By Brent Maycock – KSHSAA Covered
GREAT BEND – Patrick Gardner wasn’t about to hide it.
“34-59,” the Lebo girls coach said. “It’s been on our scoreboard since Day One. Plain and simple.”
The score Gardner was referring to came in last year’s Class 1A Division II state championship game. Lebo went into the game undefeated on the season and promptly got spanked by fellow unbeaten Hanover, which won its third state title in six seasons.
Rather than write it off and erase it from his team’s memory, Gardner wrote it down as a daily reminder of where the Wolves wanted to be this season. And thanks to a strong second-half effort against Wallace County in Friday’s late semifinal, that’s exactly where Lebo finds itself.
With a 47-36 win over Wallace County, Lebo (23-2) kept its end of the deal, advancing to Saturday’s 6:15 p.m. championship game for the second straight year. Earlier in the day, Hanover (22-4) did its part as well, cruising past under-manned Northern Valley 56-28.
Lebo wanted a second shot at Hanover and the Wolves have it.
“We did not bring our best (last year) and they’re the team to beat,” Gardner said. “We felt they were probably the No. 1 team all year long – not probably, they were – because we have to beat them to be that. It’s been there every practice so they could understand what we were working for. We wanted to be back here to see what we could do.”
While maintaining its focus all year long not to let a desired rematch with Hanover become the entire emphasis of the season, now that it’s a reality Lebo senior guard Aubrey Peek said the Wolves are ready to prove that last year’s showing wasn’t who the Wolves really are.
“We knew we did not give them our best game last year at all,” Peek said. “We’re ready to come back out here and do it again, but give them our best game. We’re a lot more prepared this year.”
Lebo wasn’t anywhere near its peak in the first half of Friday’s semifinal against Wallace County. While not quite to the same extent as the struggled the boys’ team had in the first half of its semifinal win over Axtell, the Wolves hardly found any kind of offensive rhythm.
The Wildcats’ 6-foot-2 post Aubree Richardson took away just about anything Lebo standout Saige Hadley tried to get in the paint. And the Wildcat guard hounded Lebo on the perimeter, forcing 13 turnovers in the first half.
Lebo did lead 9-3 at the end of the first quarter thanks to a late 3-pointer from Peek but floundered a bit in the second quarter and led just 16-13 at halftime with Emma Marsh hitting a corner jumper at the buzzer to make it a three-point margin.
“She was big tonight,” Gardner said of Marsh, who wound up scoring 9 points off the bench. “I thought that shot was huge for her confidence and for our team’s.”
It sure jolted some life into a Lebo offense that made just 5 of 19 shots in the first half in addition to the 13 turnovers. The Wolves immediately jumped on Wallace County in the second half as Siara Crouch scored on consecutive possessions and then hit two free throws to start a 9-0 run to open the third quarter, her buckets opening things up for Peek to cap the run with a 3-pointer.
“We hit Siara a few times and that softened their defense a little bit,” Gardner said. “It opened up the middle for Audrey to hit a few for us and Saige to kind of get going. I thought we could get out and run on them … and we got some easy run-outs. Siara did a really good job of getting to the bucket.”
After the 9-0 run got the lead to double digits, Lebo pushed the margin to 14 in the third quarter and never let it dip back to single digits until there were three minutes left. But Wallace County never got closer than nine.
After hitting just 1 of 3 shots in the first half, Hadley made 4 of 7 in the second half to finish with a game-high 13 points. Peek added 12 points, 5 assists and 7 steals.
Wallace County was led by Jersi Benisch, who had 13 points and 6 steals. The Wildcats never really recovered from a first half that saw them hit just 4 of 26 shots (15.4%) and commit 12 turnovers.
HANOVER OVERWHELMS UPSTART NORTHERN VALLEY WITH PRESSURE DEFENSE, ROLLS TO 56-28 WIN
With Northern Valley having a quick turnaround and depleted roster of just seven players, Hanover’s plan was to try to take the Huskies’ legs out from under them early rather than wearing them down over the duration of the game.
Nothing like overwhelming pressure to accomplish that.
And while a stingy press has been a trademark of Hanover teams, Wildcat coach Chris Beikmann said they haven’t busted it out as much as they traditionally like this season.
“We’ve been able to put it on lately,” he said. “Teams in the TVL know us so well that we’ve been a little more cautious because they know how to beat our press to some extent. They know how to attack us. When you get out here and see new teams, you can bring some of your presses out that they haven’t seen. … With the athletes we have, we have to use them and I’m not going to hold them back.”
Northern Valley certainly wasn’t capable of handling whatever Hanover threw at it, particularly once the game settled in. Feeding off the adrenaline of Thursday’s upset of No. 1 seed South Haven, the Huskies hung tough for nearly five minutes of the first quarter, trailing just 10-8 at the 3:19 mark of the period.
But Hanover cranked up the pressure and Northern Valley buckled. The Huskies committed turnovers on their final seven possessions of the first quarter and Hanover turned several into easy layups by Anna Jueneman and Company at the other end, finishing the period on a 10-0 run that turned into a 16-0 spurt when the Wildcats forced four more turnovers on the Huskies’ first five possessions of the second period.
