Photo courtesy of Kayden Clelland

The Silver Lake Girls Basketball Team (28-1) completed a remarkable season with a 60-44 win over Osage City (25-4) in the 3A State Championship on Saturday in Hutchinson.

Silver Lake finished the season with a school record 28 wins with their lone loss during the regular season, being 2 points, 55-53, to Rock Creek who placed 3^rd in class 4A this year.

The Eagles’ win on Saturday marks the school's 8th State Title in girls basketball and their 2nd championship in the last 3 years!

Silver Lake seized the game from the opening tip, jumping out to a 6-0 lead and shutting out Osage City for the 1st four minutes of the game. The Indians closed to within 11-10 early in the 2^nd period, but the Eagles took control of the contest with a 13-0 spurt to push the lead to 24-10.

Silver Lake led 26-14 at halftime and 40-29 end of 3rd, as Osage City would get no closer than 7 points the rest of the way.

Senior Kailyn Hanni led the way in her final game with 21 points, 9 rebounds, and 7 assists to go along with 11-13 from the charity stripe. Kailyn completes her career unofficially with 1,403 points (3rd All-Time in School History), 592 assists (1st All-Time in School History), 566 rebounds (Top 5 in school history?), and 334 steals (Near or at the top in school history).

During her and Paige Heiman’s four years at Silver Lake, the Eagles took 4^th their freshman year, Undefeated State Champions their sophomore year, State Runner-up their junior year, and culminated their careers with a state title as seniors! During their careers, Silver Lake posted 100 victories and just 7 defeats!!!

Karys Deiter poured in 19 points, 2 triples, and went 5-6 from the foul line. Savanah Wende added 10 points and 2 treys. Wende ended the season with 66 made three-pointers! Paige Heiman was stellar on defense in her final game and chipped in with 6 points and 5 rebounds. Jaylie Whitehead was terrific as well with 4 points, 6 rebounds, and 4 assists. Kailyn Hanni, Wende, and Heiman all played the full 32 minutes. Kylie Hanni provided 9 important minutes off the bench as the Eagle defense held Osage City to 39% from the floor.

Silver Lake is now 8-2 in their 10 State Title Game Appearances and have an overall 35-12 record over the course of their 18 state tournament berths.

You can go back and watch the Silver Lake State Title Victory on the
Silver Lake Channel!