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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Topeka High will host the 64th annual Topeka Invitational Tournament Thursday through Saturday, with Highland Park, Topeka High and Topeka West's boys teams taking part in the event.
Ja'Corey Robinson and the undefeated Highland Park boys are the team to beat in this week's Topeka Invitational Tournament at Topeka High. [File photo/TSN]
Undefeated Highland Park, top-ranked in Class 5A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association, will open the tournament at 3:30 p.m. Thursday, with the 8-0 Scots facing Shawnee Mission North.
Lawrence and Wichita Southeast are on the same side of the bracket with Highland Park and SM North and will play a first-round game at 5 p.m.
The Hi Park-North winner will face the Lawrence-Wichita Southeast winner in a 6:30 p.m. semifinal on Friday.
Topeka West, 5-2 entering a regular-season game Tuesday at Basehor-Linwood, will open its tournament bid at 6:30 p.m. Thursday against its United Kansas Conference rival Lansing.
Host Topeka High (0-8) will close out the first round at 8 p.m. against Olathe East, with the High-East winner advancing to an 8 p.m. semifinal on Friday.
The tournament will conclude on Saturday, starting with the seventh-place game at 10 a.m., followed by the fifth-place and third-place games and the championship contest at 2:30 p.m.
TOPEKA INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT
At Topeka High
Thursday
3:30 p.m. -- Highland Park vs. Shawnee Mission North.
5 -- Lawrence vs. Wichita Southeast.
6:30 -- Topeka West vs. Lansing.
8 -- Topeka High vs. Olathe East.
Friday
3:30 p.m. -- Highland Park-SM North loser vs. Lawrence-Wichita State loser.
5 -- Topeka West-Lansing loser vs. Topeka High-Olathe East loser.
6:30 -- Highland Park-SM North winner vs. Lawrence-Wichita Southeast winner.
8 -- Topeka West-Lansing winner vs. Topeka High-Olathe East winner, 8 p.m.
Saturday
10 a.m. -- Seventh place.
11:30 -- Fifth place.
1 p.m. -- Third place.
2:30 -- Championship.
Hayden boys set to compete at Baldwin
Hayden will compete in the six-school Baldwin Invitational this week, opening its tournament bid at 5:30 p.m. Wednesday against Wellsville.
Hayden will take a 4-4 record into the tournament after a tight 46-43 Centennial League loss to Class 6A Manhattan.
The Wildcats will play Augusta at 5:30 Friday and will wrap things up on Saturday in the place games.
The fifth-place game is scheduled for 1 p.m. on Saturday, followed by the third-place game at 2:30 and the championship game at 4 o'clock.
BALDWIN INVITATIONAL
Tuesday
5:30 p.m. -- Wellsville vs. Augusta, 5:30 p.m.
7 -- Bishop Seabury vs. Baldwin.
Wednesday
5:30 p.m. -- Hayden vs. Wellsville.
7 -- Christ Prep vs. Bishop Seabury
Friday
5:30 p.m. -- Hayden vs. Augusta.
7 -- Christ Prep vs. Baldwin.
Saturday
1 p.m. -- Fifth place.
2:30 p.m. -- Third place.
4 p.m. -- Championship.
Junior Simon Rowley (facing) and Washburn Rural will compete in the Bill Hanson Memorial Tournament at Pittsburg. [File photo/TSN]
Rural boys headed to Pittsburg
Washburn Rural, 6-2 on the season after a Centennial League win over Emporia, will compete this week in the Bill Hanson Memorial Tournament at Pittsburg.
The Junior Blues will play an 8:30 p.m. first-round game on Thursday against Joplin, Mo.
Also on Rural's side of the tournament bracket are Webster Groves, Mo. and Branson, Mo., who will play at 7 p.m. Thursday.
The Rural-Joplin winner will play the Webster Groves-Branson winner in a 7:30 p.m. semifinal on Friday.
The place games will be played on Saturday, capped by the championship game at 2:30 p.m.
BILL HANSON MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT
At Pittsburg
Thursday
7 p.m. -- Willard, Mo. vs. Pittsburg (main gym); Webster Groves, Mo. vs. Branson, Mo. (Mallatt gym).
