Wilson Girls' Run Ends With Loss in Sub-State Final

RANSOM-Olivia Hands scored 25 points as the Pawnee Heights Lady Tigers denied Wilson a trip to the State Tournament with a 39-31 victory over the Lady Dragons in the Class 1A Division ll Sub-State Championship Game at Western Plains High School.

As was the case in their victory over Chase in the semifinals on Thursday, Wilson started slow again on Saturday evening after taking an early 2-0 edge.  Wilson led 3-1 before Pawnee Heights scored five unanswered points to take a 6-3 lead.  Cara Criswell then knocked down a three-pointer to tie the game 6-6.  From there, the two teams battled and Pawnee Heights held a slim 11-10 advantage after the first quarter.  Hands was responsible for seven of those points for Pawnee Heights.

The second quarter was even as Wilson outscored Pawnee Heights 7-5 to take a 17-16 lead into the locker room at intermission.  Early in the third quarter, Wilson held what proved to be their largest lead of the game at 21-18 after back-to-back baskets by Skylar Cullens and Anna Thielen.  Pawnee Heights then called a timeout and right out of the timeout, Hands was able to tie the score on a three-point play and on the Lady Tigers' next trip down the floor she gave them the lead for good on a third-chance basket.   Pawnee Heights then picked up five more critical points on a three-pointer by Joselyn Corder-Valles and a two-point bucket by Callie Amspacker to grow their lead to 28-23 after three quarters.

Tyra Meyer drew Wilson within two points with a three-pointer early in the final period but Pawnee Heights (9-13) was able to pull away thanks to seven points by Hands down the stretch, allowing the Lady Tigers to advance to the Class 1A Division ll State Tournament for the first time in the history of their Girls program.

Thielen led Wilson (15-7) with 11 points while Criswell added nine points.  The Lady Dragons who were last in a State Tournament in 2014 have now lost three Sub-State Championship games in the last seven years with the other two losses to Hutchinson Central Christian in 2017 and 2018.

Criswell is the lone senior on this year's team while several of the remaining players will be playing elsewhere next season with the pending closure of Wilson Junior-Senior High School at the conclusion of the current school year.