Hinman's heroics powers Parsons comeback win over Holton

“Let me run point.” 

Vikings head coach Pat Schibi immediately obliged, sparking Parsons’ comeback effort.

“She’s the most athletic player on the team and she did a good job of working,” Schibi said. “We trust her with the ball. That was a crucial point. We started inching back into the game after that.” 

“I just knew we needed to find a way to score,” Hinman said. “I felt like I could get my teammates opportunities with the ball.”

Parsons’ junior forward spent the rest of the game initiating the offense and running the top of the press on defense.

“I didn’t hear anything the whole game. It was just me, my teammates and the opposing team,” Hinman said. “I just locked in.” 

Schibi attributed Parsons’ lackluster start to turnovers — the Vikings committed 16 in the first half.

“Turnovers early killed us,” Schibi said. “There would’ve been a lot of teams that would’ve folded up and quit. But our girls battled and battled the whole time. They always played hard and never panicked. That says a lot.” 

Schibi also put on a halfcourt trap to stymie Holton’s offense, which ended up committing 28 turnovers on the night.

“We turned up the defense and started pressing,” Schibi said. “We caused a lot of turnovers, too. At halftime, it’s a six-point game and we knew we needed to catch them. We come out and play a phenomenal third quarter.” 

Sydney Schibi added 18 points for the Vikings. The junior committed three fouls in the first half but stayed in the game.

Hinman also eventually collected four fouls but both players never fouled out.

“You’ve got to put a lot of trust in them,” Schibi said. “I’ve seen teams leave their best players on the bench and lose the game. We told Sydney and Iniya that they have to stay on the floor. We trusted them and they went the distance. It was a gamble, but it paid off.” 

Parsons depth, an area of concern on most nights, was squeezed for its value against Holton. 

Freshmen Cadence Manners and Kadence Ball made appearances in the third quarter to relieve foul troubled starters. Riley Dunlay had two putback buckets in the third quarter to keep the embers burning.

“Everybody has to be ready to go,” Schibi said. “We had three freshmen on the floor at one point in the third quarter. You have to be ready. Riley had some huge buckets and needs some credit. If we can play with that intensity, we can play with anybody.” 

Wednesday’s win for Parsons was its first sub-state win since 2019.

“At the beginning of the season, our major goal was to make it through the first round of sub-state,” Hinman said. “We did it. But now we’ve got some work to do.” 

Up Next

Parsons hits the road on Saturday to face Louisburg, who defeated Chanute on Wednesday to advance to the sub-state championship. The winner advances to the Class 4A state tournament.

“You can throw records out the window at this point,” Schibi said. “Louisburg plays in a tough league and we play in a tough league. If we can take care of the ball, we like our chances.” 

SUB-STATE

GIRLS

Parsons 63, Holton 54

Parsons: 4 22 20 17 — 63

Holton:    14 17 7 16 — 54

Scoring

Parsons: Briona Patterson 5, Aashka Patel 12, Sydney Schibi 18, Iniya Hinman 24, Riley Dunlay 4

Holton: B. Willcott 19, Etzel 2, Taylor 9, N. Willcott 6, Dodd 13, Schuster 8