GREAT BEND, Kan.—Kaylee Kauffman scored a game-high 26 points and helped the Cougars fend off a furious South Haven rally with two big buckets late. Hutchinson-Central Christian 49, South Haven 40 in the class 1A DII quarter finals at Barton Community College in Great Bend.
Central Christian went on a 16-0 run to take a 35-18 lead with 3:05 left in the third quarter but South Haven stormed back with a 20-3 run and knotted it up at 38 in the fourth quarter after seven straight points from Aubrey Pond.
That's when Kauffman went to work, putting Central Christian back in front on a layup with 4:45 left before pushing the lead to five after converting a 3-point play with 4:08 remaining.
"She's facing a lot of box and ones, and we're still trying to figure that out, how to get her looks," Central Christian coach D.J. Kauffman said of his daughter, a junior guard. "But one thing she is, she's a very competitive kid. When they tied it, she just kind of said, 'I'm taking it.'"
Kauffman, who averages 12 points per game, went 8 of 13 from the field, 3 of 6 from 3-point range and 7 of 7 from the foul line.
No. 5-seeded Central Christian (21-3), which will face unbeaten Golden Plains in Friday's 4 p.m. semifinal, finished on an 11-2 run after South Haven (20-4) got it tied.
"All year long we've faced adversity. We lost one of our starters (Leia Shank) to a knee injury (in late January), and they responded," coach Kauffman said. "... We have great leadership. Boy, they just fought. It was really fun to watch."
The Cougars' trapping zone helped them break out to the big lead before South Haven started to catch fire in the third quarter, scoring nine points in the last minute of the frame.
Samantha Ramsey scored 14 points and grabbed 14 rebounds for the Cougars, who went 17 of 41 from the field while holding South Haven to 14 of 47.
"We rely on our defense," Kauffman said. "The 1-3-1 trapping defense is something we've been doing a lot lately. Samantha Ramsey up top is the one that really makes it go because she's so long and athletic and just creates problems for people.
"We switched it up a little bit to our man and then we went back to our 1-3-1 and it really seemed to us carry us home."
Macey Pond led South Haven with 13 points while Aubrey Pond added 10.
"Hats off to them," Kauffman said of the Cardinals. "They fought back, so their coach (Mike Heater) should be proud. That was a great job by them."