By TYLER HENRY
Lead Sportswriter - Salina Post
For the Chapman girls' basketball team, the 2024-25 season was one to forget, concluding with a sub-state loss to Clay Center and a 3-18 finish overall.
When Jason Grider took over this offseason, his optimism about what Chapman had was seen by some as bordering on insanity, but now, less than a year later, the Lady Irish haven’t just improved, they’re gearing up to make a run at state.
Strong work ethic, gritty defense, and a fast-paced transition-heavy offense have come to define the next generation of Chapman girls’ basketball, and this week, it’s given them a chance to etch their names into the history books.
“This group works their tails off,” Grider said. “They come to practice every day ready to get better, and they hit the weight room hard. These girls have been resilient even as we’ve hit bumps in the road, and they’ve been relentless. I feel like we’ve come together and are peaking at the right time.”
Despite taking some lumps in a loaded NCKL that has four teams competing in state tournaments this week, the Lady Irish have come out on the other side all the better for it, having faced the kind of competition they’ll see again this week.
At sub-state, Chapman dominated two fellow 4A squads, knocking off Rose Hill 54-31 and Mulvane 62-38 to punch the team’s first ticket to state since the COVID-cancelled 2020 tournament.
While 16 wins and a punched ticket to state are impressive, the real beauty in Chapman’s turnaround has come in seeing them get the best out of the athletes that were on that 3-18 roster just one year ago.
“This team was so raw at the beginning of the year, but we’ve grown everywhere, and we’ve seen these outstanding athletes become great basketball players,” Grider said. “Everything we do starts on the defensive end. When we dig our heels in on that side, we’re tough to stop, and that’s allowed us to go on some good runs here.”
An offense like this is only as good as its conductor, and Chapman has one of the very best in Avery Baer, who broke both school records for single-season (124) and career (305) assists this year.
On the receiving end of those passes, players like Jai Rogers, Adelynn Kirkpatrick, Josie Baer, Callie Cook and others have knocked down shots at a high clip, helping Chapman average nearly 50 points per game.
On-court cohesion like this doesn’t come without a great deal of off-court chemistry as well, and throughout this journey, the Lady Irish family has grown close through all the ups and downs.
“This group is so much fun to be around,” he said. “This is a group that wants to have a good time the right way, and they really care about each other. We’ve had some times this year where we could have packed it in and been happy that we surpassed our win total from last year, but they’ve kept fighting and they’re just good kids all around.”
All of that has led Chapman here, to the 4A state tournament, with a chance to bring home the first girls’ basketball state title in school history.
To do it, the Lady Irish will first have to avenge a pair of regular-season losses as they prepare to battle an NCKL foe in Rock Creek for the third time this season.
Chapman injuries and illnesses played a role in the first two meetings, as the Lady Mustangs collected victories of 60-41 and 64-28, but the Irish are excited for an opportunity to take on one of the best teams in the state at full strength for the first time this season.
“Rock Creek is a great team, they’re great inside, they can shoot the lights out of the gym and they get to the free-throw line well,” Grider said. “They’re well coached, and we know we can’t put them on the line tonight.”
Make no mistake, this will be an incredibly tall task for Chapman, but if the Lady Irish pull off a win over Rock Creek, there’s no reason they can’t continue their run all the way to the top.
“We know we have to take care of business, but I think we’ve got as good a shot as anyone,” he said. “We can beat anyone on our schedule and we can lose to anyone on our schedule, and that’s still true this week. Our girls know how hard this will be, but they believe, and we’ll see what happens when we tip off at 8:00.”
This state showdown between Chapman and Rock Creek will be held in Salina at Tony’s Pizza Events Center at 8pm.
Salina Post will provide live stream coverage of this game which can be found in the window below.