LOVELAND – When Kya Piel immediately clutched her left knee after crashing out of bounds while going for a steal late in the first half of Saturday’s Class 2A state championship game, the Merino girls basketball team’s sideline – and fans – went silent.
The Rams had a 16-point lead over Sedgwick County with 30 seconds remaining at Blue Arena when Piel had to be helped off the floor. Merino coach Dan Piel – Kya’s father – tried to comfort his daughter, the team’s standout guard, before returning to the sideline.
“Emotions-wise, I had them all,” Coach Piel said after his team went on to claim a second consecutive 2A title with a 40-29 victory. “But Kya is a warrior, and there is nothing that would have made her more upset than for me to give up on that game and those girls that she considers her sisters.
“That’s the way the girls approached it – they were going to do it for Kya and for each other.”
That’s exactly what the Rams (26-1) did. After the Cougars cut into the lead in the third quarter, Merino opened it back up in the fourth on its way to defending its state crown. It was the Rams’ third consecutive appearance in the title game in Loveland, and avenged a loss to Sedgwick County in the 2023 championship.
“A special group of girls,” Coach Piel said. “I can’t say enough good things about these kids, I really can’t.”
Senior Veronica Baray poured in seven of her 11 points in the first half, and junior Jaylyn Lynch also had 11 points. Jadelynn Powell added eight.
“I just kind of knew that not having Kya there, someone had to step up,” Baray said. “I think all five of us, every single one of us on that floor, definitely stepped up.”
Sedgwick County (21-5) was the only team to hand Merino a defeat this season, but it looked as though the Rams might run away with the game in the first half. Sedgwick County struggled against Merino’s pressing defense, turning the ball over 14 times. The Cougars didn’t get on the board until a Ryen Carlson 3-pointer with nine seconds remaining in the first quarter.
The lead grew to 16 points at halftime and 20 points early in the third quarter.
“The girls were fired up, and that’s kind of been our calling card all year long, is pressure,” Coach Piel said. “Sometimes it works with turnovers, sometimes it works to the other team’s (advantage), and hopefully sometimes it works for a little bit of both.”
Sedgwick County fought back in the third quarter as Piel returned to the bench with an ice bag on her knee and a pair of crutches. The Cougars scored 14 points to trim the lead to 10 points, but the Rams scored the first six points of the fourth, even after Baray went to the bench with four fouls.
Piel cheered her teammates on, and shared in the trophy presentation after the game.
“It was definitely scary, not really knowing what was going to happen,” said Baray, one of two seniors on the roster along with Brooklyn Sutter. “But it kind of lit a spark for us, just wanting to do it for her instead of letting it affect us in a negative way.”
