By TYLER HENRY
JC Post contributor
After a first-round bye and a 49-35 victory over the Tescott Trojans in the sub-state semis, the Rural-Vista girls basketball team is on to the championship round, where they will face the biggest test of their season.
Opposite the 11-10 Lady Heat stands the #1 team in Class 1A-Division II in the 19-1 Central Plains Oilers, fresh off an 81-18 embarrassment of Wilson on Friday.
Rural-Vista overcame struggles in the paint in the semis with timely shooting and good ball movement against Tescott.
“The best thing I saw was our ability to hit shots,” Lady Heat head coach Kane Hensley said. “Kacie struggled and got in some foul trouble so it was huge that we had girls step up and hit some shots for us.”
Even the smallest of mistakes won’t be tolerated on Saturday against an Oiler team that rides a 13-game win streak into this game, and whose lone loss of the season came by just 11-points to Sterling, the #1 team in Class 2A.
“Central Plains has definitely earned that ranking,” Hensley said. “They have five girls on the floor that can hurt you in many different ways. They are the team that every other girl's program in the state strives to become and Coach Stiles has done a tremendous job with them.”
Much of Central Plains’ success this season can be attributed to the guard play of Brynna Hammeke and Kassidy Nixon, who have given opposing defenses fits this season.
The rest of the offense has been equally dangerous this year for an Oilers team that has outscored their opponents 1122-580 this season.
“Their guard play is solid with Hammeke and Nixon but the rest of the girls are great role players for that system and would easily be the stud on almost every other 1A team,” he said.
While Rural-Vista will enter this game as huge underdogs, the Heat have worked for this all season long, and will be prepared to give Central Plains their best shot on Saturday night.
“This group may be young but they have worked hard all year,” Hensley said. “As a coach, you always want a group that works hard, has fun, and doesn’t complain and this is that group. Getting back to the state tournament would be a huge boost for our program's future.”
Tip-off between the Heat and Oilers is set for 7 pm at Central Plains High School with the winner punching their ticket to the state tournament in Great Bend next week.