What a night for Piper basketball: Pirates’ boys, girls teams reach 4A state finals

Things couldn’t get much better for Piper High athletic program than Friday night. Well, they could, but more about that in a minute.

The first crescendo of the evening at Salina’s Tony’s Pizza Events Center came around sundown, when the boys basketball team put the finishing touches on a 57-54 win over No. 1-seeded Wichita’s Trinity Academy (21-2).

The fourth-seeded Pirates (20-4) is moving on thanks in large part to a three-pointer by Tyren Shelley. That shot was huge, because Trinity’s Caden Vanlangham had tied it at 54 moments earlier when he was fouled in the act of shooting a three and sank the ensuing trio of free throws.

Trinity’s only other loss this season was to Campus in El Dorado. This will be Piper’s first state-title game appearance.

The next game on the schedule Friday night featured a girls semifinal: Piper, again, vs. Nickerson. And the PHS girls kept the good times rolling, remaining unbeaten with a 72-40 victory of their own.

Unlike the boys game, this one was never close. Piper led 42-17 at halftime and 58-23 after three quarters.

So about what we said at the top: How could things get even better for Pirates Nation? By winning two state championships on Saturday, of course.

To do that, the boys will have to beat the winner of Friday’s final semifinal between Augusta and Chapman. The girls, meanwhile, will have to take down a familiar face on the state-tourney circuit: perennial powerhouse and fellow unbeaten Bishop Miege (23-0), a 74-44 Friday winner over Baldwin.

Miege got a sister-act command performance from the Verhulstes against Baldwin (20-2), with Ashton Verhulst scoring 16 and Payton Verhulst adding 15 and 11 rebounds. Faith Hawthorne had a double-double with 14 points and 12 rebounds.

Saturday’s girls 4A final is at4 p.m.; the boys final is at 6:15.