In all, Hanover forced 18 first-half turnovers and scored 22 of their 34 first-half points off them, taking a 34-14 lead into halftime.
“I told the girls, ‘They have seven girls and like to play five. Keep the pressure on them and if we get into foul trouble, we’ll adjust,’” Beikmann said. “We got some turnovers, didn’t get into too much foul trouble until late and our early pressure fueled our offense. And if you give Anna run-outs, she’s gonna finish those.
“We wanted to come out with that fighter’s instinct and not let them jab at us and get us to the third quarter where it’s a 10-point game. You give a team – kudos to Northern Valley, seven girls and to get out here and compete how they are, heck of a job and heck of a coaching job.”
Jueneman keyed the press and had eight first-half steals that led in part to her 18 first-half points. She finished with 24 points and 10 steals as Hanover put it on cruise control a bit in the second half, getting out to a 24-point lead less than four minutes into the third quarter and never letting it get below 20 the rest of the way.
Katelyn Klipp added 11 points and 6 rebounds and Tessa Lohse and Drew Bruna combined for 17 points.
No Husky finished in double-figure scoring with Audrey Bina’s 8 points leading the way. Northern Valley finished with 28 turnovers and made just 9 of 33 shots.
Back in the title game for the fifth time since 2017, Beikmann said that though it’s been a different path back – no Twin Valley League titles this season as well as four losses – his team has been tested enough to be ready for its rematch with a Lebo team it whipped by 25 points in last year’s title tilt.
“That was one of our best games last year,” Beikmann said. “We had some great seniors last year and Lebo did as well. Early this year, it was a learning curve and our schedule helped us. We played Little River in the non-con, and Centralia, Frankfort and Valley Heights. Every night in the TVL was a battle. You’re going to get tested. That’s why we get out here and perform so well.”
CLASS 1A DIVISION II GIRLS SEMIFINAL BOXSCORES
HANOVER 56, NORTHERN VALLEY 28
Hanover … 20 … 14 … 11 … 11 … — … 56
Northern Valley … 8 … 6 … 8 … 6 … — … 28
Hanover (22-4) – Lohse 3-7 0-0 9, D. Bruna 2-5 3-3 8, A. Jueneman 10-17 3-4 24, K. Schotte 0-2 0-0 0, Klipp 3-11 5-6 11, Cohorst 0-1 0-0 0, G. Bruna 1-2 0-2 2, Scheele 0-0 0-0 0, L. Jueneman 0-0 0-0 0, S. Schotte 0-0 0-0 0, Schlabach 1-3 0-0 2, Zarybnicky 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-48 11-15 56.
Northern Valley (13-12) – Sides 2-11 1-2 7, J. Cox 2-4 3-4 7, Bina 3-6 2-6 8, A. Cox 1-6 1-2 3, B. Cox 1-4 0-0 3, Gebhard 0-1 0-0 0, Schemper 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 9-33 7-14 22.
3-point goals – Hanover 5-16 (Lohse 3-7, D. Bruna 1-2, Jueneman 1-4, K. Schotte 0-1, Klipp 0-1, G. Bruna 0-1); Northern Valley 3-16 (Sides 2-11, B. Cox 1-2, A. Cox 0-2). Rebounds – Hanover 34 (D. Bruna 9), Northern Valley 22 (J. Cox 9). Assists – Hanover 10 (Lohse 3), Northern Valley 7 (A. Cox 3). Turnovers – Hanover 20, Northern Valley 28. Total fouls – Hanover 14, Northern Valley 12. Fouled out – none.
LEBO 47, WALLACE COUNTY 36
Wallace County … 3 … 10 … 8 … 15 … — … 36
Lebo … 9 … 7 … 18 … 13 … — … 47
Wallace County (21-4) – Carman 0-1 2-2 2, Jy. Stafford 0-5 1-2 1, Benisch 5-16 2-2 13, A. Richardson 2-7 3-5 7, Ja. Stafford 1-1 0-0 2, Daily 2-7 0-2 4, K. Richardson 1-6 1-4 3, Gibbs 0-5 2-2 2, Ita 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 12-49 11-19 36.
Lebo (23-2) – Peek 4-11 2-2 12, Ott 0-2 3-6 3, Jones 1-4 0-0 2, Crouch 3-8 2-2 8, Hadley 5-10 2-5 13, Marsh 2-3 5-8 9. Totals 15-38 14-23 47.
3-point goals – Wallace County 1-7 (Benisch 1-5, Daily 0-2); Lebo 3-17 (Peek 2-6, Hadley 1-2, Jones 0-3, Crouch 0-5, Marsh 0-1). Rebounds – Wallace County 33 (A. Richardson 9), Lebo 38 (Hadley 9). Assists – Wallace County 4 (Benisch 2), Lebo 11 (Peek 5). Turnovers – Wallace County 19, Lebo 25. Total fouls – Wallace County 21, Lebo 18. Fouled out – Wallace County: Jy. Stafford, Ja. Stafford.
