- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Sophomore Brennon Dodge singed the nets for a career-high 33 points and hit seven 3-pointers as Shawnee Heights' boys basketball team rolled to a 74-37 non-league win over Bishop Seabury in Friday's 2021-2022 season-opener at Heights.
Senior Nate Pewe backed Dodge with 15 points as nine players scored for the T-Birds.
Shawnee Heights built an 18-11 lead at the end of the opening quarter, used a 20-7 second quarter to take a 38-18 halftime advantage and rode a 24-13 third quarter to a huge 62-31 lead at the start of the fourth quarter.
SEAMAN GIRLS 69, JUNCTION CITY 12 -- Seaman opened its season with a 69-12 road Centennial League romp at Junction City, with nine players cracking the scoring column.
Anna Becker
Taylin Stallbaumer
Freshman Anna Becker paced the Vikings with a game-high 15 points while sophomore Taylin Stallbaumer, last season's Shawnee County newcomer of the year, added 14 points and sophomore Brooklyn Gormley 11.
Seaman will return to action next Tuesday at home against Topeka West.
TOPEKA HIGH GIRLS 63, MANHATTAN 41 -- Senior Talayah Thomas scored 21 points with three 3-pointers and grabbed six rebounds as Topeka High opened its season with a decisive 63-41 Centennial League win at Manhattan.
Talayah Thomas
Junior Kiki Smith added 17 points and dished out six assists while junior Faith Shields had 13 points for the Trojans, who are ranked No. 8 in Class 6A after finishing second in the state tournament at year ago.
Senior Dayshauna Wiley led Topeka High with seven rebounds.
JUNCTION CITY BOYS 80, SEAMAN 63 -- Junction City used a 31-point fourth quarter to put Seaman away in an 80-63 Centennial League win Friday night at Junction City.
Seaman 14-13 at the end of the first quarter but Junction City used a 24-13 second quarter to take a 37-27 halftime lead.
Seaman outscored the Blue Jays 15-12 in the third quarter to cut Junction City's advantage to 49-42, but the hosts outscored the Vikings 31-21 the rest of the way.
Mateo Hyman scored 20 points and Ty Henry 14 for Seaman, while Gavin Wilhelm added nine points on three 3-pointers and Kaeden Bonner also scored nine points.
Howard Johnson scored a game-high 30 points for the Blue Jays, one of four Junction City players in double figures.
MANHATTAN BOYS 67, TOPEKA HIGH 46 -- Manhattan opened its season with a 67-46 home Centennial League win over Topeka High, putting a damper on Ty Baumgartner's debut as the Trojans head coach.
Topeka High trailed by just a 30-28 margin at the half before Manhattan boosted its advantage to 45-37 at the end of the third quarter and put the Trojans away with a 22-9 fourth quarter.
- Details
By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
An improved Highland Park girls basketball team couldn’t keep up with state-ranked Emporia Friday night, with the Spartans taking a 59-21 Centennial League decision at Hi Park.
Despite Friday's loss Highland Park showed positive steps after dropping n 81-6 decision to the Spartans in their previous meeting last season.
The game was tied 7-7 at one point in the first quarter, but the Spartans used an 8-0 run to extend their lead to15-7.
The Scots would continued to battle througho9ut the opening half, trailing by 11 at the break, 28-17.
“We started off razzled and frazzled,'' Emporia coach Carolyn Dorsey said. "They’re much improved. They have gotten a lot better and progressed. I thought we struggled against Highland (Park) at first. Our shots were really sped up. We knew we needed to fix our tempo.''
Emporia took complete control in the second half, holding Highland Park to just four points in a 31-4 half.
“We were in significant foul trouble in the first half. It was frustrating because we knew they were going to drive, we knew they were going to be fast, and we couldn’t stop fouling them (Highland Park),'' Dorsey said. "In the second half, we were able to get good stops without the foul trouble. Our shots were much better as well.''
Highland Park coach Robert Brown was disappointed in the result, but wasn't discouraged.
“I knew coming in it was going to be a tough one,'' Brown said. "Emporia is ranked number 10 (in Class 5A) for a reason. Our girls are disappointed, but we will come back to practice and get ready for Hayden on Tuesday.''
“We took what we could from the game. We will learn from it and this will make us better.''
Gracie Gilpin paced Emporia with a game-high 19 points, including four 3-pointers.
Highland Park (0-1) will host the Hayden Wildcats (0-0) on Tuesday.
