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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball makes its return to the NCAA Tournament as the No. 5 seed in the Central Region, where the Ichabods will square off with the No. 4 seed Central Missouri for a fourth time this season and the second straight game at 7:30 p.m. Friday in Mankato, Minn.
Washburn is back in the NCAA Tournament field for the 18th time in program history and the first time since the 2012-2013 season.
Washburn women's basketball celebrates its MIAA Tournament championship with a team dogpile after Sunday's 53-44 win over top seed Central Missouri. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Friday's Washburn-Central Missouri game is a rematch of Sunday's MIAA Tournament championship game, won by the Ichabods, 53-44.
And while playing the Jennies again in just five days is not a ideal situation, Washburn junior Madelyn Amekporfor said the Ichabods will be trying to duplicate the performance they put together on Sunday.
"I think when we played them on Sunday in the championship, that was one of the best defensive games we've had all year and it was fun honestly, playing together, playing for each other,'' Amekporfor said. "It was so fun, so I know that it's not ideal but we're excited for that challenge and excited to go out and do it again and hopefully execute our game plan even better than we did on Sunday because I know we're ready for it.''
Washburn, now 24-7, won its 10th MIAA Tournament championship in program history.
Central Missouri heads to the NCAA Tournament with a 25-6 record overall after going 17-2 inside the MIAA. The Jennies' loss to Washburn snapped a 13-game UCM winning streak.
Sunday's win came after the Jennies had topped Washburn twice in the regular season and Amekporfor knows Friday will be another battle.
"We definitely know what's at stake and we're wanting to succeed so much for our seniors because they've done so much for this program,'' Amekporfor said. "They just give it their all every day, so I know making it to the national tournament was big for them, big for us and big for our program.
"I think UCM is going to be a great first game for us just because we have our heads up from this weekend and we know what we have to do to beat them. We know we have to execute and give it our all, so I think we're very confident now.''
Washburn coach Lora Westling said the Ichabods' goals this weekend would be the same no matter who they drew in the regional.
"We've told our players it doesn't matter who you play, it's about you and how well you execute and perform, how ready you can be for the day at hand,'' Westling said. "That's no different if its Central Missouri or whoever else we would have gotten lined up with. The approach is no different.
"I think that's what we've been focusing on is just it's business as usual for how we're preparing.''
The Ichabods are 26-16 all-time in the NCAA Tournament and 23-12 in the Central Region Tournament. Washburn is 9-3 in the opening round game of the regional.
The NCAA Central Region Tournament will be held between Friday and Sunday in the Taylor Center. The championship game is set for 7 p.m. on Monday, March 16.
With a win on Friday, the Ichabods would face the winner of the quarterfinal game between No. 1 seed Minnesota State and No. 8 Minnesota Duluth on Saturday.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Eighty-nine year-old Kansas coaching legend Ron Slaymaker has stepped down after two seasons as the girls basketball coach at Topeka High, including a Centennial League title and a trip to the Class 6A state tournament this past season.
Kansas coaching legend Ron Slaymaker has stepped down as Topeka High's girls basketball coach after leading the Trojans to back-to-back winning seasons in his two years at the school. [File photo/TSN]
Slaymaker had confirmed to TopSports.news several months ago that the 2025-2026 season would be his last, but declined to make that decision public, wanting the focus to remain on the Trojans throughout the season.
But after Topeka High's season ended Tuesday night with a 61-58 Class 6A state quarterfinal loss to Derby in Wichita, Slaymaker met with Topeka High principal Dustin Dick on Wednesday morning and with his team Wednesday afternoon to officially inform them of his retirement.
Slaymaker discussed his decision to step down Wednesday night while watching the Class 3A girls state tournament at White Auditorium, where the court is named in his honor.
"I explained to the girls, my old body is just wearing out,'' Slaymaker said. "My mind's still OK, I think, but my body just doesn't function.
"It's been two good years, and I feel good about it. Man, we could have won that game against Derby.''
Slaymaker, who led Topeka High to a 31-17 record in his two seasons at the school, is hopeful that the Trojans will also remember the past two years fondly.
"What I learned is that maybe five to 10 years from now that those girls will think of this pretty good,'' Slaymaker said. "Sometimes you look at a 17-year-old, 16-year-old and they're not grasping everything, but give them a little time and they will.''
Slaymaker was named TopSports.news' Shawnee County girls coach of the year in 2025 after guiding the Trojans to a 14-8 record and a nine-win improvement in 2024-2025.
Slaymaker's Topeka High team followed that up with a 17-9 record this past winter, overcoming an 0-4 start to win the Centennial League championship and earn the school's first trip to the state tournament since 2022.
