by Tracy McCue
The scoreboard read 40-34, Andover Central.
But in this game, the Wellington girls basketball team did so much more.
One could legitimately argue Wellington could have, should have beat the No. 1 rated team in Class 5A and the No. 3 team overall in the state of Kansas.
"Wow, what an effort by these girls," said Kevin Hackerott, Wellington head girls basketball coach. "If we could have gotten some easy shots to fall it could have been a different story."
The great thing about this game, Wellington proved it could play with the best — and even have a third quarter and only make two free throws in the process.
Wellington played with fire, rotating its offense, scooping up loose ball, penetrating the lane and playing a suffocating man defense.
Andover Central probably wasn't expecting it.
"You have to remember, this is a team that has been putting its opponents away in the first quarter," Hackerott said. "Had we played like this in the Mulvane Tournament we would have won it."
There was that fear before the game, disaster was looming. Wellington had just gotten off what most would say was the worst week of the season for the girls in the Mulvane Wildcat Classic. But there was nothing that resembled that week Tuesday.
Wellington immediately took a 4-0 lead and when Dani Anderson hit her first three, the score was 7-3. After Kailey Jenkins created a turnover, Anderson cashed a trey from the wing and it was 10-3 at the 3:10 mark. The Crusader fan base was rocking.
But, of course, Andover Central has Tiffany Bias, a 5-6 senior, who is headed to Oklahoma State University. She scored 22 for the night and cooly hit two 3-pointers, after that timeout to pull the Jags back within one.
But Wellington would not wilt. The Crusaders led 13-11 at the end of the quarter.
Then came the scoring drought. Wellington would score just 5 points in the second and 2 in the third. Yet at the half, Wellington still maintained an 18-15 lead, and at the end of the third, was trailing Andover Central 26-20.
"We were stuck on "18" forever," Hackerott said. "We just couldn't buy a basket."
The Jags then added two more deuces to up the lead to 10, 30-20 with 6:40 to play.
Once again, the Dukes did not wilt.
Sarah Amrein, who signed with Southwestern College on Wednesday, cashed a three pointer and Ashlyn Whaley came down and hit another one on the next possession. Whaley would make another trey to pull Wellington within three.
After a created turnover at half-court, Wellington missed two easy layups which would have narrowed the margin to one.
Eventually, Bias would make two layups off steals and sealed the deal with two free throws on the line with about 45 seconds to play.
"Now if we can get that kind of effort every game, we'd be in business," Hackerott said.
Whaley led the Dukes with 10 points, Anderson had 5.
Wellington, 8-6, travels to Andover Friday to play the other team from the east Wichita suburb. Tipoff is 6 p.m.
Andover Central 11 4 11 14 — 40
Wellington 13 5 2 14 — 34
Andover Central: Potter 2, Chapin 4, Harding 2, Bias 22, Chamberlin 2, Gee 6, Stiverson 2. Total: 11 (2) 13-22 40. Wellington: Whaley 10, Amrein 5, Adams 7, Becker 3, Anderson 9. Total 5 (7) 3-4 34.
Wellington, Kan. —
