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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's women's basketball team will kick off a five-game homestand in a 5:30 p.m. Monday makeup game against Northwest Missouri at Lee Arena.
The Ichabods, 5-9 overall and 3-5 in the MIAA, will be looking to bounce back after losing both games on their road trip last week, falling at Missouri Southern, 69-50, and at Pittsburg State, 69-56.
Northwest Missouri has also lost its last two games, dropping home contests against No. 2 Fort Hays State and No. 16 Nebraska-Kearney.
Northwest Missouri has already played two games in Lee Arena this season as the Bearcats took part in the Washburn Thanksgiving Classic and defeated Winona State and Rockhurst.
The Ichabods and Bearcats played twice last season, with Washburn winning both games. Washburn leads the series, 59-11.
Senior Hunter Bentley has moved into the No. 8 spot on Washburn's career scoring list heading into Monday's home game against Northwest Missouri. [File photo]
Senior Hunter Bentley leads Washburn's offense with a 12.6 scoring average and has 10 double-doubles in her career, with three coming against Northwest Missouri.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's men's basketball team will begin a four-game homestand at 7:30 p.m. Monday when the No. 2-ranked and defending national-champion Northwest Missouri Bearcats visit Lee Arena in a rescheduled game from Jan. 6.
The Ichabods (10-6, 7-3 MIAA) have now won their last four games after an 80-79 MIAA win at Pittsburg State on Saturday and will be facing a Northwest team (15-1, 8-0) that has won 13 straight games and 22 MIAA games in a row after defeating Nebraska-Kearney, 80-65. The Bearcats' only loss of the season was on Nov. 13 against Sioux Falls in an 83-77 loss in Kansas City.
Junior Jalen Lewis leads Washburn with a 14.1 scoring average entering Monday night's game against No. 2-ranked Northwest Missouri at Lee Arena. [File photo]
Senior Tyler Geiman is coming off a 28-point performance in Washburn's 80-79 MIAA win at Pittsburg State on Saturday. [File photo]
Washburn leads the all-time series with the Bearcats, 62-50, and lost the last meeting in the second round of the 2021 NCAA playoffs in Aberdeen, S.D. Overall the teams have split the last four meetings, with two of those going to overtime.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
The first of two midseason tournament weeks for Shawnee County prep basketball teams is on tap this week, with 12 county boys and girls teams taking part in a total of seven tournaments across the state.
Following is a tournament by tournament look at this week's events involving county teams:
TOPEKA INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT
At Highland Park
Hayden, host Highland Park, Topeka High and Topeka West's boys teams will all take part in the long-running Topeka Invitational Tournament Thursday through Saturday, along with Lawrence, Shawnee Mission North, St. Marys and Wichita Northwest.
Senior Elijah Brooks (4), coming off a 26-point, 14-rebound performance against Highland Park, will lead Topeka West into this week's Topeka Invitational Tournament at Highland Park. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Highland Park senior Juan'Tario Roberts (right) scored a game-high 35 points last Friday against Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Topeka West (7-1) will open the tournament at 3:15 p.m. Thursday against Lawrence (7-2), followed by St. Marys (8-1) against Topeka High (1-7) at 5 o'clock, Highland Park (8-1) facing Shawnee Mission North (1-8) at 6:45 and Hayden (1-6) closing out the first round at 8:30 p.m. against Wichita Northwest (7-1).
The St. Marys-Topeka High and Topeka West-Lawrence winners will square off in Friday's first semifinal at 6:45 p.m. while the winners of the Highland Park-Shawnee Mission North and Hayden-Wichita Northwest first-round games will clash in the second semifinal at 8:30 p.m. Friday.
The place games will be played on Saturday, capped by the championship game at 2:15 p.m.
Topeka West is coming off a 79-67 win over previously-unbeaten Highland Park on Friday night while Hayden is coming off a 51-50 overtime loss to Emporia. Topeka High has not played since a 68-47 loss to Seaman on Jan. 7.