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By NATHAN SWAFFAR
Topsports.news
WICHITA – For the second straight season, Rossville once again found itself with an opportunity to advance within only two victories of a state title.
Senior Jakoby McDonnell led Rossville with 14 points in Wednesday's Class 2A quarterfinal loss to Berean Academy. [File photo/TSN]
Unfortunately for the Bulldawgs, the 2026 season ended in the same place it did in 2025.
Rossville’s 17-8 season concluded in the Class 2A boys state quarterfinals once again on Wednesday as Berean Academy took home a 55-38 victory at Friends University.
As a team, the Bulldawgs shot 40 percent from the field, but their offense struggled to reach the levels it had during the regular season.
Berean (23-2) zeroed in on Rossville senior standout Jack Donovan, allowing him little space and even fewer scoring opportunities. All in all, the Warriors held Donovan scoreless on only eight shot attempts throughout the quarterfinal contest.
“It’s hard to beat a good team that talk and they did both, kudos to them,” Rossville coach Brandon McDonnell said. “We didn’t make an adjustment on our side and we kind of got flustered. Once you get flustered, it’s human nature; it’s kind of hard to dig yourself out of a hole.”
The defensive slugfest got going immediately, as the Bulldawgs and Warriors refused to give up an inch of space. However, thanks to a last-second shot at the buzzer from Wyatt Friesen, the Warriors took a 9-7 lead into the second quarter.
Turnovers became a nagging problem for Rossville over the next eight-minute period. Carelessness and the Warriors’ relentless defense culminated in seven giveaways by the Bulldawgs, directly leading to seven points from those turnovers. They finished the half with nine giveaways and ended the game with 11 total.
McDonnell said the turnover issues were as much a credit to the Warriors’ defense as they were to careless ball security from the Bulldawgs.
“This is state, the butterflies are different, the thought process is different, the environment is different,” McDonnell said. “When you mix all that together, you're going to have some slippage. And our problem is that we had too much of the slippage, and then they converted off of it.”
And Rossville’s struggles on the offensive side were no better, ending the second quarter with only five points with a 22.2 shooting percentage. However, Berean couldn’t take full advantage as it dealt with its own offensive struggles, but still took a 20-12 advantage into the locker room.
Even though both teams shot under 30 percent in the first half, the Warriors had far more offensive opportunities, outshooting the Bulldawgs by 10 attempts.
Out of halftime, both teams found a better offensive rhythm. Rossville finished the third quarter with a much improved 67.7% mark from the floor, but Berean wasn’t far behind, shooting over 50%.
In addition, the Warriors inflicted greater damage thanks to multiple made 3s and seven made free throws. That extended their lead to double-digits with a 35-24 advantage with one quarter to go.
Over the final eight minutes, the Bulldawgs struggled to find a way back into the affair. The Warriors kept them at a distance and closed things out to advance to Friday night’s semifinals.
Jakoby McDonnell led the Bulldawgs with 14 points to go along with three rebounds and assists. Cameron Miller also finished in double figures with 10 points.
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By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Class 5A No. 3 girls seed Shawnee Heights faced No. 6 seed Basehor-Linwood for the third time this season Wednesday at Kansas City Kansas Community College, but this time the stakes were much higher, with the United Kansas Conference rivals squaring off in the state tournament.
Junior KK Emmot led Shawnee Heights with 18 points in Wednesday's 61-47 Class 5A quarterfinal win over Basehor-Linwood. [File photo/TSN]
Shawnee Heights, making its first state appearance since 2011, faced adversity almost immediately, but overcame the loss of a key player to advance to Friday's 5A semifinal with a 61-47 quarterfinal win over the Bobcats.
Just 49 seconds into the game, junior starter Pearmella Carter drove to the basket, was fouled, and went down hard. Carter had to be helped off the court by trainers and did not return to the game.
Losing their top rebounder and second-leading scorer forced the T-Birds to quickly adjust.
“For us to overcome adversity that happens 49 seconds into the game with Mella going out — and she’s been our top rebounder and our second-leading scorer all year long — for the girls to come through that was huge,” Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells said. “That’s what we told them. We led for most of the first half, and they just had to believe in themselves and believe they could do it.
"Everybody just kind of pulled together and got the job done.”
Senior Reianna Vega scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds in Wednesday's 61-47 Shawnee Heights win over Basehor-Linwood. [File photo/TSN]
Senior Reianna Vega said the team leaned on each other after the early injury.
