By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka High's girls basketball team went from a 12-0 lead three minutes into Tuesday night's game at Washburn Rural to staring at an eight-point halftime deficit.
But the sixth-ranked (Class 6A) Trojans used a dominating third quarter to regain the lead and held off the second-ranked Junior Blues the rest of the way for a 45-39 Centennial League victory, improving to 6-0 overall and in the league.
Senior Tae Thomas, who scored a game-high 17 points to lead Topeka High, said the Trojans maintained a positive attitude at the half despite being outscored 18-2 in the second quarter to fall into an eight-point hole..
"It was more about realizing what we could do better ourselves in that game, what we needed to fix and what we needed to adjust,'' Thomas said. "I think that really helped us out a lot going into the second half.
"The motivation was defnitely there and coming together as a team helped us out a lot.''
Topeka High junior Kiki Smith takes the ball downcourt Tuesday night against Washburn Rural. Smith scored 11 points to help the Trojans improve to 6-0 with a 45-39 win. [Submitted]
High junior Kiki Smith and Thomas opened the game with back-to-back 3-pointers and then junior Faith Shields hit a 3 and converted a four-point play to put the Trojans up 10-0 just 2:50 into the contest and Thomas scored again to give High a 12-0 advantage at the 4:42 mark.
Rural pulled within 15-7 at the end of the quarter and then held the Trojans to just two points in the second quarter to open up a 25-17 halftime advantage.
The Junior Blues appeared to be in control at that point, but Topeka High ran off the first 10 points of the third quarter to take a 27-25 lead on a Smith hoop before junior Brooklyn DeLeye scored Rural's first points of the second half at the 1:43 mark to tie the game at 27-all.
Thomas canned her second 3-pointer of the night to put High in front 30-27 at the start of the fourth quarter and Washburn Rural got no closer than three the rest of the way.
Junior Adisyn Caryl, Thomas, Shields and senior DayShauna Wiley combined to hit seven three throws over the final 53.3 seconds to protect the Trojans' lead as High went 13 of 18 from the line, helping offset a 26-percent shooting night from the floor.
Topeka High coach Hannah Alexander was also extremely pleased with the Trojans' defense from start to finish.
"That's what we've kind of been saying this whole Christmas break, that we've got to tighten up our defense because we saw we were kind of letting teams score a little too much on us,'' Alexander said.
Smith joined Thomas in double figures for Topeka High with 11 points while Shields had eight points and Caryl six.
Washburn Rural shot 34.1 percent from the field and also hurt itself with a nine of 20 performance at the free throw line and 20 turnovers.
Junior Brooklyn DeLeye scored 14 points and grabbed 13 rebounds to pace Washburn Rural in Tuesday's 45-39 loss to Topeka High. [Submitted]
DeLeye led Washburn Rural with 14 points and 13 rebounds while sophomore Zoe Canfield was next in line for the Junior Blues with seven points and senior Campbell Bagshaw had six off the bench.
"I'm disappointed in how we competed,'' Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. "I can't even imagine how many turnovers we had. I can't imagine how many two-foot shots or layups we had and I just saw we were nine out of 20 from the free throw line and you're going to try and beat a team like THigh. That just won't work.''
Washburn Rural beat Topeka High to win the 2019 Class 6A state championship but with Tuesday's win the Trojans have now won the last six meetings with the Junior Blues.
"Every time we've played Rural the last few years it's been so exciting,'' Alexander said.
TOPEKA HIGH GIRLS 45, WASHBURN RURAL 39
Topeka High 15 2 13 15 -- 45
Washburn Rural 7 18 2 12 -- 39
Topeka High (6-0, 6-0) -- Caryl 2-9 2-4 6, Thomas 5-19 5-7 17, Shields 1-4 5-5 8, Smith 4-15 0-0 11, Wiley 1-2 1-2 3, Fulton 0-0 0-0 0, Leesman 0-0 0-0 0, Baird 0-1 0-0 0, Sharp 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-50 13-18 45.
Washburn Rural (5-1, 5-1) -- Lutz 1-3 1-3 3, Krueger 2-9 0-4 5, Canfield 1-9 4-4 7, Ingram 1-4 0-4 2, DeLeye 6-12 2-3 14, Bagshaw 3-4 0-0 6, Carlgren 0-0 2-2 2. Totals 14-41 9-20 39.
3-point goals -- Topeka High 6 (Smith 3, Thomas 2, Sheilds), Washburn Rural 2 (Krueger, Canfield). Total fouls -- Topeka High 16, Washburn Rural 11. Fouled out -- none.