All five Topeka West starters cracked double figures in Friday's win over Hi Park, led by senior Elijah Brooks with 26 points and 14 rebounds and senior Zander Putthoff with 17 points and three 3-pointers. Senior Juan'Tario Roberts scored a career-high 35 points with seven 3-pointers for the Scots.
Junior Joe Otting had 19 points and senior Trent Duffey 14 points for Hayden against Emporia.
Lawrence is coming off a 69-51 win over Mill Valley on Friday while St. Marys rolled to a 73-33 win over Rossville on Friday as Keller Hurla scored 33 points for the Bears.
Shawnee Mission North, coached by former Topeka High coach Pat Denney, dropped a 61-59 nailbiter to Shawnee Mission West on Friday while Wichita Northwest has won six straight games, including an 81-61 win over Wichita West on Friday.
Senior Ty Henry (left) and the 5-2 Seaman boys will compete in this week's McPherson Invitational. [File photo/TSN]
McPHERSON INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT
At McPherson
Seaman's boys will put their 5-2 record and three-game winning streak on the line in Thursday's 4:45 p.m. first-round McPherson Invitational game against Blue Valley.
The Vikings have not played since a 68-47 Centennial League win over Topeka High on Jan. 7, with Seaman's game against Manhattan on Friday postponed.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn women's basketball team dropped a 69-56 MIAA road game at Pittsburg State on Saturday, falling to 5-9 overall and 3-5 in the MIAA.
Pittsburg State jumped out to an 8-0 lead before Abby Oliver scored at the 6:21 mark of the first quarter started a 6-0 run for the Ichabods.
Abby Oliver
The Gorillas (11-5, 6-4) responded with a 7-2 run over the next 1:45 to extend their lead to 15-8. Aubree Dewey scored the final points of the opening quarter with a jump shot to cut the Ichabods' deficit to 20-15.
Shae Sanchez's layup to start the second quarter pulled Washburn within three points and the Ichabods made it a four-point contest on four occasions, but got no closer in the second as Pittsburg State went into halftime with a 32-25 advantage.
The Ichabods came out firing in the second half and scored on three of their first four possessions to make it a two-pointgame (34-32) with 7:34 on the clock.
But the Gorillas created some space again with an 8-1 run and ended the quarter on a 6-0 burst to lead 53-42 heading into the final stanza.
The Gorillas maintained their double-digit lead until Oliver's layup sparked a 6-0 rally midway through the fourth quarter to trim Washburn's deficit to 64-56. That would be the final points for Washburn, though, as Pittsburg scored the last five points to close out the 13-point victory.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's men's basketball team had to sweat out the final seconds, but held on for an 80-79 MIAA road win over Pittsburg State Saturday at John Lance Arena.
The Ichabods, who won their fourth straight game, did not trail in the second half, but the win was not secure until Pittsburg State missed a potential game-winning shot at the buzzer.
"Road wins are tough, so I'm thankful for that,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard told KTPK Radio after the game. "To come on the road and get wins is not easy. We just didn't play very intelligent basketball at times today.
"I thought we played really soft. That's evident from our defensive numbers. You can't give up 50 percent (shooting) and win games or 42 percent (from 3-point range) and win games and allow teams to (make) 14 free throws. That's not a recipe for success.''
Tyler Geiman
Connor Deffebaugh
Washburn, which improved to 10-6 overall and 7-3 in the MIAA, got 28 points, 6 assists and 5 rebounds from Tyler Geiman, a career-high 20 points from Connor Deffebaugh and 11 points off the bench from Tyler Nelson. Freshman Michael Keegan pulled down a career-high 13 rebounds and scored six points.
"Connor Deffebaugh was terrific,'' Ballard said. "He was aggressive and made plays when we needed him to make plays and then Geiman had a hell of a game again. He was a warrior and played the whole game.