8:30 -- Owasso, Okla. vs. Wichita West (main gym); Washburn Rural vs. Joplin, Mo. (Mallatt gym).
Friday
6 p.m. -- Owasso-Wichita West winner vs. Willard-Pittsburg winner (main gym); Owasso-Wichita West loser vs. Willard-Pittsburg loser (Mallatt gym).
7:30 -- Webster Groves-Branson winner vs. Washburn Rural-Joplin winner (main gym); Webster Groves-Branson loser vs. Washburn Rural-Joplin loser (Mallatt gym).
Saturday
11:30 a.m. -- Third place (main gym); seventh place (Mallatt gym).
2:30 p.m. -- Championship game (main gym); fifth-place game (Mallatt gym).
Senior Jaret Sanchez (3) leads Shawnee Heights into this week's Shawnee Mission West Viking Classic. [File photo/TSN]
T-Bird boys to compete in Viking Classic
Shawnee Heights will open competition in the Shawnee Mission West Viking Classic with a 6 p.m. Thursday quarterfinal against the host team.
The T-Birds, ranked No. 4 in Class 5A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association rankings, are 5-2 on the season while SM West is 1-4.
The Shawnee Heights-West winner will advance to a 7:30 semifinal on Friday to take on the first-round winner between Ozark, Mo. and Louisburg.
The place games will be played on Saturday, with the title game set for 3 p.m.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball used a 30-point third quarter to overcome a halftime deficit and top Newman 77-66 on Saturday afternoon in a foul-plagued contest in Lee Arena.
Junior Yibari Nwidadah led Washburn with 22 points and 8 rebounds in the Ichabods' 77-66 MIAA win over Newman on Saturday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Junior Gabi Giovannetti had 18 points and went 8 of 8 from the free throw line in Washburn's 77-66 win over Newman on Saturday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Ichabods and Jets combined for 50 total fouls and 63 free throws, with four players, including three for Newman, fouling out.
"Obviously, they had the intention of being physical with us and we caught that early and any time you see that early in a game you know it's going to be hard to stay on your rhythm and stay in anything comfortable,'' WU coach Lora Westling said.
"And so credit to them, they kept us from getting comfortable all night, but I think we had enough weapons and obviously a dominant inside presence (with junior Yibari Nwidadah) that kind of helped us trudge through the mud a little bit.''
WU junior standout Gabi Giovannetti said finding a way to get Saturday's win was very important for the Ichabods, who won three of four games in their just concluded homestand, with the only loss coming in overtime.
"It was very momentum-building for us to get this win and we knew that,'' Giovannetti said. "We came in kind of flat, but we really locked in after halftime and realized what we needed to do.
"We needed to give it to Yibari obviously on offense and then lock in on defense and not them shoot any more 3s and then maximize their fouls on the offense that they were giving us.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Looking for an upset over the nation's No. 1-ranked team, Newman came out aggressive in Saturday's matchup with Washburn University at Lee Arena.
Washburn senior Jacob Hanna (5) scored a game-high in Saturday's 121-73 win over Newman while reaching the 1,000 point milestone for his career. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn sophomore Brayden Shorter scored 18 points on six 3-pointers in Saturday's 121-73 win over Newman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But after taking an early lead and drawing Washburn's ire with some hard fouls, that proved to be bad news for the Jets, with the Ichabods turning in a dominant performance the rest of the way in a 121-73 win in Lee Arena.
"I think they poked the bear a little bit,'' Ichabod senior Jacob Hanna said. "They were kind of being a little chippy and getting after us, so I think we did a good job of responding and picking our guys up. We don't try to do too much of that rah rah stuff on the court. We let our play do the talking.''
Sophomore Brayden Shorter agreed.
"They were a little chippy in the beginning and I think it kind of fired us up in the right way and we kind of needed that,'' Shorter said.
"The good thing about our guys is it doesn't take much (to get them going) and I thought they handled that fine,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "And Newman, that's what you want, they came out scrappy.''
The Ichabods went on to hit the 100-point mark with 9:15 to play and led by as many as 55 points en route to improving to 17-0 overall and 8-0 in the MIAA.
Washburn led by as many as 55 points with 7:43 to play in the game and had 11 players crack the scoring column and five with double figures, led by Hanna with a game-high 26 points.
