Cheney's defense punishes Hayden
SALINA — Merissa Quick remembers Cheney's last loss to Topeka Hayden, even if it was two years ago.
The loss in the semifinals of the 2009 Class 4A tournament was Cheney's last. It's win-after-win for 51 games since, including Thursday's 61-43 quarterfinal win over Hayden.
"We wanted redemption after that last loss to Hayden," Quick said. "We've also lost to them every year in volleyball, so it was nice to finally come out and beat them."
Cheney held Hayden (17-5) to two first-quarter points and 13 by halftime. Hayden had two first-half baskets and shot 9 percent.
"I think a lot of it is the jitters of being at state," Hayden coach Jesica Farmer-Walter said. "Things were just not going our way. We dug a hole and we had to play catch-up the rest of the game. Mentally and physically that's tough."
Cheney (24-0) didn't ease up in the second half. Payton Scheer had 10 of her game-high 18 points, Quick had eight of her 12 points and Kylie Patterson had all 11 of her points in the second half. Ally Nikkel also finished with 11 points for the Cardinals.
"Any one of us can be the leading scorer on any given night," Quick said. "It makes it tough for teams to prepare. We have four people who can score. They have to match up against all of us."
Scheer agrees.
"It allows us to do a lot of different things. If teams collapse in on Merissa, we have shooters out on the perimeter," he said. "It's tremendous to have shooters on the perimeter and a post player inside."
Ottawa 49, Haven 38 — Ottawa's 8-3 run in the middle of the third quarter was enough to keep Haven away for good.
Jordan Baldwin scored four of her game-high 15 points during the run to give Ottawa (20-4) a 29-21 lead.
"Baldwin does a great job of setting the table for them," Haven coach Dwight Roper said. "They have enough great players that you can't let them shoot uncontested eight-and-10 foot shots, and that's what we did. You get so worried about one player that you forget to defend some of the others."
Down 38-26 going into the fourth quarter, Haven's Rachel Miller tried to spark a comeback with seven points in less than two minutes. Ashley Rogers added five points during the run.
The rest of Haven's offense struggled. The team shot 32.5 percent in the second half.
Haven (20-4) couldn't keep Ottawa off the free-throw line in the fourth quarter. The Cyclones hit of 9 of 15 in the final seven minutes.
"Once we get that lead we're really comfortable, not to the extent where we sit back on our heels, but we felt good about the game," Ottawa coach Cliff McCullough said. "I thought we did a better job of being aggressive, passing the ball and finding the open man. We got some really good, easy looks."
Rogers led Haven with 13 points and Miller finished with 12 points.