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Created: 15 January 2026

By CHARLES SPURLOCK

Special to TopSports.news

Two city boys basketball teams battled on Thursday night at Shawnee Heights as the host T-Birds took a 76-53 non-conference victory over Highland Park.

Junior Cam Ross led Shawnee Heights with a game-high 28 points in Thursday's 76-53 non-league win over city rival Highland Park.

The first four minutes of the game saw both teams trade buckets and Shawnee Heights led 10-8. But the T-Birds went on a 12-3 run to build a 22-11 lead at the end of the first quarter.

Junior Cam Ross scored the first basket of the second quarter and the T-Birds extended their lead to 28-11 before the Scots were able to score. The teams went back-and-forth for the remainder of the quarter and Shawnee Heights took a 41-27 lead into the halftime break.

Both teams were very efficient on offense in the third quarter, with the T-Birds outscoring the Scots, 21-18.

Senior Ja’Veon Alston scored eight points for the T-Birds in the quarter while fellow senior JaiMarion Cook dropped in five. The Scots had two players score six points each in the quarter -- juniors G’honi Montgomery and JoJo Kingcannon.

Shawnee Heights led 62-45 going into the final quarter and were able to empty their bench over the final two minutes while capping the 23-point victory.

The T-Birds finished the game shooting 28 of 42 from the field for 67 percent and 60 percent from the 3-point line (9 of 15).

The T-Birds were led by three in double figures -- Ross with 28 points, Alston with 16 and Cook with 13.

The Scots had two in double figures, led by Kingcannon with 22 points while Ke’Sioun Drew dropped in 12.

Shawnee Heights improved to 6-4 on the season and will be in action on Saturday with a road game at Gardner-Edgerton. Highland Park fell to 2-7 on the season and will play at home Friday against Kansas City-Harmon.

SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 76, HIGHLAND PARK 53

Highland Park      11 16 18 8 -- 53

Shawnee Heights 22 19 21 14 -- 76

Highland Park (2-7) -- Anderson 1-8 0-0 2, Montgomery 0-1 3-6 3, Drew 4-13 0-0 12, Mitchell 2-4 1-2 6, Kingcannon 10-17 0-1 22, L. McMillon 0-2 0-0 0, Pollard 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 1-1 1-2 4, Nance 2-3 0-0 4. Totals 20-49 5-11 53.

Shawnee Heights (6-4) -- Alston 5-9 4-6 16, Cook 5-6 0-0 13, Ross 10-16 5-6 28, Scott 3-4 2-2 9, Wallace 2-4 0-0 4, Lee 1-1 0-0 2, Halloran 1-1 0-0 2, Becker 0-0 0-0 0, Vega 0-0 0-0 0, Terrell 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 28-42 11-14 76.

3-point goals -- Highland Park 8 (Drew 4, Kingcannon 2, Mitchell, Smith), Shawnee Heights 9 (Cook 3, Ross 3, Alston 2, Scott). Total fouls -- Highland Park 14, Shawnee Heights 15. Fouled out -- L. McMillon. Technical fouls -- none. 

Details

Created: 15 January 2026

By CHARLES SPURLOCK

Special to TopSports.news

A non-conference city girls basketball matchup took place on Thursday night at Shawnee Heights between the host T-Birds and the Scots of Highland Park, with Heights in control from the opening jump and winning convincingly, 64-27.

Shawnee Heights senior Reianna Vega scored 12 points in Thursday's 64-27 win over city rival Highland Park. [File photo/TSN]

Shawnee Heights jumped out to a 10-0 lead in the first three minutes of the game, led by senior Reianna Vega’s seven points. Highland Park scored their only point of the first quarter on a free throw from junior Zayah Kincade with 5:29 remaining in the first stanza.

The Thunderbirds scored the final five points of the quarter to take a commanding 15-1 lead into the second quarter.

The 5-0 run that ended the first quarter was extended to 21-0 over the first seven minutes and thirty seconds of the second quarter, giving the T-Birds a 31-1 lead with thirty seconds remaining in the first half. The Scots scored  5 points in the last 25 seconds to trail 31-6 at halftime. 

The third quarter saw the Lady Scots warm up from the field by scoring 15 points in the quarter, led by juniors Mi’Luv Cosey and Kincade with 6 points each. But the T-Birds continued their efficient offense, scoring 21 in the quarter and led 52-21 heading to the final quarter. 

