By TYLER HENRY
Little Apple Post contributor
The Wamego Lady Raiders have played an almost flawless brand of basketball, winning 21 of their 23 games this season en route to a state semifinal matchup on Friday night.
Wamego fans may have noticed that the two teams the Raiders fell to this year faced each other on the other side of the bracket, meaning that regardless of results, if the Raiders advanced they would be in for a revenge game for a ticket to the state championship.
It was Eudora who got the better of Clay Center in a 50-46 overtime thriller, and it will be the 22-1 Lady Cardinals whom Wamego will have to overcome on Friday night.
Eudora will enter this contest ranked #3 in Class 4A with a 48-38 win over the Raiders already in hand, but Wamego has come a long way since that first meeting.
“I think we’ve grown since that game,” Wamego head coach Brian McIntosh said. “Everybody hates to lose but when you lose it can be easier to get your team's attention about some things. I think the losses that we’ve had this season have kept us grounded and focused on building on what we have.”
Both of the Lady Raider’s losses this season occurred against state-ranked opponents on the second night of a back-to-back, but foul trouble played every bit as much of a factor as fatigue the first time these two met back in January.
“We were ahead for most of the first half but we got into some early foul trouble and they made some runs,” McIntosh said. “Looking back there are some minor adjustments that we can make to be successful against them and if we execute our game plan I feel good about competing with them.”
The Cardinals run through Harper Schreiner, a DII commit who has been the steady heartbeat of one of the best teams in Class 4A this year.
“Schreiner makes them go offensively and defensively, she’s a fiery, passionate player and as she goes they go,” he said. “She can score at all three levels, shoot the three, take it to the rack or create easy buckets for her teammates. We have to keep her in front and I feel like we have the kids who can help each other and cut off her angles to the basket.”
In addition to growing from a talent standpoint, Wamego is also more battle-tested than they were back in January, exemplified in a come-from-behind win over Labette County in the state quarterfinal.
“I think our confidence has grown and we’re getting really good play from all of our spots,” McIntosh said. “We’ve learned to grow through adversity and we’re a lot better for it.”
The Lady Raiders will be hungry for an opportunity to avenge one of their only losses on the year, and to advance to the state championship game for the third time in school history, and just the first since 2014.
“We’re excited for the possibility to get one of those two losses back,” he said. “After we lost to Eudora I had a weird gut feeling that we’d see them again. I thought we were two of the top four teams in 4A after that game and here we are. You always want to have a little redemption and a chance to do it on this stage is pretty special.”
Tip-off between the Lady Raiders and Cardinals is set for 6 pm at the Tony’s Pizza Events Center on Friday with the winner moving on to the final to face 23-0 Wellington or 21-2 Bishop Miege at 4:00 on Saturday.
The losers of those two games will meet in the third-place game at noon on Saturday.
For continuing coverage of the Lady Raiders state tournament run, stay tuned to the Salina Post.