Shorter scored 18 points on six 3-pointers, followed by senior Andrew Orr with 17 points, sophomore Jack Bachelor with 13 and Dillon Claussen with 11 points.
Hanna went 9 of 11 shooting from the field, topping the 1,000-point career milestone, while Bachelor recorded his first double-double with his 13 points and 10 assists and added seven rebounds.
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By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
Considering the start, you would think Friday's Centennial League boys game at Hayden was going to be all Manhattan.
The Indians would go on a 11-0 run to start the game before the Wildcats finally got on the board with 3:55 left in the first quarter Hayden would get on the board and Manhattan went up 25-8 in the second quarter.
Hayden sophomore Carter Compton scored 14 points with a pair of 3-pointers in Friday's 45-42 loss to Manhattan. [File photo/TSN]
Hayden junior Connor Hanika scored 14 points in Friday's 45-42 home Centennial League loss to Manhattan. [File photo/TSN]
But the Wildcats kept fighting and gave itself a chance down the stretch before dropping a 45-42 decision to the Indians at the Bueltel Activity Center.
“Unfortunately, too often we start games too passive,'' Hayden coach Dwayne Anthony said. "I’m not surprised when they bunker down and start executing and then we make it a game per se. I was disappointed tonight with how long it took to do that and with all the talk that we’ve had that, we need to start games with that same intensity.”
The Wildcats used an 8-0 run to cut its halftime deficit to 25-16 and would come out of halftime scratching and clawing and would end the third quarter still down by 9 (35-26) before sophomore Carter Compton, whose family just moved to Topeka, would score 12 of his 14 points in the fourth quarter, helping the Wildcats grab their first lead of the game with only 5:13 left.
But Manhattan would get a 3-pointer and then two free throws in the final 2 minutes to escape the hard-fought game with the 3-point win.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Coming off a tough two-point home loss to United Kansas Conference and city rival Topeka West, the No. 7-ranked (Class 5A) Seaman boys bounced back with an 84-58 UKC road romp at Leavenworth Friday night.
The Vikings improved to 6-2 overall and in the UKC as junior KaeVon Bonner and senior Bryer Finley combined for 43 points.
Junior KaeVon Bonner scored a game-high 22 points Friday night as Seaman improved to 6-2 with an 84-58 road win at Leavenworth. [File photo/TSN]
Seaman senior Bryer Finley (2) scored 21 points in Friday's 84-58 win over Leavenworth. [File photo/TSN]
Bonner led the way with 22 points while Finley was right behind with 21 points.
Junior Landon Wiltz was the third Viking in double figures with 16 points.
No. 1-ranked Seaman girls roll to 67-14 UKC win
The undefeated and top-ranked Seaman girls tuned up for what promises to be a big week next week with a 53-point 67-14 United Kansas Conference road win at Leavenworth Friday night.
Junior Maddie Gragg led the Vikings (8-0 overall, 8-0 UKC) with 15 points, 3 rebounds, 4 assists and 3 steals while Cara Beaton had 14 points and four 3-pointers, Anna Becker 12 points, 8 assists and six steals and Jaida Stallbaumer 11 points.
Senior Ava Esser was 2 points away from a double-double, finishing with 8 points and 10 rebounds.
Seaman will host perennial power St. James Academy on Tuesday in a makeup game before going on the road Thursday to face No. 4-ranked De Soto.
Highland Park senior Ja'Corey Robinson scored 33 points Friday night at KC-Harmon in an 89-24 Scot win. [File photo/TSN]
Hi Park boys stay perfect with 65-point win
Senior star Ja'Corey Robinson scored 33 points, easily out-scoring Highland Park's opponent by himself as top-ranked (Class 5A) Highland Park remained undeated with an 89-24 Meadowlark Conference road win over Kansas City-Harmon.
Highland Park scored an amazing 40 points in the eight-minute first quarter and tacked on 33 points in the second quarter to build a 73-10 halftime advantage.
Seniors Mikey Williams and Isaiah Kelley added 12 points each as the Scots improved to 8-0 overall and 4-0 in the conference.
Highland Park will be the top seed in next week's Topeka Invitational Tournament at Topeka High.
