The Archie senior girls have clinched three of the last four Archie Tournament championship trophies in their careers, but this 57-39 victory over Butler is just as special.</p><p>&#x201C;We used to struggle coming out at the beginning of the game, we don&#x2019;t start very well,&#x201D; Archie senior forward Kendyl Thomas said. &#x201C;We really made an emphasis to start well at the beginning of this game and I think we did that.&#x201D;</p><p>Thomas is right. The Lady Winds came out strong in the first quarter of the championship game against Butler Jan. 28, shooting to a 12-2 advantage. Butler came roaring back with a 10-0 run to close the gap to 14-12, but a three-pointer by Archie&#x2019;s Stefani Simms pushed the Lady Winds ahead at 17-12 at the end of the quarter. Archie just outscored the Bears in the second quarter, 9-8, to keep a 26-20 lead going into halftime. </p><p>But the third quarter showed just how dominate the Lady Winds can be, as Archie scored 17 points to Butler&#x2019;s nine, including hitting seven of nine free throws to lead 43-29 going into the last eight minutes of play.</p><p>&#x201C;The girls have been playing at a very high level the past few weeks, on both ends of the floor,&#x201D; Archie head coach Brad Batchelder said. &#x201C;We still have some issues we have to improve, but we are starting to dominate other areas of the game. I think we did a lot of good things on defense, but the two most important things we did was control the boards, as we outrebounded Butler 37-16 and we contested every shot they took.&#x201D;</p><p>In the fourth quarter, Thomas came out with two quick shots to give Archie a 47-29 lead. After a Butler score and free throw, Thomas sunk a free throw and another basket. She put in two more free throws before the game ended, with Archie capturing the title.</p><p>&#x201C;We usually don&#x2019;t have one player that plays extraordinarily well,&#x201D; Thomas said. &#x201C;We usually all have seven or eight points. Sometimes two of us will score quite a bit. It&#x2019;s really nice when not one individual has to play so great, but we can still beat a team by 20 points.&#x201D;</p><p>The Lady Winds were led in scoring by Abby Shipley with 19 points, followed by Thomas with 18 points. Simms had seven points, Jordan Schulte added five points, Mallory Wiskur had two points and Alycia Fisher netted one point. Thomas had 12 rebounds and Kaily Kurzweil pulled down 11 rebounds. Shipley had four steals and Kurzweil, Schulte and Thomas had two assists each.</p><p>Archie, now 14-2, has some goals in sight for the rest of the season. </p><p>&#x201C;Never lose a game in the dome (Archie&#x2019;s new gymnasium),&#x201D; Thomas said. &#x201C;So that means winning districts and hopefully getting farther than we did last year.&#x201D;</p><p>Simms, Thomas and Shipley were all named to the all-tournament team.</p><p>In the semifinals Jan. 26, Archie ran past Drexel 63-32, with a 32-20 lead at halftime.</p><p>&#x201C;Our girls played very well as a team tonight, maybe our best team performance of the season,&#x201D; Batchelder said. &#x201C;We didn&#x2019;t have any one or two players stand out, but the team won by 30-plus points. Defensively, the girls know what was coming from Drexel and just did not allow it to happen, a great performance overall.&#x201D;</p><p>Thomas and Simms led in scoring with 13 points each, followed by Fisher with nine points and Kurzweil with seven points. Taylor Plattner and Schulte added six points and Shipley had five points. Briley Anderson and Wiskur netted two points each. </p><p>Drexel was led in scoring by Jacklynn Williams with eight points, followed by Jessi Gunnels and Lauryn Campbell with six points. Kayla Kaufman had five points, Karlie Stuteville had three points, Jeny Otto had two points and Jenna Bartholomew and Alexis Raffety had one point apiece. </p><p>&#x201C;The first half, I thought we played really well and we played as a team,&#x201D; Kaufman said. &#x201C;When the second half came around, the game changed and we lost, but the bench players came in and did a great job.&#x201D;</p><p>The Lady Bobcats went on to the third place game Jan. 28, which they lost to Lone Jack 43-38. Drexel had a 27-14 lead at halftime and a 30-26 lead at the end of the third quarter. The Lady Mules outscored the Lady Bobcats 17-8 in the fourth quarter to seal the victory.</p><p>Skyler Lancaster led Drexel in scoring with 16 points, followed by Campbell with nine points and Gunnels with seven points. Kaufman, Williams and Stuteville added two points each.