The Silver Lake girls basketball team finished off one of the most dominant seasons in recent memory on Saturday night defeating Hesston 66-61 to claim the Class 3A State Championship. 

The game was great throughout with great games from multiple players for both teams. Silver Lake led 19-16 at the end of the first quarter and would lead just 32-31 at halftime. 

The Eagles created a little bit of separation in the third quarter and would continue that early in the fourth quarter as they would build their largest lead of the game at nine. 

From then on out, Silver Lake was able to keep the Swathers at arms length and knock down some crucial free throws which helped secure the win. 

Silver Lake was led by both Kailyn Hanni and McKenzie McDaniel. Hanni led the team with 26 points and was huge at the free throw line. The sophomore point guard finished the game 14 of 15 from the line. Hanni also posted back-to-back 12 point, eight assist games in the first two games of the tournament. 

McDaniel, an Emporia State commit, finished with a monster double-double with 25 points and 13 rebounds. Eight of her rebounds were on the offensive end. McDaniel totaled five steals and five blocks in the last two games of the tournament. 

Hesston was the 3-seed entering the tournament and finished with a record of 22-4. They were led by Abby Proctor who finished the game with 26 points, four rebounds, and three assists. She was very efficient from the field hitting 10 of her 16 shots. Kendall Brueggen, one of the top scorers in the state, finished with 15 points, 12 rebounds, and five blocks. 

The game against the Swathers was the most competitive game Silver Lake had played all season. Before the Championship game, the Eagles closest game played was against Rossville back in December which was a 13-point win. 

Only five teams all season long out of the 26 total games were kept within 20 points of Silver Lake. The Eagles entered the state tournament in Hutchinson beating teams by an average of 32 points per game. 

The state tournament also featured big wins over Haven in the first round and Hayden in the semifinals. The season ends perfect at 26-0 and will go down as one of the most dominant seasons by any team at any level or classification in state history.

It was Silver Lakes seventh state title in school history and the first since 2016. 

**Picture courtesy of Sports in Kansas**