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Little River girls, Frankfort make 1A state finals
lr alaina eck

BY RICK PETERSON Jr.

KSHSAA COVERED

COLBY – The Little River girls were ready for a reset by the time the fourth quarter rolled around in Friday’s semifinal with Centralia. 

Little River made it to the fourth with a 2-point lead, after Centralia went 10 of 12 at the foul line.

“It didn’t seem like we could get out of the quarter,” Little River coach Cy Rolfs said. “We’re used to more up-tempo and pressing.”

Little River (24-0) found a spark from Alaina Eck. Eck's steal and 3-point play ignited an 8-0 run. Eck finished with 20 points while sophomore Arika Feldman added 15.

“That play was really pivotal,” Rolfs said “The way (Eck) finished the game in general, making free throws down the stretch, it speaks to what a leader she’s been.”

Centralia's Oen Deters scored 20 points off 5 of 19 field goals and 8 of 12 from the line.

“We kept fresh people on her,” Rolfs said. “She knows how to score in a variety of ways. We played her as good as we could."

Deters cut the deficit to four with a 3-pointer with 90 seconds left. Little River forced a turnover iced the win with free throws. 

Little River's seventh state final appearance is the first since 1998. Little River has captured second straight volleyball championships.

“They’re very excited to be there,” Rolfs said. “They know the work they’ve put in to get to this point."

FRANKFORT 47, SOUTH GRAY 31 -- The Frankfort girls held the Rebels to eight points in the second half for a 47-31 win at the Colby Event Center. 

Frankfort closed the game on a 22-4 run.to reach the state championship for the first time since 1981. The Wildcats (22-3) will go for their first title in program history in Saturday’s 6:15 p.m. title game against 25-0 Little River. 

“We have played (better defense), but maybe not against a caliber of team like this,” Frankfort coach Brian Ebert said. “We hang our hat on defense. From Day 1, I preach defense. I don’t care how good you are offensively, if you can’t play defense, you’re probably not going to play much. I think the girls buy into that. 

“You can see that we’ve got some grit and we’ve got some hard-nosed girls that get down and play defense.”

That was evident down the stretch on Friday. Frankfort led 29-27 at the end of the third quarter before outscoring a potent South Gray squad 18-4 in the fourth.

“Early on, we missed a lot of bunnies at the rim and weren’t finishing stong, kind of fading away instead of going into the contact and creating contact,” Ebert said. “We were able to create a little bit of a gap there.”

Hattie Gros scored a game-high 18 points and helped the Wildcats gain separation in the fourth while Breleigh Ebert and Emma Hardwick each had eight. Ashlyn Dalinghaus came up a with a big 3 in the fourth to help Frankfort seal it. 

“I thought (Gros) really rose up at the end,” Brian Ebert said. “First half, I thought Breleigh really carried us. She had a great first half for us.

“(Dalinghaus’ 3) really kind of sparked us. She had been struggling shooting the ball of late. She took it without any fear and nailed it.”

South Gray was dealt a big blow when starter Allie Reed fouled out early in the fourth quarter. Vi Helm and Kylie Stapleton each scored 10 for South Gray, which went 13 of 38 from the floor. 

The Wildcats will now take a shot at ending Little River’s bid for a perfect season. The title game appearance in 1981 was Frankfort’s only other trip to the state final. 

“I’m so proud of these girls,” Ebert said. “They’ve been wanting this since last year (semifinal loss to Quinter). I’m very proud that they’re giving themselves an opportunity.”
 


Centralia … 6 … 16 … 12 … 8 … – … 42 

Little River … 13 … 15 … 8 … 14 … – … 50 

CENTRALIA (21-3) – H. Kramer 3-8 3-4 9, T. Kramer 1-6 3-4 6, Deters 5-19 8-12 20, Thompson 0-0 0-2 0, Gibbs 0-2 6-6 6, Kuckelman 0-0 0-0 0, I. Haverkamp 0-1 0-0 0, Rempe 0-1 0-0 0, J. Haverkamp 0-7 1-2 1. Totals 9-44 21-28 42. 

LITTLE RIVER (24-0) – Eck 4-14 12-16 20, A. Olander 2-5 2-4 6, H. Olander 2-4 1-2 4, Feldman 6-10 2-2 15, Strecker 1-2 0-0 2, Raleigh 0- 0-0 0, Ellwood 0-2 1-2 1, Lafferty 1-1 0-0 2, Look 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 15-40 18-26 50. 

3-point goals–C 3-14 (Deters 2-6, T. Kramer 1-2, H. Kramer 0-2, Rempe 0-1, Haverkamp 0-3). LR 2-5 (Feldman 2-5, Raleigh 0-2, Ellwood 0-1). Rebounds–C 31 (Haverkamp 5), LR 34 (Lafferty 3). Assists–C 1 (Kramer), LR 2 (Eck). TO – C 12, LR 11. 


Frankfort … 12 … 11 … 6 … 18 … – .. 47

South Gray … 13 … 10 … 4 … 4 … – … 31

FRANKFORT  (21-3) – S. Wapp 4-5 2-2 10, Ebert 3-7 1-2 8, Hardwick 2-6 4-6 8, Gros 6-7 5-5 18, Ale. Dalinghaus 0-1 0-0 0, Loiseau 0-0 0-0 0, Ash. Dalinghaus 1-5 0-0 3, Totals 16-41 12-15 47. 

SOUTH GRAY (22-2) – Deges 2-5 0-0 5, Helm 4-10 1-2 10, Stapleton 4-9 0-0 10, Huelskamp 1-2 0-0 2, Reed 2-5 0-0 4, Jantz 0-2 0-0 0,  Meirs 0-4 0-0 0, Cervantes 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 13-38 1-2 31. 

3-pointers–F 4-10 (Ebert 2-2, Ash. Dalinghaus 1-2, Gros 1-6, ). South Gray 4-16 (Stapleton 2-6 , Helm 1-3, Deges 1-4, Reed 0-1, Jantz 0-1, Meairs 0-1). Rebounds – F 31 (Ebert 7), SG 20 (Stapleton 5). Assists–F 6 (Hardwick 3), SG 2 (Deges, Huelskamp). TOFrankfort 10, SG 10