Isabelle Newman attempts a 3-pointer in the first half vs. Andale. 

By Tracy McCue, Sumner Newscow — Tuesday, the Wellington girls basketball team pulled off a trifecta. The Crusaders:

•defeated Andale to garner a season sweep;

•pretty much secure their fifth straight Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League Div. IV Championship (barring disaster);

•achieve a No 1 final ranking in Class 4A in the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association poll. The girls were never ranked lower.

Wellington girls are 17-1 after beating Andale 58-47 on the road. This marked the 11th time in the last 12 games Wellington has defeated Andale. While the win on paper doesn’t clinch a fifth league crown for the Lady Dukes, it is now pretty much a certainty, no matter what happens next week against No. 8 Clearwater. The Crusaders have a two-game lead, with three league opponents to go.

Two of those opponents are Rose Hill and El Dorado, whom Wellington easily defeated in the first rotation of the AV-CTL DIV by more than 25 points. Even if Wellington were to lose to either one of those and lose to Clearwater on the road, they would still share a league title.

Tuesday was not going to be easy. Wellington had defeated Andale 37-25 in a tight home contest in December. The Crusaders were also playing a team on a four-game winning streak that reappeared in the top 10 rankings. This game had the smell of upset early as Andale poured in four 3-pointers in the first 10 minutes and pretty much controlled the tempo.

With 3:32 to play in the second quarter, Andale was leading 24-17. But then Cruz Cornejo nailed a 3-pointer from the corner to pull the Dukes within four. Two Viv Wright free throws and a Claire Ginter putback tied the game at 24. The two teams exchanged baskets, and Wellington went into halftime leading 28-26 with a tussle on their hands.

Wellington’s Claire Ginter provides tough defense against Andale.

Despite the adversity Wellington faced in the first half, the Crusaders controlled the second. After an Andale jumper to start the third quarter to tie the game, Wellington junior Dru Zeka nailed a three-pointer and a three-point play on the next possession. Soon, Wellington was up by eight and led 42-35 entering the fourth quarter.

Wright then made a huge steal, layup, and free throw early in the fourth to build Wellington’s first double-digit lead. Andale could not break through that deficit thereafter. Wellington would eventually win by 12. Wellington head girls’ basketball coach Eric Adams states:

“We talk about peaks and valleys when you play Andale. They are going to go on scoring runs. I thought we handled the valleys very well.
Andale also gets back on defense better than most teams. When our break wasn’t there, we are getting so good at running our man-to-man offensive sets to perfection.”

Wellington spent the evening in foul trouble. Lyndi Barton, Kirstyn Gregory and Ginter all ended the game with four fouls. Gregory had three in the first half. But Andale was having trouble as well with two girls getting four fouls apiece. Yet no one fouled out.

Wellington was an impressive 15-of-21 at the foul line, and Andale was 10-of-16. Both teams had five 3-pointers.

Zeka continues to shine as of late, scoring 22 points with three 3-pointers and 7-of-12 from the charity stripe. Barton had 22 points, going 5-of-6 at the line.

The Crusaders host Rose Hill Friday night on homecoming in hopes of officially securing the AV-CTL DIV title.

Wellington 58 Andale 47

Wellington —  11  17   14   16 —  58
Andale –           10  16    9   12 — 47
Wellington: Barton 15, Zeka 22, Wright 7, Ginter 6, Cornejo 5, Ki. Gregory 3. Total: 14 (5) 15-21 58. Andale: Abbi Winter 12, Brooke Grimves 10, Mayla Sprearth 6, Edyn Stolz 6, Izzy Rau 6, and Rylee Winter 5. Total: 11 (5) 10-16 47.

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As far as the KBCA rankings go, Wellington completed the sweep of being No. 1 from the preseason to the postseason – something the state championship Crusaders didn’t even do last year. The final KBCA poll was released on Tuesday. The top 10 poll in 4A is as follows:

1. Wellington
2. Eudora
3. Wamego
4. Independence
5. Bishop Miege
6. Rock Creek
7. Topeka Hayden
8. Clearwater
9. Andale
10. Ottawa.

The full poll can be found here.