After sudden end to season at state, Hanover girls ready for another run

Hanover’s basketball season never really ended properly last year. The girls were the #4 seed at the Class 1A state basketball tournament in Dodge City. They were halfway through their first-round game against Otis-Bison when KSHSAA announced all of the state basketball tournaments would be ended after the completion of the games that were already in progress.

Hanover won the game 41-36, but they went home after that, along with the three other teams at the state tournament who never got to see who would eventually be crowned state champs.

The team graduated six seniors who had been long-time varsity contributers, including Taeghan Zabokrtsky, MaKenna Jueneman, Cadlee Stallbaumer, Tianna Lohse, Emily Hendrickson and Emma Bruna. Lohse and Stallbaumer were all-league first-teamers. That team was 11-0 in the Twin Valley League and 24-1 overall.

“It was a great year,” said coach Chris Beikmann, who begins his fifth year with an impressive 95-10 record. “That might have been my best team, but with the way the year finished, we will never know.”

He led the Wildcats to three consecutive league titles and state championships in 2017 and 2018.

While Hanover graduated a large class of successful seniors, the Wildcats still have key players coming back this year, including junior point guard Avery Behrends, junior post Alison Jueneman and sophomore forward Ceegan Atkins.

This is also a school whose volleyball team just won a state title convincingly, so there will be no lack of athletes.

Beikmann said they have set a goal to win the league again, and with their recent athletic success, they should have a strong case to go well beyond that.