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Washburn Rural girls ride balanced attack past Wichita South, 60-32
By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural girls basketball is off to a Class 6A sub-state final after taking down Wichita South, 60-32, at home Tuesday night.
Junior Maddie Vickery scored a game-high 18 points in Tuesday's 60-32 Washburn Rural sub-state win over Wichita South. [File photo/TSN]
The Titans only had seven players suited up for Tuesday's game and Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick wasn’t shy in giving them praise.
“We were hoping we could wear them down, but I was impressed with the energy and stamina those girls had, I thought they played hard all the way through,” Bordewick said. “I thought our defense wasn’t as intense as it needed to be, I don't think at the start. We weren’t in a good offensive flow, but then once we got a couple of boards we ran some fastbreak, and I thought our offense looked a lot smoother.
"We talked about that at halftime that we’re more seamless in transition. We had a lot of good interior touches and that definitely opens up our outside shooting.''
Wichita South jumped out to a 5-1 lead to begin but Rural climbed back to tie it at five as senior Hallie Walker scored the first five for Rural.
Wichita South kept pace, leading 8-7, but that would be the last lead the Titans would have.
Rural freshman Brynn Anderson nailed two 3-pointers and Kansas State commit Maddie Vickery put home a jumper as the Junior Blues' advantage grew to five (14-9). The Junior Blues led 18-13 after one quarter.
In the second quarter senior Josie Carlgren scored the first five points to push the Rural lead to 10 (23-13), and then Vickery went on a scoring run of her own, helping Washburn Rural to its biggest lead of the game (33-16) after two free throws. The Junior Blues took a 35-18 lead into the break.
It was a slow moving third quarter to begin with, but the Junior Blues kept building its lead, as Rural freshman Kamryn Smith scored four of the first six points in the quarter. Vickery had an and-one opportunity, missed the free throw but Walker cleaned up the miss and kissed it off the glass for two, making it 45-22. Walker ended the night with 15 points.
Anderson continued her solid performance, converting an and-one and then capped off the quarter with a trey in the corner before the buzzer, pushing the Rural lead to 56-28. She finished with 13.
Eight different players scored in the game.
“We’ve been really aware of getting paint touches and Hallie has really come along a lot, especially the second half of the season about finishing plays on the inside,'' Bordewick said. "Just getting Maddie back is another dimension that adds an inside-out, Brynn is an inside-out and we left quite a few points on the floor by not finishing free throws, layups or two foot shots.
"Ella (Hirschi) and Josie are good shooters and they didn’t get enough to get going but when they do, we can be a pretty potent offense.''
Washburn Rural only needed two more points for the running clock in the fourth quarter and got it with two free throws (58-28) at the 6:33 mark from Vickery, who finished with a game-high 18 points as the Junior Blues went on to improve to 16-8.
Seaman boys avenge 2025 sub-state loss to Valley Center with 73-51 win
By CHARLES SPURLOCK
Special to TopSports.news
The semifinal round of the Class 5A sub-state playoffs began Tuesday night as the Seaman Vikings hosted the Valley Center Hornets.
Senior Griffin Zuniga tied for game-high scoring honors with 19 points in Seaman's 73-51 sub-state win over Valley Center. [File photo/TSN]
Senior KaeVon Bonner tied for game-high scoring honors with 19 points in Seaman's 73-51 sub-state win over Valley Center. [File photo/TSN]
Tuesday's game was a rematch from the semifinals of sub-state last season when the Hornets upset the Vikings 68-61 in overtime. Tuesday's first half may have been a reminder of last year’s contest, but Seaman dominated the second half and won the game, 73-51.
The game began with a personal 5-0 run by Seaman senior Matthew McConnaughey over the first two minutes before Valley Center finally scored with a 3-pointer by junior Evan Chavez. Seaman had a 7-0 run to extend their lead to 12-3.
The teams played even for the remainder of the quarter and senior KaeVon Bonner hit a buzzer beating layup to give the Vikings a 23-15 at the end of one quarter.
As the second quarter began, the Hornets responded with a 9-2 run of their own with three 3-pointers, cutting the Vikings' lead to 25-24. Seaman seniors Bonner and Griffin Zuniga scored baskets to extend the Viking lead to 29-24, but Valley Center battled back to trail by only two at the half, 35-33.
The Hornets stayed close in the first half by hitting 7-14 from the 3-point line.
“When a guy hits a three, you have to adjust. When he hits two threes, you have to make a big adjustment and we weren’t doing that,'' Cox said. "We were sitting back, daring them to shoot and they kept making them.”
Another aspect of the close game at the half was the outcome of last year’s game creeping into the minds of the Vikings.
“We came in with a chip on our shoulder and had to come out with a good mindset and energy,” Zuniga said.
Bonner also referenced last year’s outcome.
“We lost to them in the same exact spot and I had been zero for three in sub-state, but it was nice to get this first win,” Bonner said.
“We came into that game last year with a false sense of security after beating them in the mid-season tournament,'' Cox said. "They played a really good game and beat us, so I reminded our guys about their team this year, how pesky they were and how close they’ve played against tough 6A schools like Wichita Heights and Maize.”
No. 2 seed West rolls to Class 5A sub-state final with 55-32 win over Hutch
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Underdog Hutchinson got Topeka West's attention with a strong first quarter in Tuesday's Class 5A West sub-state semifinal.
But that proved to be the Salthawks' undoing, with the No. 2-seeded Chargers outscoring No. 15 seed Hutch 34-10 over the middle two quarters en route to a 55-32 win at West.
Senior Keimani Paul scored a game-high 16 points in Topeka West's 55-32 Class 5A sub-state win over Hutchinson Tuesday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"We came out a little bit slow the first quarter and we just knew that our defense was going to keep us in the game,'' said Topeka West senior Keimani Paul, who scored a game-high 16 points. "If we're not making shots, the defense was going to keep us in the game for sure.''
With the win the 21-3 Chargers advanced to a 6 p.m. sub-state final on Friday at West to face No. 7 seed Bishop Carroll (16-7). The Eagles advanced with a 62-53 win over Andover.
Hutchinson, which finished its season 7-16, led through most of the opening quarter and the game was tied at 12-all at the start of the second period.
"Their coach (Bryan Miller) did a great job,'' West coach Christian Ulsaker said. "I felt like they knew our offense better than we did at times. He was calling out everything, so our guys did a great job of adjusting to that and defensively we threw some different things at them to try to confuse them a little bit and get out and run.''
But at that point Topeka West took control, outscoring the Salthawks 18-6 in the second quarter to take a 30-18 lead at the half.
The Chargers then put the game away with a dominant 16-4 third quarter, taking a 46-22 lead into the fourth stanza and forcing a running clock at 55-24 with 4:44 remaining on a 3-pointer from senior Malakyah Duncan.
"We just wanted to get this game out of the way, quick, easy, and get ready for Bishop Carroll,'' Paul said.
"The guys came out a little jittery in the first quarter, but I feel like they settled in and did what they needed to do to get the win and move on to a team (Carroll) that we've kind of had circled now for about a week and a half,'' Ulsaker said.
"We knew this was a possiblity that we'd meet up with Bishop Carroll. They're very well-coached and will be ready to play.''
