At the beginning of the season, Manhattan High set a goal of winning the state championship. It can now check that off its list of goals.

“From the first day of summer, they had this as a goal,” head coach Scott Mall said. “This is what they were working for, which is something considering we’ve never even been in the championship game in their lifetimes. They set that as a goal, and they did what it took to get here.”

The Lady Indians beat Derby 44-42 in the 6A state championship to claim the title. The title is the first in Manhattan High history.

“It feels awesome [to make history],” junior Chrissy Carr said. “Our seniors will leave a legacy down here, so that’s awesome that Gigi [McAtee] and Kennedy [Wilson] and all those girls just left a good imprint in our school.”

MHS came out firing in the first half, cruising to a 13-5 lead after the first quarter.

“We were just hitting shots,” McAtee said. “Kennedy Brown [Derby sophomore] wasn’t doing much at all, and that was awesome. That was a big key, [the posts] stopping her. They frustrated her and that worked really well.”

The Lady Indians continued dominating in the second quarter, and led 26-10 at halftime.

Manhattan was led in the first half by Carr. Carr scored all 14 of her points in the first.

“We were just moving the ball really, really well,” Carr said. “We were just seeing just what was open … and just [noticing] where [Brown] was. Once you get in the lane, it’s kind of scary against her.”

McAtee scored 10 points of her own, as junior Megan Worthington added seven. For the Panthers, freshman Sydney Nilles led the team with 14 points. Brown added 13.

Third quarter was all about maintaining the lead for Manhattan. Derby would not let the Lady Indians pull away, and MHS would not let the Panthers close the gap. The quarter ended with Manhattan leading 38-22.

Everything began to unravel for the Lady Indians in the fourth. MHS scored four early points on free throws, and then the drought began. Derby began a ferocious full-court press that prevented Manhattan from doing anything.

“They were just putting more pressure on us than we had had that game,” Wilson said. “We just weren’t quite ready for it.”

Derby’s press got to Manhattan, forcing 12 turnovers in the fourth quarter.

Though Manhattan couldn’t hold on to the ball, Derby was scoring just fine. It slowly chipped away at the lead, culminating in an 18-0 run to tie the game up.

“You just kept thinking, ‘We’ve handled this before,’” Mall said. “We would get so close to making a play to get the lead back up and then [it] wouldn’t work out. We made some choices on offense that we’d like to have back. You just kept thinking … that we were going to come up with a play to get it done.”

As the score got closer, the Derby fans got louder. The Manhattan supporters were nearly drowned out.

“We had a great student section,” McAtee said. “Our parents are always so loud for us. I think it was pretty even with the cheering. Obviously, when [Derby] started coming back, they were pretty loud, but I think we did a good job of staying focused on the court.”

There was nothing the student section could do but watch as Derby cut the lead to just two points with less than a minute to go. A Worthington turnover on the next possession led to a Panther layup to tie the game. It was the first time Manhattan did not lead in the game.

Even though Derby was dominating, there was never any doubt in the players’ minds that Manhattan would win the game.

“I had confidence that we would pull through and pull ourselves together and get it done,” Wilson said.

Mall was a different story.

“There always is [doubt] in that situation,” Mall said. “When there was like 40 seconds left and you saw the lead go, you think, ‘Well, boy, can we get the ball past half court?’ [On the floor] it’s so hectic, and the girls were getting a little nervous … but I had confidence they were going to make a play.”

With less than 20 seconds to go, Manhattan knew it needed to respond. The Lady Indians were finally able to break the press, and got the ball to sophomore Haleigh Harper near the 3-point line. Wilson cut to the hoop, and Harper fired a perfect pass straight to Wilson to give her a seemingly wide-open layup.

“I was just praying that the ball would go into the basket and that I wasn’t going to miss it,” Wilson said.

Wilson’s aim was true, giving Manhattan a two-point lead with just seconds remaining in the game. Derby called a timeout to formulate a plan, allowing Mall to give his team some last-minute instructions.

“[Mall] just told us that we need to stay composed,” Carr said. “He just said that we have to guard. We just needed to stay composed and just take a deep breath. We were fine. We’re living in a moment, but we can wake up.”

With just 3.9 seconds remaining in the game, Derby dribbled the ball down the court, setting up the final play. A 3-pointer as time expired was no good, giving Manhattan the 44-42 victory.

“My first instinct was just [to] run on the court and just go hug someone,” Carr said “I’m so proud of my team, we just set a goal the whole year that we were going to do this, and we did it.”

Just like that, Manhattan secured its spot in the annuls of history, winning the first state title in school history.

For the seniors, this game marked the end of their high school career.

“It’s still pretty surreal,” McAtee said. “We kept talking about it these last couple days like ‘it doesn’t feel like it’s over,’ like ‘when’s practice Monday,’ and things like that.”

Of course, there’s no better way to end a career.

“It feels amazing,” Wilson said. “It’s a good way to leave.”