The Washburn Rural Junior Blues fell, 56-53, in overtime to Lawrence Free State on Thursday in the first round of the girls Class 6A State basketball tournament at White Auditorium.
Rural had trailed at halftime, 35-24, but used a 13-8 run in the third quarter to get back into the game, as Kacia Turner’s 3-pointer with 3 minutes left in the third period brought the Junior Blues to within four points at 39-35.
In the fourth period, Rural slowly chipped away at Free State’s lead, and for a while, Free State held off the Junior Blues’ charge. But two free throws Bri Silovsky pulled Rural to with one at 46-45 with 6 minutes remaining, and the a turnaround shot in the lane by LaSharra Riley gave Rural its first lead of the second half at 47-46.
Free State added a free throw to tie it and then a layup to go ahead, 49-47, before Alexa Bordewick hit a running scoop shot in the lane with 48 seconds left to tie it at 49. Free State’s Jenna Brantley missed a 3-pointer at the buzzer, sending the game into overtime.
In the extra period, Rural actually took a four-point lead at 53-49, but Free State hit a layup and three free throws to reclaim the lead, 54-53.
The deciding play came when Rural’s Morgan Barrett missed a wide-open baseline jumper that was rebounded by Free State’s Lauren Kimball with 27 seconds left. Kimball was fouled and hit two free throws to give Free State the final margin of victory, 56-53.
Brantley led Free State with 19 points, while Riley paced Rural with 16. Rural as a team hit just 9 of 18 free-throw attempts.
In the first game of the day, top-seeded Wichita Heights ran away from a pesky Blue Valley North squad in the second half to win going away, 77-51.
Heights’ Amanda Orloske opened the game on a tear, hitting four 3-pointers to open the game.
Still, Blue Valley North managed to hang around, and actually took the lead with 4 minutes left in the second quarter when Callan Taylor hit a 3-pointer to make it 22-20.
But Orloske answered with her fifth three-point make of the half to put Heights back on top, 23-22, and the Lady Falcons went into halftime ahead, 28-24.
Heights then blasted Blue Valley North out of the break, going on a 23-11 scoring run in the third quarter to blow the game open and cruise to the victory.
Orloske finished with eight 3-pointers and led all scorers with 28 points. Callan led Blue Valley North with 16 points.
No. 2-seeded Olathe South dispatched of seventh-seeded Wichita South, 57-38, in the third game of the day, with Brooke Robertson scoring 15 points for Olathe South in the victory.
In the nightcap, third-seeded Shawnee Mission West took care of business against Dodge City, 54-39. Jessika Downing scored 15 points to lead West, while Janel Durler had 15 points for Dodge City.
Tournament play resumes today with the semifinals of the girls and boys brackets.
On the girls side, Wichita Heights will match up with Lawrence Free State at 3 p.m., and Olathe South will meet Shawnee Mission West at 6:30 p.m.
As for the boys, Leavenworth will square off against Washburn Rural at 4:45 p.m., and Lawrence Free State will face Blue Valley West at 8:15 p.m.
Olpe boys open tourney with convincing win
The second-seeded Olpe boys began their quest for a State championship on Thursday with a 60-44 victory over No. 7-seed Claflin in the first round of the Class 1A tournament in Hays.
Thanks to a second quarter in which Olpe outscored Claflin, 22-11, the Eagles took a 32-20 lead into halftime and held Claflin at bay in the second half to take the victory.
Seth Pargman led a balanced scoring attack for the Eagles with 19 points on 7-of-9 shooting. Andrew Haag had 10 points, while three other Olpe players — Cole Krueger, Colton Stueve and Aaron Hammond — added eight points each.
Olpe will face No. 3-seeded Centralia at 8:15 tonight.
OLPE boys 60, CLAFLIN 44
Claflin 9 11 13 11 — 44
Olpe 10 22 10 18 — 60
CLAFLIN (20-6) — Kempke 2-6 0-1 6, Bieberle 2-7 1-1 5, Hoffman 6-12 5-7 21, Connell 5-8 0-0 10, Liebl 1-3 0-0 2, Musgrove 0-1 0-0 0, Hilton 0-1 0-0 0, Hickel 0-0 0-2 0, Miller 0-1 0-0 0, Stueder 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-39 6-11 44.
OLPE (25-1) — Krueger 4-9 0-1 8, C. Stueve 2-7 2-4 8, S. Pargman 7-9 5-5 19, Coble 1-3 1-3 3, Pettijohn 0-0 0-0 0, J. Pargman 1-2 0-0 2, Hammond 2-6 2-2 8, Schmidt 0-4 0-0 0, Haag 2-3 6-7 10, Klumpe 0-0 0-0 0, Burenheide 1-2 0-0 2, A. Stueve 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-45 16-22 60.
3-point goals — Claflin 6-22 (Kempke 2-6, Bieberle 0-3, Hoffman 4-8, Connell 0-1, Liebl 0-1, Musgrove 0-1, Hilton 0-1, Miller 0-1), Olpe 4-15 (Krueger 0-1, C. Stueve 2-4, Coble 0-1, Hammond 2-6, Schmidt 0-3). Fouled out — None. Rebounds — Claflin 22 (Hoffman 11), Olpe 31 (S. Pargman, Coble 6). Assists — Claflin 11 (Bieberle, Hoffman 3), Olpe 9 (Krueger, J. Pargman, Schmidt, Haag 2). Total fouls — Claflin 23, Olpe 16.