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By KYLE MANTHE
The Washburn Review
Friday was Senior Night for Topeka West girl’s basketball as the Chargers played host to Emporia, the No. 5-ranked 5A team in the state.
The Spartans played spoiler to the proceedings, riding 23 points from senior Gracie Gilpin to a 60-19 win.
“That’s what we talked about at halftime, it’s kind of a microcosm of our season, when we do the things that we need to do we are actually pretty good and when we don’t do those we are not very good,” said Chargers coach Jeff Skar.
The loss moved Topeka West to 2-16 on the year heading into the final week of the regular season.
Topeka West honored seniors Whitley Benson and Brynna Mays Friday night on Senior Night at West. [Photos by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
The Chargers stayed close early on with the team's first basket coming from senior Brynna Mays who got the start on senior night. An old-fashioned three-point play from junior Azaryah Duncan kept them within one point midway through the quarter.
Emporia created some distance, finishing the quarter on a 7-0 run with the last five from Gilpin to lead 15-7 after one.
The Spartans pressure picked up in the second quarter, leading to turnovers from Topeka West.
Gilpin took advantage of the extra opportunities, scoring nine in the quarter.
A five-point burst from sophomore Addie Kirmer put Emporia up by 20 late in the quarter before it entered halftime with a 35-12 lead.
“Against a team like that they are going to exploit any mistake that you guys make and then it snowballs from there. They are a really good team and well-coached with good players,” Skar said.
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By KYLE MANTHE
The Washburn Review
Senior night for the No. 2-ranked Topeka West boys basketball began with a celebration of seniors before the game that did not stop as the Chargers played host to Emporia.
The quintet of seniors' final home game would be an 81-33 rout of the Spartans, after which coach Rick Bloomquist reflected on the group of seniors headlined by all-time leading scorer Elijah Brooks.
“Obviously we have a special player in Elijah, he is a great leader by example whether it be on campus, off campus or in the gym,” Bloomquist said. “They believe in each other, these seniors they are glue … it’s just the characteristic of the whole senior class, they don’t give up.”
Topeka West's boys basketball team celebrates Senior Night Friday at West. The Chargers rolled to an 81-33 win over Emporia. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/TSN]
Seven players finished with at least six points in the game, encapsulating the unselfishness that the seniors try to lead the team with.
“Nobody is selfish, everybody wants to see everybody win. You know like (Nathan) Bearman started the first half but then Malachi started the second half and there was no animosity or nothing like that, we just kept playing,” Brooks said.
Eighty-one points is a season-high for the Chargers, who moved to 17-1 on the season with the win and maintained a one-game lead in the Centennial League race..
“You know you have a collective bunch of kids with chemistry if they react collectively and not individually and we sure did tonight. I thought we really played well,” Bloomquist said. “No disrespect to Emporia but they caught us on a night that we needed to change and we made a nice change.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Highland Park's overtime loss at Manhattan Tuesday night didn't necessarily ruin any of the Scots' Centennial League or Class 5A postseason aspirations.
But the loss did put Highland Park in a spot where it needed to right its ship in a hurry.
The Scots, who had played without standouts Juan'Tario Roberts and Bo Aldridge at Manhattan, accomplished that goal Friday against Junction City, taking control early en route to a 66-51 league victory over the Blue Jays at Highland Park.
With the win Highland Park, 15-3 overall and 12-1 in the league, remained a game behind Topeka West in the league race with a showdown against the Chargers coming Tuesday night at Highland Par while the Scots also kept their chances alive to host both 5A sub-state games.
"We just want to keep pace right now, and I thought the guys did a good job with that,'' Highland Park coach Mike Williams said. "Everything's still ahead of us.
"There's still a chance for us to find a way to get the league and we're still in position to have two home playoff games in two weeks. We're driving out own car and holding our own destiny and we've just got to make sure we take care of business.''
Junior Tre Richardson (right) is congratulated by senior teammate TaRahn Clemons after scoring two of his 23 points in Friday's 66-51 win over Junction City. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
With junior Tre Richardson leading the way, Highland Park got off to a quick start against the Blue Jays, opening up a 16-7 first-quarter cushion and leading by 13 by twice in the second before the Blue Jays (11-8, 8-7) rallied to within six at the half, 25-19.
Highland Park quickly regained control in the third quarter, building its lead to 14 (43-29) at the start of the fourth and to 24 (62-38) midway through the fourth before Junction City cut into its deficit the rest of the way.
"It's alway good this time of year to get a win and we got off to a good start,'' Williams said. "We've just got to keep stringing a whole game together.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Highland Park's girls basketball team let Junction City back in Friday night's Centennial League game after building a 13-point lead.
But unlike an earlier game against the Blue Jays when the Scots dropped a two-point decision, Highland Park did what it needed to down the stretch, taking a 45-37 home win over Junction City to pick up its first league victory.
Highland Park, which improved to 3-15 overall and 1-13 in the league, opened up a 13-point advantage twice in the third quarter and led 34-23 at the start of the fourth, but had to withstand a fourth-quarter rally from the Blue Jays to hang on for the win.
"We've been working on trying to play with a lead, finish the game the right way and finish quarters,'' Highland Park coach Rob Brown said. "We've been working on a lot of the delay game stuff and I think it went well for us.
"It helped us out to finish the quarters right. I challenged the girls to get a couple of single-digit quarters (by the opponent) and they gave me two of them. It is a step.''
Highland Park's girls gave first-year coach Rob Brown his first Centennial League victory Friday night, a 45-37 home decision over Junction City. [File photo/TSN]
Freshman Amelia Ramsey connected on five fourth-quarter free throws as Highland Park held on for a 45-37 win over Junction City Friday night. [File photo/TSN]
Highland Park got 16 points from senior Aisya Taylor and 13 from senior Atiya Gonzales while freshman Amelia Ramsey added 10.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's men's basketball team led for all but 11 seconds, and for that span it was tied, as the hot-shooting Ichabods topped Missouri Western for the fourth straight time, sweeping the regular season series with a 79-64 road win Thursday night in St. Joseph, Mo.
Making his first start of the season after coming back from an injury, 6-foot-9 Jonny Clausing scored 24 points on 9 of 14 shooting and grabbed 12 rebounds for his third double-double while adding a career-high 36 minutes.
Jonny Clausing scored 24 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in Washburn's 79-64 road win at Missouri Western Thursday night. [File photo by Kyle Manthe/The Washburn Review]
Washburn (16-9 overall, 13-6 MIAA) led 45-32 at the break after hitting 67 percent of its shots from the field, going 18 of 27 overall and a perfect 5 of 5 from 3-point range while holding the Griffons to 12 of 33 shooting in the opening 20 minutes.
The Ichabods opened the second half on an 8-2 run to push out to a game-high 19-point lead over the Griffons (12-14, 8-10 MIAA).
A 3-pointer by the Griffons to cap a 22-11 run trimmed the Ichabod lead to eight at 64-56 with 7:43 to go, but Washburn went on a 13-3 run over a 4:26 stretch to build the margin back to 18 at 77-59 before the Ichabods closed out the 15-point win.
Following Clausing's 24 points, which was one shy of his career-high, were three other Ichabod starters in double figures.
Jalen Lewis scored 14 points and Tyler Geiman and Michael Keegan added 13 apiece for Washburn, while Geiman added eight assists and three steals and Keegan chipped in four boards and two blocks.
