MANHATTAN – Central Plains High School senior Breanna Holmes is living the dream.
Several years after her father Toby Holmes coached Claflin to two state basketball championships, Breanna has her chance for a Class 2A girls state championship.
Holmes sparked Central Plains High School to a 60-45 semifinal victory over pesky Meade High School in Saturday’s Class 2A state tournament.
Central Plains coach Pat Stiles served as an assistant coach with Holmes on Claflin’s 2005 and 2006 state champions that featured Stiles’ daughter Roxanne. Stiles became head coach when Claflin consolidated with Quivira Heights to form Central Plains High School.
“Breanna played a fantastic game,” Stiles said. “She played one of her best basketball games of the season. She got us going that second half with her scoring and rebounding.”
Holmes scored eight second-half points and dished an assist to Cassidy Crites for a 40-27 lead. As the Oilers’ senior leader, she’s happy to contribute on a team loaded with talented younger players.
“When I was in high school, I couldn’t wait until these girls got to high school because I knew how good they were,” Holmes said. “They look to me for leadership, but lots of times they are right there with me.”
Central Plains (26-0) beat unbeaten Jefferson County North (25-1) 47-45 in Saturday’s championship game at Bramlage Coliseum. Claflin lost one game each time the Wildcats won their state titles.
“We’re young and we relaxed a lot better today against Meade,” Stiles said. “We played team basketball and shared the basketball. We came out focused on defense.”
The Oilers sprinted to a 15-2 lead behind an effective 1-1-3 trapping defense until Meade rallied within 16-14 after one quarter. The Oilers regained the lead 32-23 at halftime. Taylor Rolfs led Central Plains with 19 points off left-handed drives to the basket. Point guard Reagan Phelan had 10 points and four assists. The Oilers’ bench provided valuable minutes. The Oilers exhibited excellent ball movement and unselfish play. Time-after-time, an Oiler would pass to an open teammate.
Meade’s Jaylin Stapelton scored 16 points, but made 5 of 17 field goals. Bailey Olvera scored six points off 1 of 9 shooting. Meade shot 28 percent on 16 of 57 field goals. The Buffaloes shot 25 percent on 3-pointers, 4 of 16.
“We always wanted to know where No. 3 (Olvera) and No. 10 (Stapleton) were,” Stiles said. “Our defense did a great job on their top two scorers.”

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Class 2A State Tournament

GIRLS

Friday

At Manhattan
Bramlage Coliseum

Semifinals

CENTRAL PLAINS 60, MEADE 45
MEADE (20-5)
Jaylin Stapleton 5-17 4-4 16; Tarah Weins 4-10 0-2 8; MacKenzie Moshier 3-3 0-1 7; Bailey Olvera 1-9 4-4 6; Liz Lewis 2-10 1-2 5; Bailey Lewis 1-2 0-0 3; Natalie Thompson 0-5 0-0 0;Lexus Luetters 0-1 0-0 0; Totals 16-57 9-13 45.
CENTRAL PLAINS (25-0)
Taylor Rolfs 6-16 6-7 19; Reagan Phelan 4-8 2-6 10; Breanna Holmes 6-8 0-0 12; Kendi Maxwell 3-5 0-0 6; Janae Ryan 2-6 0-0 6; Cassidy Crites 1-3 4-46; Karli Beck 0-0 0-0 0; Abby Steuder 0-0 0-0 0; Kaycee Steiner 0-1 0-0 0; Beanna Schartz 0-1 0-0 0; Kylee Kasselman 0-0 1-2 1; Totals 22-48 13-20 60.
Meade                            14   9    8  14 – 45
Central Plains                 16  16  14  14 – 60
Three-point goals—Meade 4-16 (Stapelton 2-8, Moshier 1-1, B. Lewis 1-1, Olvera 0-2, E.Lewis 0-4), CP 3-14 (Ryan 2-5, Rolfs 1-5, Phelan 0-2, Maxwell 0-1, Crites 0-1). Rebounds—Meade 41 (Weins 13), CP 37 (Crites). Assists—Meade 7 (Weins 2, Thompson 2), CP (Phelan). Steals—Meade 4 (Olvera 2), CP 9 (Phelan 3). Turnovers—Meade 18, CP 17. Fouls—Meade, CP. Fouled out—Moshier