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By NICHOLAS GAINEY
Special to TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights boys basketball coach Ken Darting picked up the 600th win of his illustrious career as the Thunderbirds ran past Kansas City-Turner 85-33 on a special Friday night at Shawnee Heights.
Veteran Shawnee Heights basketball coach Ken Darting picked up his 600th career coaching win Friday night in a UKC win over KC-Turner. [Photo by Nichols Gainey/Special to TSN]
The hosts found themselves in an early hole after an opening 3-pointer from Turner’s Jaron Cheatom and a layup from Mekhi Follick, but the T-Birds rattled off 20 straight points to take control of the contest.
Shawnee Heights forced nine turnovers from the visitors in the first quarter, leading to easy baskets at the offensive end.
The T-Birds also crashed the offensive glass, with Cam Ross cleaning up a miss with a putback layup as time expired to give the hosts a 22-8 lead after eight minutes of play.
The Thunderbirds continued their offensive hot streak in the second quarter, starting the frame with a three-point play from Jaret Sanchez.
Shawnee Heights used a balanced attack, as six different players found the scoresheet in the 25-point period. After taking a 47-21 lead at half, the T-Birds put the contest out of reach in the third quarter with an offensive showcase, including an 18-point quarter from Sanchez.
The senior big man caused problems inside and out for the Golden Bears, knocking down three triples and throwing down two fastbreak dunks in the period as Shawnee Heights took a 76-28 lead after three quarters.
As the clock wound down in the fourth quarter, the crowd began to celebrate Darting’s accomplishment. With less than a minute to play, each member of the Shawnee Heights student section held up a “600” sign and chants of “600!” filled the gym.
Sanchez led the T-Birds with 31 points on 12 of 17 shooting, going a perfect 4 for 4 from the charity stripe. Ross added 16 points while Deacon Pomeroy chipped in 12 points and five rebounds. Da’Quan Lee put up 10 points off the bench.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Highland Park girls were a little slow to shake off the effects of Thursday’s 71-22 drubbing at the hands of Wichita Life Prep. But the Scots eventually got it going Friday and pulled away from Meadowlark Conference rival Sumner Academy, 57-38.
Sophomore Pearmella Carter tied for game-high scoring honors with 16 points in Friday's 57-38 Highland Park home win over KC-Sumner. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Scots stumbled out of the gate Friday, going scoreless for the first three minutes. Trailing 5-0, they got off the mat to take an 11-10 advantage at the end of the period. They used a 15-2 run to close the second quarter, leading 32-21.
From there, the Scots used defense and a dominant fourth quarter by sophomore Pearmella Carter to shut down the Sabres.
“We kind of had a slow start,” said coach Rob Brown. “But they buckled down and did what we’ve been preaching to them -- getting the ball moving from side to side, being patient with the ball, not turning it over and finding open teammates, making shots and finishing plays.”
Carter finished with 16 points to lead the Scots, followed by Tahtionna Broils with 14. Majesty Grace came off the bench to spark the Scots with three 3-pointers and 11 total points.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Hayden took control in the fourth quarter to take a 42-33 Centennial League road win at Washburn Rural Friday night, wrapping up the league championship.
Hayden senior Millie Ramsey (left) scored 17 points and grabbed 14 rebounds in Friday's 42-33 Centennial League win over Washburn Rural while sophomore Maddie Vickery (right) led the Junior Blues with 12 points. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
No. 2-ranked (Class 4A) Hayden bounced back from a league loss at Manhattan on Monday while improving to 16-2 overall and 8-1 in the league while No. 5-ranked (6A) Washburn Rural fell to 13-5, 6-2 as the Wildcats finished off a season sweep over the Junior Blues.
"Monday when we played Manhattan, that was a really frustrating game,'' Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson said. "We didn't seem to have much energy and just couldn't get over the hump. So this week in practice we just emphasized absolutel intensity defensively and on the glass and then try to get into our offense and run stuff because Manhattan was just kind of running up and down the court like we were playing a pickup game.
"Tonight we needed to get into our offense and get the ball inside and we did.''
Freshman Hailey Schmidtlein (2) scored eight points and went four for four at the free throw line in Hayden's 42-33 win over Washburn Rural. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Millie Ramsey, a 6-foot senior, posted a double-double with game-high totals of 17 points and 14 rebounds while Hailey Schmidtlein, a freshman, and senior Brylee Meier added eight points apiece for the Wildcats.
"This win was super huge,'' Ramsey said. "It was a good win and I'm proud of everybody. I'm really proud of our freshmen (Schmidtlein and Blakely Walter). They really stepped up.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Most any team in the country would be envious of Washburn University's 22-2 start to the 2024-2025 season.
But after suffering back-to-back road losses that snapped the Ichabods' 22-game winning streak, WU was looking for a bounce back Thursday night in Lee Arena.
And the No. 4-ranked Ichabods got just that, shooting a blistering 64 percent from the field in the second half in a 93-72 MIAA win over Central Oklahoma.
Washburn sophomore Brayden Shorter (20) led all scorers with 25 points in Thursday's 93-72 home MIAA win over Central Oklahoma. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Jacob Hanna scored 22 points for Washburn in Thursday's 93-72 win over Central Oklahoma. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"It's kind of funny how quickly expectations can change,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "And if I would have told anybody associated with our program that we were going to be 22-2 coming into this game everybody would have been like, 'Holy cow, you're having the most amazing year.'
"But with what happened last week, sometimes outside of our bubble people thought a certain thing. I think our guys were disappointed by it, but we came back and had three really good practices this week. I was really proud of the intent and I thought we learned from that and it doesn't mean you're going to come out and play well, but I did think we had a great intensity and a want to and a compete to us tonight.''
Sophomore Brayden Shorter, who led Washburn with a game-high 25 points, agreed that Thursday was a good bounce-back performance.
"We emphasized that all week in practice,'' Shorter said. "I feel like our practices have been a lot more turned up, with a lot more energy in practices. Not that we weren't having good practices, we were just on a 22-game win streak and sometimes you just let off the gas a little bit and I think we did a good job coming out tonight of getting back to what we do.''
Washburn (23-2 overall, 14-2 MIAA) trailed for only 26 seconds in the game as UCO (14-11, 8-8) jumped out to a 5-2 lead after the Ichabods scored the first two points of the game.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Cair Paravel Latin girls basketball team came up short in its bid for a Senior Night victory Thursday. A 48-37 loss to Atchison County closed the Lions’ regular season at 4-15.
Junior KellyAnn Chada led Cair Paravel with 16 points in Thursday's 48-37 loss to Atchison County. [File photo/TSN]
The Lions and Tigers traded leads in a game full of runs. But the Tigers got the momentum when it counted. They turned a 33-26 third-quarter deficit around by reeling off 12 straight points, going up 38-33 midway through the fourth period. In the end, they outscored Cair Paravel 20-4 in the final period.
“In the fourth quarter, (Atchison County) pushed more, they were just fighting, they were being aggressive, and we just didn’t have the execution and the drive,” said Cair Paravel coach Jaley Barkley. “Finishing those last 10 minutes is always hard, but I’m still proud of them. I could see the heart they had.”
Trailing 19-16 at halftime, the Lions got hot in the third period, outscoring the visitors 17-9. Freshman London Backman was the catalyst, scoring nine points in the third. But Backman picked up her fifth foul at a crucial moment early in the final period, depriving the Lions of one of their two primary offensive threats.
Junior KellyAnn Chada scored 16 for the Lions, followed by Backman with 14. Those two combined for 30 of the Lions’ 37 points.
