Postseason high school basketball awards have continued to roll in throughout the state of Kansas and it was announced yesterday by Sports in Kansas that Royal Valley girls head coach Kyle Porter has been named the coach of the year in Class 3A.

Porter led the Panthers to the school’s first ever girls state tournament victory in basketball and initial championship overal this season while taking Royal Valley to back-to-back 3A state championship games in just his first two years as a head coach, after serving the previous four seasons as an assistant coach for the Royal Valley girls program.

He is 38-13 in his two years at Royal Valley, which is a record for the program, and includes posting a 21-5 mark this past season.

The Panthers picked up two dominant wins in the state tournament this season beating Eureka and Norton in the quarterfinals and semifinals before overcoming a second half deficit to beat Cheney in overtime 55-52.

Porter’s coach of the year announcement comes just one day after his senior forward Mary Broxterman was named a first team all-state selection including being named the Most Valuable Player of the state tournament.

Porter and the Panthers will have to find a way to replace a strong senior class in Broxterman, Emily Albright, Kiikto Thomas and Menon Irving, but still return a strong core next season led by twin sisters Mahpiya and Wakiyan Irving.

The 2018-19 high school basketball season was a media worthy season to say the least and will go down as a year Panther fans won’t soon forget.