“Coach kept telling us to play together as a team,” Vega said. “We’ve been through adversity a lot of times, and we’ve gotten this far. We can’t give up now, so we had to keep fighting.”
Late in the first quarter, Shawnee Heights knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:34 remaining to take a 15-12 lead.
Basehor-Linwood responded by drawing a foul at the buzzer and hitting both free throws to trim the lead to 15-14 after one quarter.
Scoring slowed early in the second quarter, but senior Imani McGlory eventually broke through with her first basket to make it 17-14.
The T-Birds followed with a 6-0 run while Basehor-Linwood struggled to finish at the rim.
However, the Bobcats answered by closing the half on a 7-0 run to take a 25-21 lead into the locker room at the half Shawnee Heights shot just 3 of 16 from the field in the quarter.
Vega came alive in the second half, scoring all 16 of her points after halftime.
Shawnee Heights repeatedly tried to regain the lead, but Basehor-Linwood continued to answer.
With 2:10 left in the third quarter, junior KK Emmot scored to tie the game at 36.
Emmot then knocked down a 3-pointer to give the T-Birds a brief lead, but Basehor-Linwood finished the quarter on a 5-0 run to go up 41-39 heading into the fourth.
The fourth quarter belonged to Shawnee Heights.
The T-Birds opened the period on a 7–0 run. Vega tied the game at 41 with a basket, Emmot followed with a 3-pointer, and Vega scored again to make it 46-41.
Emmot and Vega added four more points before McGlory scored five straight to extend the lead to 57-45 with 1:05 remaining.
Freshman Bijoy Schmidt sealed the victory with two free throws with 37 seconds left as Shawnee Heights secured the 14-point win and advanced to the state semifinals on Friday at Wichita's Koch Arena.
The T-Birds shot 7 of 9 from the field in the fourth quarter and outscored Basehor-Linwood 22-6 in the final period.
“We tried to get things slowed down a little bit offensively so we could run some sets and be more under control,” Wells said about the fourth-quarter turnaround.
“Then we started getting shots that we’re capable of hitting instead of trying to run so much and taking shots that weren’t our best looks.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- No. 2 seed Silver Lake never trailed in Wednesday's Class 3A girls quarterfinal against Hesston at White Auditorium after scoring the first six points of the night.
But the 26-1 Eagles had to fight off multiple Swather runs before finishing off a 54-45 win to advance to Friday's 3:30 p.m. semifinal at the Hutchinson Sports Arena.
Silver Lake senior Kailyn Hanni (4) scored 29 points with six steals in Wednesday's 54-45 Class 3A quarterfinal win over Hesston Wednesday at White Auditorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"Huge credit to Hesston,'' Silver Lake coach Kyle Porter said. "They're a great basketball team and I think they played up to their potential tonight. They played at a really high level, especially their bigs, their young bigs. They did a great job.
"The first half I felt like we were about ready to break it open and then they went on that run in the second quarter to finish it. They did a much better job of trying to play through their bigs the third quarter. We got in foul trouble and we had to adapt and improvise there and we were able to take their best punch and then throw one of our own and finish the game out. I'm super proud of our team.''
Silver Lake, which is in the 3A Final Four for the fifth straight season, including a state title in 2024 and a runnerup finish a year ago, will face No. 3 seed Holcomb (25-2) on Friday after the Longhorns advanced with a 45-32 quarterfinal win over Ellsworth.
Silver Lake led 15-9 at the end of the opening quarter after a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from sophomore Karys Deiter and went up 27-13 after a traditional three-point play from Eagle senior star Kailyn Hanni.
But Hesston ended the half with an 8-1 run to cut its deficit to 28-21 and after falling behind 36-23 at the 5:35 mark of the third quarter the Swathers put together a 16-3 rally to tie the game at 39 with 6:16 remaining.
Silver Lake junior Savanah Wende reacts after hitting a big 3-pointer in Wednesday's 54-45 Class 3A quarterfinal win over Hesston at White Auditorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The tie lasted just 21 seconds, however, with junior Savanah Wende draining a 3-pointer to give Silver Lake a 42-39 advantage, part of a 10-2 Eagle run that put them back in control.
Hanni connected on three of four free throws over the final 49.6 seconds, closing out a game-high 29-point performance while hitting 11 of 16 free throws and coming up with six steals.
Silver Lake sophomore Karys Deiter had nine points, seven rebounds and four steals in Wednesday's 54-45 Class 3A quarterfinal win over Hesston at White Auditorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Deiter added nine points with seven rebounds and four steals as Silver Lake forced 26 Hesston turnovers, while Wende had seven points with a pair of 3-pointers.
