Gatorade player of year is too much for BV Northwest girls in 6A quarterfinal

The Blue Valley Northwest girls basketball team held pace with top-seeded Maize early in the game, but the Huskies could not find an answer for Kansas Gatorade player of the year Keiryn Swenson.

Swenson scored 24 points — including 20 in the first half — to spark Maize to a 49-30 victory against BV Northwest on Thursday in a Kansas 6A state quarterfinal at Wichita State’s Koch Arena.

“She is a great ballplayer,” BV Northwest coach Brian Bubalo said. “She made some high post shots, and we started guarding it, and she started hitting the wing. A lot of them were tough rebounding points, because she just went in there and took the ball. We were working (hard).”

BV Northwest junior forward Mya Mertz drew the initial assignment of guarding Swenson but found herself in early foul trouble and exited with two fouls midway through the first quarter. The Huskies switched to a zone defense and were able to take a lead in the second half, but Mertz’s third foul followed quickly and allowed Maize to take a 26-19 halftime lead.

BV Northwest was held to just three field goals in the second half, on 15.8 percent shooting.

Lade Adepoju led BV Northwest with nine points, and Mertz added eight. The Huskies finished their season with a 13-10 record and their first state tournament trip since 2011.

This story was originally published March 12, 2015 at 6:16 PM with the headline "Gatorade player of year is too much for BV Northwest girls in 6A quarterfinal."