BALDWIN CITY — Kelsey Larson and her Baker Wildcats made a bit of school history on Monday night when they secured the school’s first-ever women’s basketball Heart of America Athletic Conference Tournament championship.
The Wildcats — the No. 8-ranked team in the country — won a hard-fought championship game over rival Benedictine — the No. 13-ranked team in the country — and were able to celebrate the victory with their home fans in Baldwin City.
“It is an indescribable feeling right now,” Larson said. “This is something we have worked for all year and we finally got it. This is exactly how I wanted to end my senior season and I owe it all to my teammates.”
Larson should certainly get some of the credit, as well.
The Heart Player of the Year scored all of her game-high 17 points in the second half, after a frustrating first half saw her relegated to the bench with a pair of fouls.
“Sitting the whole first half was really hard for me, but I tried to stay in the game by cheering my teammates,” Larson said. “I was happy to contribute more in the second half.”
Baker went into the halftime break trailing by two and after three quarters, they were down one. That is when the former-Iola standout began to take the game over.
A pair of threes — including a bank shot with a defender closing in — and a layup gave Baker the lead back in a hurry.
Larson and her teammates continued the momentum and had built the lead up to 15 points by the five-minute mark of the fourth quarter with suffocating defense and a barrage of threes.
In addition to her 17 points, Larson was also tremendous on the defensive end while seeing a lot of time on Ravens’ star Kirsten Murphy. Larson had three steals in the game and Murphy — who averages 16 points a game — was held to 10 points.
The Wildcats will now quickly turn their attention to nationals and try to go 3-for-3 on coach Ben Lister’s three goals to begin the season.
— Win Heart regular season championship: check.
— Win Heart tournament championship: check.
— Win national championship: pending.
Larson is certainly fired up to accomplish No. 3.
“I love this team,” Larson exclaimed. “We aren’t done yet. On to nationals!”
