photo by: Henry Wiley/Special to the Journal-World

Baldwin's Cami Collum drives the ball against Hayden on Friday, March 6, 2026, in Topeka.

TOPEKA – A buzzer-beater to end the first half seemed to kill any momentum the Baldwin girls basketball team had on Friday night at Hayden High School.

The fifth-seeded Wildcats (19-6) gained all the momentum for themselves and carried it into a dominant second-half performance, taking down the No. 13-seeded Bulldogs (11-14) 51-22.

“Hayden’s a good program overall,” Baldwin head coach Kara Roland said. “All I could do is prepare our girls the best they could, and we gave it our best fight.”

Hayden got a key performance from sophomore Hailey Schmidtlein, who scored 21 points and proved to be a difficult matchup for Baldwin’s defense, as she was able to drive downhill and finish at the rim or create contact and get to the foul line.

“We just don’t have any size like that,” Roland said of what made Schmidtlein a difficult assignment. “We put our best defender on her and just told her to work her butt off.”

Baldwin had a balanced effort of its own with six players contributing to the scoring, led by five points apiece from junior Emme Nigh and sophomore Cami Collum.

Early pressure by the Wildcats forced the Bulldogs to struggle, committing numerous turnovers in the process. That allowed Hayden to build a 10-0 lead in the first three and a half minutes, forcing a Baldwin timeout.

Out of the timeout, Baldwin got its first points of the game from senior Chloe Neufeld. After another Hayden bucket, junior Carson Chambers provided a spark off the bench with three straight points, while Nigh hit a 3-pointer and Neufeld added another point at the line. The Bulldogs trailed 14-9 after a buzzer-beater by Schmidtlein ended the quarter.

The bench continued to provide a spark for the Bulldogs to start the second quarter as sophomore Logyn Scoby buried a 3-pointer before the team claimed its first lead of the game on another 3-pointer by junior Audrey Searl.

Hayden quickly went back ahead on a 10-0 run, led by its defense, which was once again active and forcing multiple turnovers. Collum cut the deficit to eight with a free throw before Schmidtlein’s second buzzer-beater of the half gave Hayden a 26-16 advantage at halftime.

The Wildcats’ active full-court press sped up the Bulldogs often in the first half, forcing 16 turnovers in total.

“We were preaching (to) them to take care of the ball, use ball fakes, and just stay out of certain spots and we couldn’t get anything going offensively,” Roland said.

Both teams struggled to gather themselves out of the locker room on the offensive end, but it was Hayden who began the third quarter by scoring 11 consecutive points, a run that lasted 6:29 of game time. In that span, the Wildcats forced five more Bulldog turnovers.

Baldwin’s first points of the third quarter came at the 1:31 mark on a pair of free throws by Collum, before Hayden responded with another 3-pointer.

The Wildcats scored 10 points in the fourth quarter before the Bulldogs could respond, which they did on a free throw by Collum, followed by a deep 2-pointer by Nigh to end the scoring as the Wildcats punched their ticket to the state quarterfinals.

After an up-and-down campaign, Baldwin finished the season with an 11-14 record, but loses just two seniors, Neufeld and Olivia Henry, returning the rest of the roster for next season.

“We had a tough season… dealt with injuries, lots of sicknesses and some tough losses,” Roland said. “I’m proud of us overall this season, just digging it out and staying together, and, yeah, just excited to keep building next year.”

photo by: Henry Wiley/Special to the Journal-World

Baldwin’s basketball team huddles against Hayden on Friday, March 6, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: Henry Wiley/Special to the Journal-World

Baldwin’s Chloe Neufeld dribbles the ball against Hayden on Friday, March 6, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: Henry Wiley/Special to the Journal-World

Baldwin’s Carson Chambers shoots the ball against Hayden on Friday, March 6, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: Henry Wiley/Special to the Journal-World

Baldwin’s Chloe Neufeld dribbles the ball against Hayden on Friday, March 6, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: Henry Wiley/Special to the Journal-World

Baldwin’s Chloe Neufeld holds the ball against Hayden on Friday, March 6, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: Henry Wiley/Special to the Journal-World

Baldwin’s girls basketball team shakes hands after the game against Hayden on Friday, March 6, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: Henry Wiley/Special to the Journal-World

Baldwin’s Cami Collum holds the ball against Hayden on Friday, March 6, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: Henry Wiley/Special to the Journal-World

Baldwin’s Chloe Neufeld shoots the ball against Hayden on Friday, March 6, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: Henry Wiley/Special to the Journal-World

Baldwin’s Chloe Neufeld passes the ball against Hayden on Friday, March 6, 2026, in Topeka.

photo by: Henry Wiley/Special to the Journal-World

Baldwin’s Audrey Searl shoots the ball against Hayden on Friday, March 6, 2026, in Topeka.