Jayhawk girls beat Burlington, going to State

OSAGE CITY -- Jayhawk-Linn's girls will be going to the Class 3A State Tournament at Hutchinson this weekend, earning the berth by defeating Burlington, 51-48, in the finals of the Osage City Class 3A Sub-State Tournament here Saturday night.

The Jayhawks (18-5) will be the No. 5 seed at State and have drawn Cherryvale (18-5) at their first-round opponent. They will play in the final game of the first day of play at 8:15 p.m. Wednesday night.

KOMB/KMDO radio stations announced Monday that they will air live play-by-play coverage of Jayhawk-Linn's State games. The stations are on 103.9 FM and 1600 AM.

After ending the regular season on a skid where they lost four of five games, the Jayhawks were able to put together three victories in close games in order to get to State.

"Our girls have worked very hard to get to the 3A State Tournament," Jayhawk head coach Charlie Beckman said. "Their desire and dedication is paying off."

Burlington (16-7), the No. 5 seed in this Sub-State, led 14-12 after one period. But Jayhawk-Linn outscored the Wildcats 18-2 in the second.

The Jayhawks ended the third period with a 38-29 lead, then had to hold off a rally as Burlington scored 19 points in the fourth.

"We played with a lot of intensity against a very good Burlington team," Beckman said. "We kept our composure against constant full-court pressure."

Meriel Long led the Jayhawks with 15 points. Chelsea Beckman added 14 and Taylor Dawson had 12. Cassie Rockers brought down 10 rebounds to go with her eight points.

Heather Eldridge led Burlington with 16 points before fouling out. Allyn Barhart scored 14 points.

If Jayhawk-Linn wins on Wednesday, it would play in the second semifinal game at 6:30 Friday against the winner of the game between top seed Southwestern Heights and No. 8 Hillsboro.

The defending 3A champion is Riley County, which was undefeated last year but is the seventh seed this season. Cherryvale finished third at 22-4. The other team that returns this year is Wichita Collegiate, which finished fourth.

(5) BURLINGTON: O'Connor 2 1-1 5, Kaufman 0 0-0 0, Card 2 1-2 5, Masters 1 0-0 2, Kircher 1 0-0 2, Barhart 6 1-2 14, Eddings 1 1-2 3, Wilson 0 1-2 1, Eldridge 6 4-6 16. TOTALS: 18 9-15 58.

(3) JAYHAWK-LINN: Rockers 4 0-2 8, Krull 0 0-2 0, Miller 1 0-0 2, Long 5 3-5 15, Dawson 4 3-4 12, Beckman 3 8-11 14. TOTALS: 17 14-24 51.

Jayhawk-Linn........ 12 18 8 13 -- 51

Three-point field goals: Burlington 1 (Barhart), Jayhawk-Linn 3 (Long 2, Dawson)

Total fouls: Burlington 23, 11. Fouled out: Barhart, Eldridge.