Women’s basketball is a far cry from the early days when girls wore dresses and were banned from district and state tournaments. Massachusetts YMCA PE instructor James Naismith invented the game in 1891 as an indoor activity for youth to play during the brutal Northeastern winters. The next year, Senda Berenson brought basketball to women at Smith College. Concerned that women’s frailty and poor health would contribute to them receiving lower wages in comparison to men, the physical culture director believed basketball could improve the stamina and physical ability of female students.
Bersenson made the rules more ladylike. The court was split into three sections, and each player was assigned to a section to minimize movement. (In 1938, courts were reduced to two sections.) Women were only allowed three dribbles and three seconds of holding the ball, and they were forbidden from grabbing or hitting the ball away from another player. Players were either offensive or defensive only. Some games were played 9-on-9, but a 6-on-6 half-court format was used for much of the 20th Century.
By 1895, women across the nation were shooting hoops. On the home front, the first mention of the sport was in a 1904 Investigator. “The young ladies at school have organized a basket ball team with Helen Browne and Jennie Millyard as captains.” By the fall of 1905, basketball was all the rage. With no gym at Lakin to play in, games were held outdoors. The boys bought a ball and put up goals, and the girls “marked the basket ball grounds at the school house.”
There were two girls’ teams in 1905, and they held a box social to raise money for uniforms. Maroon and blue were chosen for team colors. Teams played against each other, alumni, teachers, Syracuse and the boys’ team. By 1914, Deerfield was added to the mix.
In November 1915, local papers reported that changes were made to the school’s Primary Room to have an indoor basketball court with the Girls Athletic Association donating $5 to help with costs. An indoor gym was prioritized when a new school was completed in 1921.
Girls eventually played more out-of-town teams; however, their schedule was never as full as the boys’. In January of 1922 at the meeting of the state’s athletic association, a new rule was enacted banning girls from district and state tournament play. Undaunted, Lakin’s girls’ teams continued to fare well in league play and invitational tournaments.
One of the hot shots on the early-day teams was team captain Victoria Beaty. In February 1925, Beaty established a new record by scoring 53 points in a game against Syracuse. The next year, she made the freshman basketball team at Boulder, Colorado and scored 63 of the team’s 99 points in their season opener.
In March of 1930, Lakin girls captured the Southwest Kansas League championship by defeating Moscow. According to the Independent article, there were nine teams in the league. In 1931, Lakin’s first year in the Western Arkansas Valley League, the girls took the league title and repeated in 1933 and 1935.
Throughout the 40s, girls’ teams were seldom mentioned in the papers. Some years there was no team or they only played a few out-of-town teams while other years they played intramural-style ball, exhibition games and fundraisers against alumni or women in the community.
Lakin joined the Hi-Plains League in 1950, but girls’ basketball continued to lag behind boys’ with ladies relegated to playing hoops in PE. In the late 60s, however, there was a push for more women’s sports. According to the 1970 Bronc yearbook, basketball was part of the extracurricular program which gave girls “a chance to participate in competitive sports against other schools.”
Lakin ladies began playing league ball during the 1971-1972 school year, and games were played by “basically boys’ rules” with 5-on-5 full-court play. The season ran September to December that year, and Lakin won first place in the first Hi-Plains League Tournament for girls. They repeated as tournament champs the following year then again in 1978, 1996, 1997, 1998, 2000 and 2026.
In 1973, the Kansas State High School Athletic Association opened up the state tournament to girls. Since then, Lady Bronc teams have made eight state tourney appearances. Lakin earned second place finishes in 1993, 1996, and 1997. The Broncs captured 4th place in 2000, but they were defeated in first-round play in 1978, 1985, 1994, and 2004.
Lady Bronc Basketball has definitely rebounded from humble beginnings and is more than deserving of recognition as we wrap up Women’s History Month 2026.
SOURCES: Investigator, Advocate, Independent & Girard Press archives; Museum archives; KSHSAA; Bronc yearbooks; Sports in Kansas; Heinonline.org; WNBA, & Thought.com.