2 Days to Tip Off, Opening Weekend Games of Note

<!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Opening weekend of the 2024 KSHSAA high school season begins Thursday night. The weekend schedule is fairly light as most teams will play their first games next week. There are some interesting and even impactful games right away that down the road can affect sub-state seeding. Enjoy a look at players to watch for a few opening weekend games</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Maize South at Andover Central</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The Jaguars lost two tight battles last year to their fellow Ark Valley Chisholm Trail League foe that affected sub-state seeding, this is an important game. The Mavericks lost two keep players to graduation and moving out of state but return a large, experienced cast. Andover Central returns several good pieces. Key, how is how transfers [player_tooltip player_id='265128' first='Ashley' last='Singhateh'], [player_tooltip player_id='649153' first='Ali' last='Singhateh'] (Eureka) and [player_tooltip player_id='453761' first='Nascent' last='Robinson'] (Wichita Northwest) integrate with returning guards [player_tooltip player_id='349460' first='Skylar' last='Seals'] and [player_tooltip player_id='453816' first='Sophie' last='Hurley']. PGs [player_tooltip player_id='192816' first='Haven' last='Deckinger'] and <strong>Brynn Taylor</strong>, CGs [player_tooltip player_id='192817' first='Hayden' last='Snodgrass'] and [player_tooltip player_id='675831' first='Taylin' last='Tabor'], and PF [player_tooltip player_id='766635' first='Emma' last='Cooper'] look to gel quickly against the deep, experienced Mavericks.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Wichita Heights at Wichita Northwest</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>The young, energetic Gizzlies host a loaded Falcons team with a lot of personnel questions surrounding how to spread the basketball around and keep everybody happy. Heights returned nearly everybody, has strong young talent in the '26 and '27 classes, and absorbed three all-Greater Wichita Area League (making now 7 on the roster) and a Varsity Kansas first team/KBCA second team all-state selection ([player_tooltip player_id='335953' first='SaMiyah' last='Ellis']) from Wichita Southeast, Wichita East, The Independent School, and Wichita Northwest. Northwest lost [player_tooltip player_id='335922' first='KaMyra' last='Barber'] to Heights and another starter to Maize South. [player_tooltip player_id='719102' first='Aubrey' last='Navarette'], <strong>Sasha Reid</strong>, [player_tooltip player_id='766795' first='Aaliyah' last='Richard'] and <strong>McKenzie Edwards</strong> all earned GWAL honorable mention honors.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:heading {"level":3} --> <h3 class="wp-block-heading">Gardner-Edgerton at Blue Valley</h3> <!-- /wp:heading --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p>Oklahoma State University bound all-state guard [player_tooltip player_id='198386' first='Jadyn' last='Wooten'] leads a young team that includes promissing freshman [player_tooltip player_id='779227' first='Amillia' last='Prochnow'] that graduated several starters from a team that bounced undefeated Shawnee Mission South from the 6A tournament last season. First team Sunflower League and KBCA 6A honorable mention sophomore [player_tooltip player_id='544056' first='Landri' last='Schaffer'] and St Mary's commit [player_tooltip player_id='335938' first='Aaliyah' last='Moss'] lead a veteran team that includes [player_tooltip player_id='773207' first='Addisen' last='Ratley'] and [player_tooltip player_id='743354' first='Aaliyah' last='Green']. The Tigers have a good early test to see where they are after the graduation losses while Gardner-Edgerton look to pick up a statement win. The Eastern Kansas League shipped the 6A title and saw two teams get to the semi-finals while the Sunflower League was done after one game.</p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph --> <!-- wp:paragraph --> <p></p> <!-- /wp:paragraph -->