of how much had to come together in a short amount of time. Toliver was hired in August and did not meet with his players until November, leaving Andale to build chemistry with a new coach on the fly.
The transition showed early. Andale opened 2-3 in its first five games while learning a new voice and a new system. But over the next three months, Andale grew into Toliver’s vision. Andale won 15 of its next 18 games, sharpened in February and leaned into a defensive identity that has become its backbone entering March.
Tolvier arrived in Andale after five years as an assistant coach at Santa Barbara City College, where he built a reputation as a defensive-minded JUCO coach following his Division I playing career at Arkansas-Pine Bluff. Once he became acclimated with Andale’s roster, with its collection of length and athleticism, he turned that group loose.
The results are showing in March: Andale held both of its sub-state opponents under 40 points to secure another state berth.
“I wanted them to find an identity and buy into the system and get them to believe in me and trust in me,” Toliver said. “I think that has raised the bar high for all of us.”
That belief was tested against Hugoton.
Andale’s offense was stuck in mud for much of the first half against Hugoton’s zone defense. Andale trailed 18-11 late in the second quarter. Possessions bogged down.
That’s when Winter changed the game.
All season, Toliver has challenged Winter to look for her own offense more aggressively. She is a point guard by temperament, more comfortable delivering the pass that leads to a basket than hunting one herself. But with Andale desperate for a spark, Winter answered her coach’s call in the biggest game of the season.
It started with a deep 3 that gave Andale its first meaningful lead at 20-19 early in the third quarter. Then came another 3 from the top of the key off a pass from Ali Winter. Moments later, feeling the rhythm, Winter pulled again in transition on an assist from Addy Orth and drilled her third straight 3 in less than two minutes.
When Hugoton adjusted and began flying out on her, Winter calmly shifted gears. She found Mayla Spexarth for a baseline jumper. She then got loose running the fast break, converting a pair of free throws and then a bucket off an assist from Orth. And then came the deep dagger at the buzzer, a shot launched over a hard contest that still found nothing but net.
It was the kind of stretch that showed why Andale could be dangerous at state when all of its pieces are working together. Senior guard Brooke Grimes, the program’s career leader in 3s and owner of a single-game school record with seven 3s earlier this season, gives Andale plenty of firepower. Winter’s growth as a scorer raises the ceiling. Inside, junior 6-footer Edyn Stolz is sturdy and Spexarth does a little bit of everything to help the team win.
Even with all of that, the game against Hugoton was not over.
Hugoton stormed back with a 9-0 run in a little more than three minutes to open the fourth quarter, slicing the deficit to 37-35 and ratcheting up the tension again. Grimes gave Andale some breathing room with a driving basket in the paint for a 41-37 lead with 59 seconds left, then Hugoton answered back with a steal and layup to make it 41-39 with 25 seconds left.
Winter split a pair of free throws for a 42-39 lead, followed by a Hugoton turnover, which allowed Orth to seal the victory for Andale at the foul line with 8.2 seconds left.
“It took us a little while to figure out how I wanted them to play and everyone to accept their roles and getting challenged,” Toliver said. “But ever since then, we have come to life and we are playing the kind of basketball we want to play.”
Andale boys basketball punches ticket back to Class 4A tournament
While Andale’s girls team had to spend the winter adjusting to a new voice on the sideline, the boys leaned on something far more familiar.
With 20-year head coach Jeff Buchanan once again steering the way, Andale used the same bedrock formula that has defined the program for years — defense, rebounding and toughness — to punch its ticket back to the Class 4A state tournament.
Andale is headed to state for the 10th time in the last 16 seasons after beating Augusta 53-45 at home in Saturday’s sub-state championship game, continuing a standard that has become one of the most reliable in Kansas high school basketball.
Andale, which finished fourth at the 2025 state tournament, takes an 18-5 record into this year’s bracket as the No. 5 seed and will meet No. 4 Hugoton (21-4) at 8 p.m. Wednesday at United Wireless Arena in Dodge City. The winner advances to a 5:30 p.m. semifinal on Friday, with the rest of the tournament shifting to Hutchinson Sports Arena.
“It’s the same standard, the same foundation that has been set year after year that we try to build on,” Buchanan said. “Every year, every team is a little bit different. But what they’re building from is from that same foundation. These guys have taken the tone set by the previous seniors in the past and they’ve made it their own.”
What Andale has made its own this season starts on the defensive end.
Buchanan said the team’s matchup zone has become a major strength as the season has progressed with Andale’s length, athleticism and physicality allowing it to defend together, close out quickly and then clean up possessions by dominating the glass. Because the system takes time to master, Buchanan is not surprised the team has looked sharper and sharper as the winter has gone on.
“This group isn’t afraid to get down in a stance and guard,” Buchanan said. “They can close the gaps pretty quickly and they’re pretty athletic and can rebound. But it helps a lot when you have guys who don’t mind busting it for 35 seconds on the shot clock.”
That mindset has helped shape another classic Andale team.
Senior Jack Horsch has led the defensive charge as one of the team’s top stoppers. Inside, senior Caden Fowler has given Andale a steady double-double threat with his presence around the rim and on the glass. Senior Sam Harp has also been a major boost after finally entering basketball season healthy following injuries that cost him the last two years. Senior Hunter Grimes gives Andale another strong body in the rotation, while sophomore point guard Noah Stanley has provided valuable ball handling and sophomore Cruz Kaiser has emerged as another key contributor.
The formula is familiar. The personalities are not.
Buchanan said this team has a lighter side than some of his previous groups. In years past, Andale teams often carried a more serious, businesslike edge. This bunch still works and still competes, but it also likes to laugh.
“This is a pretty squirrelly group,” Buchanan said. “They’re not afraid to work hard and they like to win, but they also like to have fun and there’s a lot of jokes with this group. That hasn’t always been the case with previous groups. So sometimes as a coach, you’ve got to adjust.”
That balancing act has worked.
Andale has again found itself playing its best basketball at the right time of year, fueled by a defense-first identity and a group willing to do the hard work that Buchanan’s teams have long been known for. The names change. The style evolves around the edges. But the core remains.
That is why Andale is back at state again, still leaning on the same tried-and-true blueprint, only now with a team loose enough to laugh along the way.
This story was originally published March 9, 2026 at 6:01 AM.
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