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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Afer opening its 2026 season with a 4-1 record in last weekend's Lone Star Classic in Mansfield, Texas, Washburn softball team is back on the road for five games at the Alvy Early Memorial Classic in Bentonville, Ark.

 

Kate Ediger is hitting a team-high .625 for 4-1 Washburn softball with six runs and five RBI. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]

 

The Ichabods wrapped up its 4-1 start to the season with a pair of Sunday run-rule wins, with Washburn taking an 11-3 win over Lubbock Christian and a 10-2 over Texas A&M-Kingsville, both in five innings.

 

Senior Kate Ediger leads Washburn with a .625 batting average, stroking 10 hits with two doubles, six runs scored and five runs batted in.

 

Sophomore Makenzie Sais is hitting .526 with 10 hits, four RBI and 10 stolen bases in 11 attempts.

 

Maddie McGee, Dalaney Anderson and Aspen Burghart are all hitting .400 or higher.

 

Junior Kierra Goos has a pitching record of 2-0 with a 1.00 earned run average and 14 strikeouts in 14 innings.

 

Senior Sadie Walker is also 2-0 with a 2.15 ERA and 16 strikeouts in 13 innings.

 

On tap this weekend are games against Missouri S&T (11 a.m. Friday), Harding (1:30 p.m. Friday), William Jewell (11:30 a.m. Saturday), Southeastern Oklahoma State (2 p.m. Saturday) and Truman State (11 a.m. Sunday).

 

Missouri S&T went 3-1 last weekend, including a win over No. 11 Central Oklahoma in a 5-4 victory.

 

Harding went 2-2 at the Lone Star Classic, with wins over Maryville and Texas Woman's.

William Jewell will be opening its 2026 season this weekend. 

Southeastern Oklahoma was 2-3 last weekend at the D2 First Pitch Invitational.

 

Like William Jewell, Truman State will be opening its season this weekend in Arkansas.

Brenda Holaday is 283-169 in her 10th season as the Ichabod softball coach and is the all-time winningest coach in program history.

Holaday coached 19 seasons at Washburn Rural, compiling a 351-93 (.791) record.

 

The Ichabods will return to the road next week for five games at the Cherokee Classic in Tahlequah, Okla. before opening up their home slate with the Washburn Invitational, starting Feb. 20 with six home games over the weekend.

By JUSTIN BURKHARDT

TopSports.news

City and USD 501 girls basketball rivals Topeka West and Highland Park faced off again Wednesday night in a rematch from Dec. 3rd when Topeka West took a 23-point win at Highland Park.

The Chargers finished off the regular-season sweep over the Scots with a 65-33 romp on West's home court.

Senior Addaline Hall scored a game-high 15 points in Topeka West's 65-33 win over Highland Park Wednesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

The Chargers were coming off a seventh-place Glaciers Edge finish in Emporia over the past weekend by defeating Shawnee Mission West 57-54 in overtime and the Lady Scots were coming off a 50-31 win over Kansas City-Washington on Tuesday.

With both teams entering the game off wins 6-foot junior Sydney VanDyke stole the show for the Lady Chargers as she would use her length to turn the game into a block party down low all night long.

VanDyke would get the first basket of the night before the Scots' Zayah Kincade would hit two shots at the free throw line to tie it up at 2-2 before VanDyke would score again to give her team the early 4-2 lead.

Kincade tied things back up at 4 before Charger Patience Allen hit the first of her two 3s to make it 7-4.

Highland Park would go on a 9-0 run with Kincade scoring five more points during the run as the Scots would end the first quarter with a13-9 advantage.

The Scots would start the second quarter with nine quick points to stretch the lead to 22-15, but the Chargers would tighten up and go on a 9-2 run to force a tie at halftime, 26-26.

“We kind of challenged them to come out the second half and put it together and they did, they worked hard and earned it,” Topeka West coach Angie Ketterman said.

The Lady Scots would come out of the locker room ice cold as West, led by VanDyke, would out-score the Scots 25-2 with VanDyke scoring nine more points in the third quarter.

“We have been like that all season where we play better in the second half of games then we do in the first half,” VanDyke said.

Topeka West would end the third quarter with a commanding lead of 51-28. The fourth quarter would see Highland Park try to come up with an answer, but the Lady Chargers would lock the Scots down and out-score them 14-5 in the fourth to finish the season sweep with the 32-point victory.

Senior Addaline Hall led Topeka West with a game-high 15 points while Allen had 14 points and VanDyke 13.

The Scots would be led in scoring by Kincade with 12.

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By JUSTIN BURKHARDT

TopSports.news

Class 5A No. 2-ranked Topeka West hosted crosstown rival Highland Park on Wednesday night, seeking a regular-season sweep after dropping two games to the Scots last season.

Senior Malakyah Duncan led Topeka West with 19 points Wednesday as all five Charger starters cracked double figures in West's 84-60 win over Highland Park. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

And the Chargers delivered in convincing fashion, taking an 84-60 win to improve to 14-2 on the season.

After West trailed 5-2 early, senior Keimani Paul would score five straight points to put his team up 7-5 and the Chargers would go on a 12-0 run to stretch the lead to 19-5 before ending the first quarter with a commanding 26-11 lead.

Paul scored 10 of his 14 points in the first quarter while West senior Gad Munganga would score the first basket of the second quarter and the eighth point of his 16 total on the night.

“Gad is never afraid of the big moment,'' Topek West coach Christian Ulsaker said. "I think he's kind of developed that over the past year with just tons of reps and shots in the gym in the summer. And that's what it takes to become a great shooter, just repetition after repetition.”

Highland Park junior JoJo Kingcannon would get to the basket for the Scots, but they would keep chasing the Chargers, who would turn to their size with 6-foot-4 senior Malakyah Duncan and 6-6 junior Prince Lassiter.

West would start to feed Lassiter but the Scots would crash on Lassiter and force him to pass it out to others.

“I told them just keep on attacking in terms of slashing to the rim,'' Ulsaker said. "When Prince gets it, if they do double, he'll be able to find you either when you relocate for 3 or when you slash backside, cut back door to get an easy bucket from Prince.”

The Scots would hold Lassiter to only seven points at halftime, but West would take a commanding 52-29 lead into the locker room.

Paul would drive to the basket at the start of the third and pick up the and-one for an old fashioned three-point play. Kingcannon would try to get the Scots back in it as he would hit back to back 3-pointers and go on a 10-1 run by himself to make it 56-38.

But that would be the Scots' last gasp of air as the Chargers would just start to pound it inside and force contact with the Scots to get fouls and get to the free throw line.

Lassiter would score six in the third quarter, helping Topeka West push the lead to 70-47 going into the fourth quarter.

Ulsaker would pull his starters and let his backups get some minutes in the fourth as they would pull out the 24-point rivalry win.

“It was good to get the monkey off our back,'' Ulsaker said. "I don't think our boys had ever beat Park yet, so it was just another milestone for them. The first one was they beat Shawnee Heights at Shawnee Heights for the first time in their career and the same thing now as beating Highland Park for the first time in their career.

"Whenever you beat a storied program like Highland Park, It's always a monumental thing.”

Duncan led Topeka West with 19 points as all five Charger starters cracked double figures.

Highland Park junior JoJo Kingcannon led all scorers with 23 points in Wednesday's 84-60 loss to Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

The Scots got another huge night from Kingcannon, who would lead all scorers with 23.

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