Defense is the foundation for both Crest High’s Lady Lancers and Lancers on the basketball court.
The two Crest High teams have had a couple of days to turn their focus to their first-round games of the 2012 Kansas Class 1A, Division II State Basketball Tournament. The Lancers begin state tournament play Wednesday and the Lady Lancers open action Thursday at Hays.
“We worked hard the week coming into the substate on defense,” said Daniel Buller, Lady Lancer head coach. “The girls really are communicating on the court defensively and it has helped us play better.”
Lancer head coach Travis Hermreck is “old hat” at state tournament preparation. Hermreck has his team back at the state tournament after missing out the past two years.
“It’s different because we have different players on the team. But for us it starts with defensive play and when this group is focused defensively, we play pretty well on the offensively end.”
The Lancers go into this year’s state tournament as the No. 6 seed with a 15-8 record. They play at 4:45 p.m. against third-seeded Frankfort High’s Wildcats (19-5).
Crest’s boys have three players — the seniors — who remember the last time the Lancers were at the state tournament three years ago. They were freshmen and have worked hard to get back to the state event.
This is the first time for the Lancers in the Class 1A, Division II tournament. Until last year, there was only one division in Kansas Class 1A.
The top seed in the 2012 tournament is Hope (20-3) which is in the other side of the bracket from Crest. If the Lancers win Wednesday they play the winner of the No. 2 seeed Fowler (19-4) and No. 7 Cunningham (12-11) at 4:45 p.m. Friday in the semifinals.
For the Lady Lancers this is the first trip to any state basketball tournament. Crest has a team of two seniors, one junior, two sophomores and five freshmen.
At 6-17 the Lady Lancers are the No. 8 seed in the eight-team bracket. Crest plays top-seeded Ingalls High Bulldogs (21-2) at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.
Ingalls is one of three teams in the state tournament with 21-2 records. Wetmore and Norwich are the No. 2 and No. 3 seeds.
If the Lady Lancers pull off the upset Thursday, they’ll play in Friday’s semifinals against the winner of No. 4 Central Christian of Hutchinson and No. 4 Victoria at 6:30 p.m.
Friday’s semifinal winners play for the the state championships Saturday. The semifinal losers play for third place on Saturday.
The tournment is at Fort Hays State’s Gross Memorial Coliseum.
