photo by: Nick Krug

Lawrence High's Zeke Mayo tries to fight through a pick by Free State's Kris Daniels as Free State's Dash Cleveland comes away with the ball during the first half on Friday, Feb. 21, 2020 at Allen Fieldhouse.

This week is the start of the postseason for all area basketball teams, and area basketball squads are hoping to end the year with a trip to their respective state basketball tournaments.

Fresh off sharing the Sunflower League title, Free State and Lawrence High have a strong shot of doing just that with the opportunity to host both sub-state games in the 6A West boys division.

Lawrence (16-4) is the No. 3 seed and will host No. 14 Wichita South (7-13) at 6 p.m. Wednesday. With a win, LHS would then host the sub-state title game at 6 p.m. Saturday against the winner of Wichita Southeast (14-6) and Wichita Heights (8-12).

“I think our guys are excited and they are confident,” LHS head coach Mike Lewis said. “I think they are also still hungry to get better. To make adjustments and watch film and to be critiqued. They have tough skin, and they are able to look at things on film and learn from it. I think that combination sets us up to try to win two (this) week.”

As the No. 4 seed, Free State (15-5) will host No. 13 Junction City (8-12) at 6 p.m. Wednesday. With a win, FSHS would face the winner of Topeka High (15-5) and Liberal (8-12) at 6 p.m. Saturday in the sub-state title game.

On the girls side, Free State and Lawrence ended up in the same sub-state bracket. FSHS, the No. 11 seed at 8-12 overall, will travel to No. 6 Washburn Rural (15-5) at 7 p.m. Tuesday. No. 14 LHS (5-15) will travel to No. 3 Wichita Heights (19-1) at 6 p.m. Tuesday.

In Class 4A, Eudora’s girls basketball team (18-2) is the top seed in the East region. Barring an upset, EHS is the only area team expected to host two sub-state games. The sub-state title game is slated for Friday against the winner of Paola (11-9) and Independence (11-9).

Baldwin’s girls basketball team (15-5) is the No. 5 seed and will host Louisburg (8-12) at 7 p.m. Tuesday. Labette County, the No. 4 seed at 16-4, is on the other side of the sub-state bracket.

On the boys side, Tonganoxie is the No. 6 seed after going 11-9 in the regular season. THS will have a home meeting with No. 11 Paola (7-13) at 7 p.m. Wednesday. Eudora, which is the No. 9 seed at 9-11, will travel to No. 8 Girard (also 9-11) at 6 p.m. Wednesday.

Local bowlers qualify for state meet

The Free State boys bowling team will be heading to the 6A state bowling meet.

FSHS boys finished in second place at the regional meet at Junction City over the weekend. The Firebirds posted a team score of 3,287, trailing only Wichita Heights (3,379) in the team standings. No other area teams finished inside the top three to qualify for state.

A few individuals performed well enough to keep their season alive, however. On the boys side, Maison Albarado of Lawrence High notched a state berth with a fifth-place finish behind a series score of 658. Porter Neidow, who took sixth with a 652, was the only individual from Free State to finish inside the top 10 in the varsity boys competition.

For the girls, Free State’s Ashley Edwinson and Lawrence High’s Emilie Rodman will be playing in the final meet of the season. Edwinson claimed seventh as an individual with a series score of 577, while Rodman rolled a series score of 562 to notch ninth.

The 6A state bowling meet will take place at Northrock Lanes in Wichita on Thursday.

6A regional meet

At Junction City

Team scores: 1. Wichita Heights 3379; 2. Free State 3287; 3. Junction City 3268; 4. Lawrence High 3208; 5. Topeka High 3101; 6. Gardner Edgerton 3099; 7. Olathe West 3090; 8. Washburn Rural 3075; 9. Manhattan 3061; 10. Wichita Southeast 2944

Top 10 individuals 1. Chase Clausing, WR, 719; 2. Jessup Ray, Junction City, 704; 3. Michael Anderson, OW, 681; 4. JyVaughn Martin, WH, 676; 5. Maison Albarado, LHS, 658; 6. Porter Neidow, FS, 652; 7. Ian Carpenter, GE, 649; 8. Alec Granger, THS, 646; 9. Dylan Leupold, OW, 644; 10. Silas Limes, WH, 641.

Six state qualifiers not on top-three teams: Chase Clausing, Washburn Rural; Michael Anderson, Olathe West; Maison Albarado, Lawrence High; Ian Carpenter, Gardner; Alec Granger, Topeka High; Dylan Leupold, Olathe West.

Girls team scores: 1. Washburn Rural, 3311; 2. Manhattan 2985; 3. Junction City 2914; 4. Lawrence High 2702; 5. Free State 2698; 6. Topeka High 2638; 7. Olathe West 2511; 8. Wichita Southeast 2422; 9. Gardner Edgerton 2379; 10. Wichita Heights 2179; 11. Blue Valley West 2040.

Top 10 individuals: 1. Mikki Fender, Washburn Rural, 699; 2. Jasmine Bridges, Manhattan, 672; 3. Hannah Casto, Washburn Rural, 655; 4. Kaitlyn Doyal, Washburn Rural, 638; 5. Shaniah Moore, Wichita Heights, 616; 6. Brooke Swango, Junction City, 595; 7. Ashley Edwinson, Free State, 577; 8. Janae Peoples, Washburn Rural, 574; 9. Emilie Rodman, Lawrence High, 562; 10. Megan Whitson, Manhattan, 556.

Six state qualifiers not on top-three teams: Shaniah Moore, Wichita Heights; Ashley Edwinson, Free State; Emilie Rodman, Lawrence High; Majayla Boyd, Topeka High; Ally Watson, Topeka High; Gabbi McCarthy, Topeka High.

Veritas’ season comes to an end

The Veritas boys basketball team was eliminated in the opening round of the KCAA state tournament with a 54-39 loss to St. Mary’s.

Will Rau led the team with 14 points. Brennan Clements, who added 10 points, was the only other VCS player to reach double figures. St. Mary’s jumped out to an 11-8 lead in the first quarter and played from in front the rest of the way.

The Eagles ended their season 9-15.

VCS 8 12 9 10 — 39

STM 11 12 12 19 — 54

Veritas (39)

Will Rau 14, Will Bartkoski 7, Lawson Ream 2, Aden-Jay Baker 6, Brennan Clements 10.