MANHATTAN — A smothering defense put the Central Plains High School girls’ basketball team in the driver’s seat against Oakley on Wednesday night.
The Lady Oilers won 46-35 in the first round of the Class 2A state basketball tournament at Bramlage Coliseum.
“We put a lot of pressure on them all game, and we got 27 turnovers out of it,” Central Plains head coach Toby Holmes said. “Our guards did a great job putting pressure on them, getting steals and tips and things.”
Central Plains (19-5) advances to Friday’s semifinals, where they will face No. 1-seeded Olpe on Friday at 3 p.m. Olpe is 23-0 and beat Meade 59-29 on Wednesday to advance to the semifinal game.
The Lady Oilers started the game with an 8-0 run, but Oakley was able to come racing back taking the lead twice in the first quarter.
The Lady Oilers took a 20-17 lead into halftime, and they were able to hang on to it throughout the second half.
Central Plains missed a number of layups, but were able to generate opportunities at the free-throw line, going 8-for-10 in the first half and finishing 18-for-25.
“We did fine,” Holmes said. “We did a great job getting the ball inside. If we’d made all of our chippies and layups, we’d have won by a lot more.”
Leading 35-29 with 4:20 remaining, the Plainsman were able to cut the lead to 35-32 on a Kailynn Rath 3-pointer.
The Lady Oilers responded with an 11-1 run fueled by three points from Sydney Rugan, who scored a game-high with 21 points, as she made 1 of 2 from the free-throw line and a layup.
Katie Hipp made 2 of 3 free throws down the stretch and Miranda Burton and Abby Holmes each went 2-for-2 from the line with less than a minute remaining.
Laura Dennis led Oakley (18-6) with 11 points.
“Sydney has just been steady for us all season long,” Holmes said, “but Olpe might be looking to change that.
“They have a couple of 5-11, 6-foot players that play inside and might cause a matchup problem. We may have to change our mindset a little bit, or we may not. We’ll just have to wait and see.”

— Kevin Price

HIGH SCHOOL BASKETBALL
Class 2A
State tournament

At Manhattan
Bramlage Coliseum

GIRLS

Wednesday

Central Plains 46,
Oakley 35
CENTRAL PLAINS (19-5)
     Janae Hekele 3 0-0 6, Breanna Holmes 0 2-2 2, Katie Hipp 0 2-3 2, Sydney Rugan 7 7-10 21, Miranda Burton 0 2-4 2, Jennifer Hitschmann 3 2-2 8, Lindsey Woodmansee 1 1-2 3, Abby Holmes 0 2-2 2. Totals 14 18-25 46.
OAKLEY (18-6)
     K. Rath 2 0-0 6, Dennis 4 3-4 11, Hemmert 1 3-4 5, Wiser 2 0-0 5, Temmatt 0 2-2 2, Pinkleton 3 0-2 6, M. Rath 0 0-0 0. Totals 12 8-12 35. 
CPHS  8  12  11  15  —  46
OHS    7  10   8   10  —  35
     Three-point goals — Central Plains (none); Oakley 3 (K. Rath 2, Wiser).