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Seaman wins midseason tournament on buzzer-beater. Rural begins life without Zoe Canfield.

seth kinker, topeka capital-journal
·5 min read

Washburn Rural girls begin life without their star guard and the Seaman girls team take home hardware.

Here's what stood out in the second week of midseason tournaments.

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Seaman girls wins Glacier's Edge tournament

The 5A No. 1 Seaman girls went through a gauntlet at the Glacier's Edge tournament on Jan. 26, 27 and 28, going 3-0 with wins over Shawnee Mission West, 6A No. 4 Derby and 5A No. 4 Emporia.

Seaman defeated two teams with division one talent in Shawnee Mission West senior guard S'Mya Nichols, a Kansas signee, and Derby senior forward Addy Brown, an Iowa State signee.

Seaman coach Matt Tinsley said they knew it had to be a team effort against the talents of Nichols and Brown.

For Nichols, the plan was to pressure her and try and force her to give the ball up and get it out of her hands. For Brown, it was to try and collapse on her in the post and force her to kick it out.

Add in a win for the championship on the road in a hostile environment at the host of the tournament, Emporia, with a buzzer beater and it was a solid weekend.

"We told the girls this third game just comes down to effort," said Tinsley on Saturday after the win. "You've just got to want it more. Emporia is so well coached and they play extremely hard. Just really proud of my girls.

"Our first game of the tournament, playing arguably the best player in the state. We guarded her well. Yesterday, we played a McDonald's All-American. Then, tonight, we played a very, very solid team. It felt like a backyard fight. I told one of my assistants, the team that has the ball last is going to win this game. And we did, fortunately."

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  • It was a two-point game after the first and second quarters. Seaman's pressure in the third quarter led to turnovers and quick baskets as they led by as much as eight, and led 36-28 after the third quarter. In the fourth quarter, Seaman built its lead to 11 points before Emporia stormed back and tied it at 43 on an and-one basket with 49 seconds to go. Seaman then had a baseline out of bounds play, still tied at 43.

"We had a play, Taylin said, 'Should I shoot this if I get it?'" said Tinsley. "It was like 29 seconds and I've said 'Hey, our shooters got to shoot, so I said yes, you've got to shoot.' They guarded it well."

  • After the baseline out-of-bounds play, an elevator screen for sharpshooting junior guard Taylin Stallbaumer that wasn't there, sophomore Anna Becker, named MVP of the tournament, dribbled around before finding Stallbaumer in the corner who hit the three as time expired for the 46-43 win.

"Coach is telling us to run a play, it didn't end up working," said Stallbaumer. "We were kind of scrambling at the end, Anna was about to shoot it (and) just decides to pass it to me. I was kind of freaking out, but I just chucked it up and it went in."

  • Tinsley said this tournament showed the team's toughness, something they've been looking for, and what they're capable of when playing at their best when their best is needed.

"We knew coming into this tournament we would have the chance and opportunity (to show our toughness)," said Tinsley. "We've got to continue to build on it in. Two minutes to go in the game, now you need to show me that you've learned from situations.

"Our first games, it's been the same situation. We have a lead late, we were all out of kilter yesterday's game and just about gave it away. The girls showed that they learned from that."

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Washburn Rural goes 2-1 at Thunderbird Classic

The Washburn Rural girls competed at the Thunderbird Classic at Shawnee Heights over the weekend, placing third. It was their first games since junior guard, and Kansas commit, Zoe Canfield tore her ACL in the first quarter at Manhattan on Jan. 13. Thursday's game against Life Prep came 13 days after that game.

Washburn Rural defeated Life Prep, 44-41 in overtime on Thursday. On Friday, they fell to 6A No. 1 Shawnee Mission South, 47-37, before ending the weekend with a 44-28 rout of 5A No. 6 Hutchinson on Saturday.

Against Life Prep, two senior starters Brooklyn DeLeye and Chloe Carlgren went big late to help seal the overtime win.

There were more turnovers than usual against Life Prep. Some of it was rust after 13 days since their last game and some of it was Canfield's absence. She's a guard that's comfortable creating for herself and teammates on or off the ball, the team's best three-point threat, a double digit scorer and a good on-ball defender.

  • Younger players like junior Destiny Ochs, sophomore Kate Hinck, sophomore Tenly Bunck and maybe even freshman guard Allie Schroeder, who saw minutes early in the second half against Life Prep, will have more minutes and bigger roles.

"They have to do what they can do," said coach Kevin Bordewick. "Nobody can do exactly what Zoe does. They're all a little bit different."

  • Canfield's injury affects sub-patterns and rotations. Bordewick also touched on the slight role change for the perimeter players like senior guard MaRyah Lutz.

"MaRyah is going to have to handle the ball a little bit more," said Bordewick. "And she's gonna have to go even when she's a little bit tired."

This article originally appeared on Topeka Capital-Journal: Seaman wins mid-season tournament on buzzer-beater