With the lead at 31, the running clock was in effect for the final eight minutes. The T-Birds emptied their bench early in the quarter and went on to pick up the 37-point victory.

Senior Reianna Vega scored 12 points to lead Shawnee Heights and junior KK Emmot finished with 10 points.

The Lady Scots also had two in double figures, with Cosey leading the way with 12 points -- all on 3-pointers -- and Kincade dropping in 10 points.

Shawnee Heights moved to 8-3 on the season and will be in action next Friday (1/23) on the road at Topeka West. Highland Park fe;; to 3-6 on the season and will host Kansas City-Harmon on Friday.

SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 64, HIGHLAND PARK 27

Highland Park        1 5 15 6 -- 27

Shawnee Heights 15 16 21 11 -- 64

Highland Park (3-6) -- Cosey 4-11 0-0 12, Kincade 3-14 1-2 10, Jones 0-3 0-0 0, Barnett 0-1 0-0 0, Atkins 0-2 0-2 0, Cameron 0-0 0-0 0, Inyard 1-4 0-0 3, Mitchell 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 0-0 0-0 0, Williams-Sanders 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 9-37 1-4 27.

Shawnee Heights (8-3) -- Emmot 3-9 2-3 10, McGlory 3-7 0-0 8, Carter 2-4 4-4 8, Baum 3-5 2-2 9, Vega 5-9 0-0 12, Brees 1-4 0-2 3, Aubrey Hamilton 3-3 0-2 6, Schmidt 0-1 0-0 0, Pierce 1-4 0-0 2, Allie Hamilton 0-0 0-0 0, Carlisle 3-5 0-2 6. Totals 24-51 8-15 64.

3-point goals -- Highland Park 8 (Cosey 4, Kincade 3, Inyard), Shawnee Heights 8 (Emmot 2, McGlory 2, Vega 2, Baum, Brees). Total Fouls -- Highland Park 17, Shawnee Heights 12. Fouled out -- none. Technical fouls -- none. 

Details

Created: 15 January 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

EMPORIA – After taking a 25-point win over Emporia State 12 days earlier, No. 1-ranked Washburn University men's basketball had to fight off Emporia State from start to finish Thursday, but never trailed en route to gutting out a 75-64 road victory over the Hornets at White Auditorium.

 

Sophomore Dillon Claussen scored a game-high 17 points and grabbed seven rebounds in Thursday's 75-64 MIAA road win over Emporia State. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

 

"Gut it out is a great way to put it,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "I think that's kind of what we did. It was sort of an ugly game, really physical, and they did a great job of limiting our opportunities in the paint, so we kind of had to grind through that offensively.

 

"Defensively we were really, really good again. We held them to 64 and a low shooting percentage and rebounded the ball at a pretty high clip. So, on a night when our offense wasn't exactly humming, defense got it done.'' 

 

Washburn, which improved to 17-0 overall and 7-0 in the MIAA, opened the game with five  straight points and led by as many as eight points (31-23) with 3:47 left in the first half, but Emporia State (5-11, 1-6) hung around, getting as close as two points and trailing 35-29 at the break.

 

Washburn built its lead to nine points three times in the first 16 minutes of the second half, but the the Hornets were still within four points (68-64) with 1:31 remaining before the Ichabods ended the game with a 7-0 run to build its biggest lead of the night.

 

Senior Bryson Smith scored 12 points and hit four straight free throws in the final seconds as Washburn improved to 17-0 Thursday night at Emporia State. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

 

Senior Bryson Smith hit four straight free throws over the final 32.8 seconds to close out the win.

 

"I feel like in those moments I excel in those moments,'' Smith said. "I look for those moments because being a leader on the team I just want to pull through and make those big plays at the end for my team and come out victorius.''

 

Washburn finished the night shooting 49.1 percent from the field (26 of 53) and was 70 percent from the field on two-point attempts (19 of 27).

 

The Ichabods hit seven of 26 3-pointers and went 16 of 25 at the free throw line.

 

Washburn scored 36 points in the paint and added 12 fastbreak points.

 

Emporia State shot 38 percent overall and 29 percent from beyond the arc. 

 

Individually, sophomore Dillon Claussen led Washburn with 17 points on 7 of 11 shooting and pulled down seven rebounds.

