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Rossville girls basketball enjoying little moments heading into 2025-2026
By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Injuries were the story to be told about the Rossville girls basketball team last season, with three key players missing extended time.
Fortunately, it's a new clean slate this year with a lot of returners hopeful of making a state tournament run, something the Bulldawgs have not had since 2006 when they took third.
Rylee Dick returns for her senior season for Rossville after earning All-Class 2A recognition last season. [File photo/TSN]
Junior Nore Burdiek (22) is a top returner for Rossville girls basketball after missing 11 games with an injury a year ago. [File photo/TSN]
It’s year two of the Derek Dick era with the Rossville girls after ending last season at 10-12 and Dick will build this year's team around his senior daughter, Rylee Dick, an All-Class 2A first-team selection last season, and junior standout Nora Burdiek.
“We had the best first week of practice that I’ve ever had in my 16 years of coaching and we’re really excited to get going,” Dick said.
Something coach Dick doesn’t want to do this season is take things for granted.
“I was really excited going into last year and I thought we were going to have a great year,'' Derek Dick said. "We have a talented group right now, so I need to do a better job of enjoying it and enjoying the ride and not living or dying on every play every game.
"Sports are big here at Rossville and I want to make sure that every kid that goes through here looks back with good and positive memories.''
Burdiek is back from injury and coming off an All-State season in volleyball while Rylee Dick is looking to end her prep career with a banner campaign after signing with Division II Rockhurst and Maggie Sanders and Lily Mitchell are among the other Bulldawgs who have stood out in the early going.
Coach Dick said he has noticed that the girls who helped Rossville's volleyball team qualify for the 2A state tournament realize this is their last go round in basketball, too, and said the sense of urgency is at an all-time high. On top of that, Dick said that he could see some freshman contributing and earning some minutes this season, too.
The scrappiness will be the key ingredient for this Bulldawgs team and Dick said they’ve been very connected on the defensive end.
Rossville boys basketball setting sights on return trip to Class 2A state tournament
By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Brandon McDonnell said one thing he thought about, and even brought up to his team when he took the head coaching job three years ago, was why should Rossville boys basketball be two easy wins on anyone's schedule?
Rossville senior Jakoby McDonnell helped the Bulldawgs reach the Class 2A state tournament last season. [File photo/TSN]
“I wanted to make sure that we would be the ones that people look at the schedule and say, ‘Oh we play Rossville, it’s going to be tough for us.' We wanted to switch it around,” senior Jakoby McDonnell said.
This past season, Rossville finished 16-8 and made it to the state tournament before losing in the first round to Ell-Saline. That was the Bulldawgs' first state tournament appearance since 2011.
“They want that again,'' said Brandon McDonnell, a former Topeka High standout and Topeka West assistant. "For us to go down there and play at Bramlage, that was an experience in itself. It was amazing and that’s all I can say. For these guys, especially this group this year that are seniors, they were freshmen when I got hired.
"To see this development, and to see what has transpired as they get older, their IQ becomes a little wiser, getting bigger, taller and stronger, you’re seeing the benefits that we’ve worked so hard to get.”
McDonnell won seven games in his first season as a head coach and has won a combined 31 games the last two campaigns. Before that, the last time Rossville had double-digit wins was the 2016-2017 season.
Brock Bush, Tayson Horack, Cam Budura were some key pieces Rossville lost to graduation off last year's team, but McDonnell said the kids understand how much work goes into what they’re building and they had more numbers turn out this year than his first year on the job.
As the football team prepares for its state championship game on Friday, Rossville has been short-handed for the start of preseason practice, but he’s thrilled for some of those guys to take home some hardware this weekend and incorporate them after football season.
No. 2-ranked Washburn men race past Friends 105-51 for seventh straight win
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Tuesday's non-conference home game against NAIA foe Friends was definitely one that No. 2-ranked Washburn University was expected to win, and probably by a sizeable margin.
Sophomore Dillon Claussen scored a game-high 19 points on 9 of 11 shooting from the field in Tuesday's 105-51 win over Friends. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Junior Jack Bachelor scored 16 points with four 3-pointers, six assists and five steals in Tuesday's 105-51 win over Friends. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But with the start of MIAA looming next week, Brett Ballard's Ichabods still had plenty of things they wanted to work on against the Falcons.
And it's safe to say the 7-0 Ichabods reached most all of those objectives in a 105-51 rout over the Falcons at Lee Arena.
"I thought we approached this thing with the right mindset and were pretty professional about how we executed tonight,'' Ballard said. "A lot of positives, and I thought that there were some things that we'd emphasized in practice this last week that stuck and we were able to accomplish a lot of the things that we had worked on.''
Washburn delivered its highest point output of the early season with its 105-point outburst while five Ichabods cracked double figures.
The Ichabods controlled all 40 minutes, building a 25-point halftime lead (46-21) before exploding for 59 more points in the second half.
Washburn forced 20 Falcon turnovers, turning those mistakes into 29 points, while surrendering only five of its own.
Washburn piled up 66 points in the paint, 33 second-chance points and 25 fast-break points.
The Ichabods shot 52.5 percent for the game (42 for 80), while holding Friends to just 28.3 percent shooting overall and hammering the Falcons on the glass as well with a 52-35 rebounding advantage, grabbing 21 offensive rebounds.
Sophomore Dillon Claussen led the way with 19 points, hitting 9 of 11 shots while adding six rebounds, two steals, and a block, while junior Jack Bachelor had 16 points, six assists, five steals and three rebounds, while hitting four 3-pointers.
"I felt like we did what was expected of us,'' Claussen said. "We were supposed to win that game, but like coach has been saying the past couple of games, we have a ton to work on and our ceiling is way higher than we're at right now.''
"I thought we came out and played with good energy,'' Bachelor said. "Defense was a big emphasis in this game and I thought we guarded well. I thought we played hard, played together and shared the ball. I thought it was a successful night for sure.''
Bryson Smith added 14 points, three assists, and three steals, while Tyson Ruud came off the bench to tie his career-high with 13 points and freshman Amalachi Wilkins had 12 points and a team-high eight rebounds off the bench, reaching double figures for the second straight game.
