By TYLER HENRY
Little Apple Post contributor
The Wamego girls basketball team battled through early adversity to pull out a 36-34 come from behind victory over Labette County in the opening round of the state tournament on Wednesday.
The Lady Raiders will advance to the state semis on Friday to take on 22-1 Eudora while the Lady Grizzlies season comes to a close at 18-5.
Wamego struggled to find the cup early, taking a touchdown deficit of 21-14 into the locker room after shooting just 7-20 from the floor and failing to connect on a single three-pointer.
“We were trying to feel them out in the first half and they did a good job of pressing us and slowing us down,” Raiders head coach Brian McIntosh said. “We weren’t patient, we were taking some questionable shots and I think their length surprised us a little bit.”
Knowing they needed to make a push out of the intermission, Wamego went to work on defense, tightening the clamps and holding the Grizzlies to just a single made field goal in the third quarter while the offense tacked on 11 points to pull ahead going into the fourth.
The teams traded punches down the stretch but it was the Lady Raider's experience and poise that won the day as Wamego sank their free throws late to put the game away and advance to the second round.
“I was very proud of our girls,” McIntosh said. “It would have been easy to hang our heads down at halftime but this group has fought through so much adversity in the last four years and I knew they would respond. This group is gritty, they’re tough and they’re fighters.”
Wamego was led in scoring by Paige Donnelly and Trista Hoobler who split 21 points down the middle in a big Lady Raider win.
“Trista really stepped up in the second half,” he said. “She got to the rim early on and that got us going for players like Paige Donnely and Rylie Meinhardt who played really well for us on both sides of the floor.”
Wamego will now turn their attention to the state semifinal on Friday as they prepare for a rematch with 22-1 Eudora who handed the Raiders one of their two losses earlier this season.
Tip-off for the semifinal is scheduled for 6 pm on Friday, for continuing coverage of Wamego’s state-run stay tuned to the Little Apple Post.