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Regional girls wrestling: T-Birds win three individual titles, earn runnerup team finish
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights, top-ranked in the most recent Kansas Wrestling Coaches Association Class 5A rankings, posted a strong runnerup team finish in Saturday's 5A East Regional at Bonner Springs, qualifying 12 wrestlers for state.
Junior Cianna Graves improved to 35-2 on the season while winning the 150-pound title for Shawnee Heights in Saturday's Class 5A East regional. [File photo/TSN]
Senior Madison Freeland (left) won the 140-pound Class 5A regional title Saturday at Bonner Springs. [File photo/TSN]
Heights finished the regional tournament with 215.5 points, while the T-Birds' United Kansas Conference rival, Basehor Linwood, took first with 234.5 points.
Shawnee Heights got individual regional championships from 125-pound senior Reece Taylor, 140-pound senior Madison Freeland and 135-pound junior Cianna Graves while freshman Ava Gutierrez (100) and senior Isabel Reyes (130) advanced to the regional finals, finishing second.
Taylor, No. 1 ranked in 5A at 125, improved to 33-3 with her regional title, posting a 1 minute, 18 second pin over Blue Valley Southwest senior Brynn Lowe in the final.
Freeland, No. 5-ranked at 140, is 28-6 on the season after recording a 3:25 pin over Bonner Springs junior Nevaeh Brown in her final while Graves, 35-2 and top-ranked at 155, took a 4-2 win over Bonner Springs junior Addison Voges in the regional championship match.
Sophomore Audry Hinkly (120) and junior Olivia Stevens (145) posted third-place finishes while freshman Olive Jones (135) and sophomore Brooklyn Binkley (170) placed fourth, junior Mara Grau-Jones (235) fifth, freshman Halle Hill (110) sixth and junior Shelby Watson (190) seventh.
Highland Park finished 10th as a team while qualifying five wrestlers for state.
Ichabod women surpass 2023-2024 win total with 62-52 MIAA road win over RiverHawks
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball was strong on the defensive end Saturday, building a first-half lead and holding on late for a 62-52 road win over Northeastern State.
Junior Yibari Nwidadah (32) scored 23 points and grabbed 16 rebounds in Washburn's 62-52 MIAA win at Northeastern State. [File photo/TSN]
With Saturday's victory Washburn improved to 14-11 overall and 8-7 in the MIAA, eclipsing its win total for the 2023-2024 campaign with a minimum of five games remaining in the current season. The 14 victories are also a high-water mark for WU under coach Lora Westling, in her third season.
It was a slow start to the game offensively for both teams, with the first field goal of the game coming from junior Yibari Nwidadah at the 7:04 mark of the first quarter.
Washburn held the RiverHawks (10-14, 6-9) without a field goal until there was just 3:16 in the quarter. The Ichabods led by as many as six in the first quarter but finished the opening 10 minutes leading 14-12.
Both teams traded baskets to open the second quarter. Separation was created by Washburn with a 6-0 run over the final 4:11 of the half, with a layup by Nwidadah pushing the Ichabod halftime lead up to 12 (31-19) as the visitors held the home team scoreless over the final four minutes of the second quarter. Northeastern State shooting 18.2 percent in the second quarter.
After the first two points of the third quarter went to the RiverHawks, the next seven all went to Washburn, capped off by back-to-back 3-pointers, first from Payton Sterk then Gabi Giovannetti to lead 38-21.
Top-ranked Ichabod men suffer second straight loss, 88-84 at Northeastern State
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Northeastern State University Events Center continued to be a house of horrors for the Washburn University men on Saturday as the No. 1-ranked Ichabods fell 88-84, losing their fourth game in a row to the RiverHawks in Tahlequah, Okla.
Sophomore Brayden Shorter led Washburn with 21 points in Saturday's 88-84 MIAA loss at Northeastern State. [File photo/TSN]
For the second straight game the Ichabods led at the break by four, leading Northeastern State 40-36 despite the RiverHawks shooting 60 percent from the field in the opening period (15 of 25) while the Ichabods were 15 of 35 for 43 percent.
In the second half, the Ichabods (22-2 overall, 13-2 MIAA) led by as many as eight points with 14:12 to go after a layup by sophomore Jack Bachelor, who scored 10 points in the second half.
A 17-6 run by the RiverHawks that finished with back-to-back 3-pointers put NSU up 62-60 with 10:22 to go.
The RiverHawks (14-10, 8-7) pushed their lead to five at 82-77 with 3:00 to go, but a Brayden Shorter 3-pointer cut the lead to 82-80 17 seconds later.
NSU hit a pair of free throws, then after two free throws by Bachelor and Jacob Hanna pulled the Ichabods within one at 85-84 with 33 seconds left.
NSU scored a basket with 26 seconds to go and a free throw with 18 to left to wrap up the win.
Shorter scored 16 of his team-high 21 points in the second half while hitting five 3-pointers, leading five Ichabods in double figures.