 

Claussen scored 15 points in the second half while going 6 of 7 from the field.

 

"It was definitely a lot tougher game than last time,'' Claussen said. "They were very physical with me in the first half and their physicality caused some turnovers and bad plays, but we came back the second half and played through it.

 

"We had to get in the paint and be strong on our finishes. They hit some tough shots, which is going to happen sometimes. We just have to stay with it for 40 minutes.''

 

Smith added 12 points, four assists and four rebounds and went 5 of 7 at the free throw line.

 

Sophomore Tyson Ruud came off the bench to register nine points, nine rebounds and two assists, while senior Sam Ungashick had nine points and seven boards.

 

Sophomore Marcus Glock and junior Jeremiah Jones both added eight points, with Glock knocking down a pair of 3-pointers.

 

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Washburn women snap two-game skid at Emporia State, 63-52

Details

Created: 15 January 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

EMPORIA -- When Washburn University women's basketball junior starter Madelyn Amekporfor was sidelined with an ankle injury five minutes into Thursday's MIAA road game against Emporia State, Ichabod senior Aniah Wayne knew it was up to her to help take up the slack.

 

Senior Aniah Wayne came off the bench to score a game-high 17 points in Thursday's 63-52 Washburn road win over Emporia State. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

 

Wayne filled that role in a big way, coming off the bench to score a game-high 17 points in 26 minutes, 21 seconds as  Washburn snapped a two-game losing skid with a 63-52 win over the Hornets in White Auditorium.

 

"Going in I knew I just had to do it for the team and with Maddie out it was time to step up and help the team out,'' Wayne said. "I just knew I was doing it for Maddie and doing it for the rest of the team because she was out.''

 

Wayne hit 6 of 9 shots from the floor, including 3 of 5 3-pointers, to lead the way as Washburn improved to 11-5 overall and 4-3 in the MIAA in its third game of a four-game road stretch.

 

"I thought we did a nice job of bouncing back,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said. "And after last week (losses at Missouri Western and a double overtime loss at Northwest Missouri), we were disappointed and we wanted to keep this week's focus about us.

 

"It's easy to get emotional about some of these rivalry games, or your head's down so you want to do a ton to get back, but I thought we were really solid.''

 

A pair of baskets early on by Amekporfor put Washburn in front early, but the Lady Hornets (8-8, 2-5) rallied to go in front 10-9 with 5:13 remaining in the opening quarter.

 

That would be the last points of the quarter for Emporia State as it was held to 33.3 percent shooting in the quarter while the Ichabods built a 14-10 lead.  

The first points for either team in the second quarter came from WU sophomore Brooke Gomez with 6:44 to play in the half.

Wayne knocked down a 3-pointer shortly after that, pushing the Ichabod advantage to nine. Washburn shot over 50 percent in the quarter to take a 28-21 advantage into the halftime break.  

Out of the half Wayne hit a layup at the 7:39 mark to give Washburn a double-figure lead for the first time in the game. The Lady Hornets reduced their deficit to eight before the Ichabods answered with a 8-0 run, started by a basket from senior Yibari Nwidadah.

The lead remained at 16 with a last-second layup from junior Britany Kogbara to end the third quarter.  

Neither team scored for the first 3:36 of the fourth until Nwidadah hit another layup that began a 7-0 run to start the quarter and push the Washburn lead to more than 20.

The Lady Hornets never got within single-digits the rest of the way as Washburn completed the regular-season series sweep.  

Washburn shooting 42.6 percent overall while going 3 of 10 from 3-point range. On the other end Emporia State was held to 32.3 percent shooting and just 3 of 6 at the free throw line while WU went 8 of 16 at the stripe.

"We know we've got to hang our hat on (defense),'' Westling said. "We know we can guard. We had a couple of lapses, but for the most part we've got to continue to be one of the top defensive teams in the league.''

The rebounding battle was won 45-34 by the Ichabods, leading to a 44-22 advantage in paint scoring.

Led by Wayne, Washburn's bench provided 36 points to 25 for the Lady Hornet reserves.

Washburn senior Yibari Nwidadah scored 13 points and grabbed seven rebounds in Thursday's 63-52 road win over Emporia State. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]   

Nwidadah backed Wayne with 13 points on 6 of 10 shooting with seven rebounds. Senior Gabi Giovannetti had a team-high 10 boards along with three steals and three assists. 

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