CLASS 6A: Tournament standouts

<span style="font-weight: 400;">The opening round of the Kansas 6A state championships opened on Wednesday with quarterfinal play at Wichita State University in Wichita.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Olathe East beats Wichita-Heights, 49-48.; Topeka over Olathe North, 79-55; Liberal over Olathe South, 41-33; and Derby beats SM Northwest, 44-39.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">The Kansas High School Activities Association announced on Thursday the remaining state tournament games will not be played.</span> <span style="font-weight: 400;">Here, Prep Girls Hoops takes a look at several standouts.</span> <b>[player_tooltip player_id="124995" first="Saige" last="Grampsas"]</b><b>, 5’6, G, 2022, Shawnee Mission Northwest</b> <span style="font-weight: 400;">A strong shooter with 3-point range who can connect from several feet beyond the arc. Grampsas is a competitive player who has good hands, an eye for defensive plays and a scorer’s touch. She runs the floor well and has great energy and is almost always on the floor. She has the ability to score from the mid-range area as well as finish plays in transition and looks to force turnovers. Grampsas finished with 13 points, four rebounds, two steals and one assist.</span> <b>[player_tooltip player_id="93977" first="Raegan" last="Halliday"], 5’7, G, 2022, Olathe South</b> <span style="font-weight: 400;">A smart player with the ball who is both aggressive and active on both ends of the floor. She can handle it well and looks to get the ball to her teammates both inside and out. She has a lot of confidence as a scorer inside the perimeter, but Halliday had a difficult time offensively overall. That said, she made impressive plays as a defender and defensive rebounder. She finished with three points and one assist but added two steals and an impressive game-high 11 total (defensive) rebounds. </span> <b>[player_tooltip player_id="45700" first="Katie" last="Horyna"], 5’9, G, 2020, Liberal</b> <span style="font-weight: 400;">The ACU commit played a strong overall game as she looked to break down defenses and create with her dribble. She’s an impressive athlete who has good quickness in full court situations, quick recovery speed and a lot of strength and overall grit for a guard. Horyna just makes plays using her athleticism and can score when she needs to and find room to drive and attack the basket. Horyna shot 66 percent from the field and finished with 8 points, seven rebounds (all defensive), one assist, one block and two steals. </span> <b>Sydney Nilles, 5’8, G, 2020, Derby</b> <span style="font-weight: 400;">A leader and impact player who shows up and can always be counted on in big moments down the stretch. She’s an intelligent lead guard who makes plays with and without the ball. She has solid athleticism and makes plays in transition, defense and around the basket and from 3-point range. Nilles had eight points in Derby’s win over Northwest and added six rebounds, three assists and two steals. A guard who makes plays and doesn’t shy away from taking shots. Nilles has committed to play basketball at Newman University. </span> <b>Dani Winslow, 6’1, G/F, 2020, Olathe South</b> <span style="font-weight: 400;">An elite all-around player who has great size, solid speed and the ability to play inside and out. Winslow can handle the ball, make plays on the perimeter and has the size and experience to make strong plays inside as a rebounder and scorer. The Missouri State signee continued to show her range from deep and also looked to get a hand on the ball and make plays in transition. Winslow finished with 12 points, six rebounds (five defensive boards) and one block. </span>