State champs! BV North, Maize, Miege boys + SMNW, Miege, Aquinas girls bag hoops titles

It was a day of basketball celebration for several Kansas City-area high school basketball teams at various sites around the state on Saturday.

The Blue Valley North, Maize and Bishop Miege boys and Shawnee Mission Northwest, St. Thomas Aquinas and Bishop Miege girls teams all claimed hoops titles.

The Shawnee Mission Northwest girls team completed a perfect season Saturday night — 23-0 — with a 61-54 win over Topeka in the Class 6A finals at Koch Arena in Wichita.

Northwest had a 26-21 lead at halftime and was ahead by just three, 41-38, after three quarters. The Cougars were able to hold on down the stretch in a game that was fairly close throughout.

Junior Cougars guard Saige Grampsas scored 26 points to lead all scorers and added a pair of threes and four assists. Kennedy Taylor totaled 15 points and nine rebounds. Topeka was led by NiJaree Canady’s 25 points, 12 rebounds and four steals.

Also at Koch Arena Saturday, Blue Valley North (21-3) claimed its first state title in boys hoops since 1997 — second overall — with a 67-59 victory over Haysville-Campus in the 6A finals. The Mustangs rallied after trailing 32-26 at halftime.

Isaac Patterson scored 19 points, Nikko Taylor 17, Luke Adams 14 and Kernan Bundy 12 for BV North. Campus got 24 points from Stevie Strong, 12 from Jayden Hall 12 and 10 from Sterling Chapman.

The Class 5A Aquinas girls, meanwhile, not only won their fifth straight championship, they also ended a monumental 45-game winning streak by Andover Central (24-1). The final score at White Auditorium in Emporia: Miege 52, Andover Central 44.

It was the ninth state title overall for the Saints (20-2). Aquinas, which led 30-14 at halftime, was led by Beatrice Culliton’s 16 points and 14 rebounds. Creighton recruit Brittany Harshaw scored 18 points — 15 in the second half — for Andover Central.

Andover Central, whose previous loss came against McPherson in overtime in December 2019, was seeking its first state championship in girls hoops since 2010.

Maize (23-2), coached by Chris Grill and a semifinal winner over KC’s Washington High, beat Topeka West 55-43 for the first championship in school history.

Avery Johnson led the Eagles with 17 points and Winston Bing added 11.

In the boys 4A final at the Tony’s Pizza Events Center in Salina, Miege (22-1) routed Louisburg 94-40 for the sixth state title in program history. The Stags got 22 points from Harrison Braudis, 18 from Taj Manning, 16 from Mark Mitchell 16 and 14 from Christian Bowen-Webb.

Louisburg (18-7) trailed 48-23 at halftime and 70-29 after three quarters. The Stags were long, with three players 6-foot-8 or taller, and they also shot the ball extremely well: 67 percent from the field.

In the girls 4A final, also at Salina, Louisville-bound McDonald’s All-American Payton Verhulst and the 23-1 Miege girls beat McPherson 51-36 to complete the Stags’ boys/girls title sweep in a showdown of powerhouses: the Stags were playing in their 28th girls championship game, the Bullpups their 16th.

Here are the scores from each Saturday championship game:

This story was originally published March 13, 2021 at 5:35 PM.