Silver Lake Girls Rally in Second Half to Advance to Second Straight State Championship Game
It's the Giant Communications and JBN Telephone Company ROAD TO GLORY, presented by Giant Mobile.
Girls 3A Semifinal in Hutchinson: Silver Lake 65, Hesston 58
In a rematch of last year's State Championship game in which Silver Lake won 66-61, the highly anticipated rematch took place in the semifinals this season.
Hesston entered the game the #1 seed and ranked #1 in the class with a record of 24-0 while Silver Lake entered the contest on Friday night ranked #6 in the class at 22-2.
It was great action with good pace in the first quarter as the Swathers would lead the Eagles 16-13 after the first eight minutes.
Not much different in the second quarter as Silver Lake outscored Hesston 16-15 with Hesston leading the game 31-29 at halftime.
It wasn't looking good for Silver Lake in the third quarter as Hesston would build their largest lead of the game at 11.
During that stretch, Silver Lake All-State point guard Kailyn Hanni went down with an injury and had to leave the game but returned just a few minutes later.
The Swathers outscored the Eagles 17-11 in the third quarter and led the game 48-40 going into the fourth quarter.
The Eagles would save their best quarter for last as they would put together a massive rally to outscore the Swathers 25-11 to secure their spot in their second straight State Championship game.
The Eagles offense was elite in that fourth quarter hitting 4-of-5 shots including 3-for-3 from three-point range. The bulk of that fourth quarter scoring came from the free throw line as the Eagles went a perfect 14-for-14 from the stripe.
Silver Lake is one win away from claiming their second straight State Championship and standing in their way is #2 ranked Halstead who defeated Colby in their semifinal contest.
The game is scheduled to tip-off at 4:00 PM on Saturday afternoon in Hutchinson with the broadcast available on 103.9 KNZA.
NAPA Auto Parts in Sabetha Starting Line-Up and Top Performers' Stats
Kailyn Hanni (SL) 28 points 6 assists 4 rebounds (6-9 FG, 1-2 3pt, 15-17 FT)
Ella Bolan (SL) 14 points 4 rebounds (4-7 3pt)
Karys Deiter (SL) 10 points 7 rebounds 3 assists 3 steals (8-10 FT)
Kendal Brueggen (Hess) 27 points (20p 1H) 5 rebounds (10-22 FG, 5-5 FT)
Kaycee Mason (Hess) 14 points (4-5 FG, 6-8 FT)
Abby Proctor (Hess) 8 points 2 steals (3-8 FG, 1-2 3pt)
Team Totals
Silver Lake: 16-43 FG (37.2%), 8-20 3pt (40%), 25-33 FT (75.8%)
Hesston: 20-43 FG (46.5%), 4-12 3pt (33.3%), 14-17 FT (82.4%)
Picture courtesy of Ernie Porter
