Miege and Paola win in Kansas 4A Division I girls quarterfinals

Bishop Miege, the No. 1 seed in the Kansas 4A Division I girls state tournament, cruised through its quarterfinal game Wednesday.

The Stags scored the first seven points and beat Andale 67-46.

Shelbe Piggie made two free throws midway through the second quarter, giving Miege a 28-14 lead, and Andale never got within double digits again.

Miege got a team-high 16 points from Tristen McFeders, and Piggie and Hunter Bentley added 13 apiece.

The Stags forced 23 turnovers.

“No doubt, the turnovers killed us,” Andale coach Ted Anderson said. “... I knew their quickness was going to be a problem for us. The quickness and the speed, you can’t simulate that in practice.”

Miege coach Terry English didn’t think his team, which improved to 23-0, played as fast as they can.

“I don’t think we were very quick today,” English said. “We just didn’t look like we were in the mood to play. I think they knew coming in that this team was going to be undermanned…. Hopefully we’re going to play better. We’ll have to if we want to stick around.”

Paola 62, Abilene 60

Paola had missed three of its last four free throws when junior Chandler Karr stepped to the free-throw line in the final 5.6 seconds of overtime on Wednesday. Paola and Abilene were tied, and as soon as Karr was fouled, her teammates raced over to her.

“They told me, ‘take a deep breath, deep breath,’ ” Karr said. “So I just took a deep breath, normal routine, knocked them down.”

The free throws helped Paola beat Abilene 62-60 in the Kansas 4A Division I quarterfinals. Paola, 21-2, will play Wellington in Friday’s seimfinals.

Abilene’s Belle Barbieri and Cara Donley, who scored all of the team’s 38 points after halftime, pushed Paola. Donley scored a game-high 28 points, while Barbieri had 21.

After missing two free throws with 5.3 seconds remaining in regulation, Paola fouled Donley with 1.3 seconds to go. Donley hit both free throws, sending the game to overtime.

Paola’s Morgan Laudan, who scored a team-high 16 points and had 15 rebounds, scored the first points of the overtime. Abilene, 18-5, missed a desperation shot in the final seconds.

Wellington 62, De Soto 57

Wellington pulled out a win — its first in a state tournament — and advance to Friday’s semifinals at the Bicentennial Center, but De Soto didn’t make it easy.

DeSoto came back from double-digit deficits twice and was within one point in the final 46 seconds.

Down 58-48 with 2:57 to go, DeSoto senior Kristin Saucerman made a three-pointer to start a 9-0 run. The spurt was capped by Tanith Beal’s three-pointer from the left corner thar made itr 58-57.

Wellington’s Lauryn Snipes, who scored a game-high 23, answered by scoring inside with 35 seconds to go. Snipes then got a steal and was fouled, but she missed the front end of a one-and-one.

On DeSoto’s ensuing possession, the Wildcats missed a three-point attempt and, on the rebound, Wellington’s Shayland French was fouled. She made both free throws.

DeSoto sophomore Mariah Grizzle finished with a team-high 20 points and a game-high 15 rebounds, and Saucerman scored 15 points while making 4 of 6 three-pointers.

This story was originally published March 9, 2016 at 6:48 PM with the headline "Miege and Paola win in Kansas 4A Division I girls quarterfinals."