EMPORIA GIRLS 59, HIGHLAND PARK 21
Emporia 15 13 21 10 -- 59
Highland Park 7 10 2 2 -- 21
Emporia (1-0, 1-0) -- Gilpin 7 1-2 19, Snyder 4 2-2, 10, Stewart 3 0-0 8, Kirmer 3 0-0 7, Herfkens 1 2-5 4, T. Baker 1 0-0 3, Wiltz 0 2-2, 2, Garcia, 1 0-0, 2, A. Baker 1, 0-0, 2, Gutierrez 0 2-2 2.
Highland Park (0-1, 0-1) -- Ramsey 3 6-7 12, Sanders 2 1-3 6, Taylor 1 0-0 3.
3 Point Goals -- Emporia 8 (Gilpin, 4, Stewart, 2, Kirmer, T. Baker). Highland Park 2 (Sanders, Taylor). Total fouls -- Highland Park 17, Emporia 16.
WasRelated Stories and Videos
- Details
By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Seaman’s offense was too much for Topeka West’s defense on Tuesday night as the Vikings posted a 69-59 home Centennial League win.
“Our guys showed a lot of heart. They had pride in their defense. We weren’t happy after the loss last Friday. We responded very well. Our defensive effort led to some great opportunities, which benefitted us,” said Seaman coach Craig Cox.
The leading scorer for the Vikings, Mateo Hyman, had an incredible night from inside the arc. Hyman didn’t miss a single bucket from inside the 3-point line going, 10-10. The consistency against the tough Chargers interior defenders had a major impact on the victory.
Seaman guard Kaeden Bonner also lit up the scoreboard his way. Bonner was responsible for every 3-point shot made on Tuesday. Bonner hit six 3-point shots, most of them coming from the corner.
“Bonner got hot in the second half for us. He can do that. He can get rolling when we need him the most,” said Cox.
Bonner and Hyman were responsible for 47 out of the team’s 69 total points on the night.
Seaman controlled the ball very well against a pesty Topeka West pressing defense, turning the ball over a minuscule nine times on the night.
The contest was close for most of Tuesday’s contest. The Chargers would not trail by double digits until the red-hot shooting Vikings took over in the fourth.
West’s Elijah Brooks had another stellar night. Brooks had 22 points and was able to hit five shots from the free throw line.
Topeka West’s Xavier Alexander had 16 points. Alexander shot 71 percent from the field and 83 percentfrom the free throw line.
Although the shooting percentage was solid for the Chargers, Seaman took more shots and prevailed as victors.
Topeka West (1-1) will host Topeka High (0-2) on Friday. The Seaman Vikings (1-1) will travel to Emporia (0-2) and take on the Spartans.
Topeka West Boys 59, Seaman 69
Topeka West (1-1, 1-1) 9 15 13 22 -- 59
Seaman (1-1) 15 16 15 23 -- 69
Seaman (1-1) -- Hyman 10-11, 5-9, 25, Bonner 8-11, 0-1, 22, Henry 5-7, 0-0, 10, Barta 3-4, 0-0, 6, Griess 2-6, 0-0, 4, Wilhelm 0-0, 2-2, 2, Selbach 0-1, 0-0, 0.
Topeka West (1-1) -- Brooks 8-14, 5-11, 22, Alexander 5-7- 5-6, 16, Berg 5-8, 2-4, 12, Austin 3-4, 1-2, 7, Robinson 1-3, 0-2, 2.
3-point goals -- Seaman 6 (Bonner), Topeka West 2 (Alexander, Brooks) Total fouls -- Seaman 18, Topeka West 11. Fouled out -- Seaman, Griess, Henry.
WasRelated Stories and Videos
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
WARRENSBURG, Mo. – The No. 6-nationally ranked Washburn volleyball team knocked off No. 1 Central Missouri in four sets on the Jennies' home court Friday night to advance to the NCAA Central Region title match against No. 15 Concordia-St. Paul Saturday night.
Friday's 14-25, 25-11, 27-25, 25-18 win over Central Missouri marked the second time this season that Washburn has defeated the top-ranked team in the nation, with the Ichabods beating then-ranked No. 1 Nebraska-Kearney back on Sept. 18.
Washburn's volleyball team celebrates a point in Friday's 3-1 win over No. 1-ranked Central Missouri at Warrensburg, Mo. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Central Missouri (29-4) dominated the opening set, but the rest of the night belonged to Washburn, which improved to 28-5 on the season.
Taylor Antonowich got the second set going with a service ace and Washburn put together a 5-1 scoring run with kills from four different Ichabods to take a 7-2 advantage. The Ichabod offense continued to roll and Washburn won seven of the last eight points of the set to even up the match at one set apiece.
UCM held an early 5-2 lead in the third frame when Washburn started to chip away at the deficit and leveled the score at 6-6. The Jennies responded with several scoring runs and eventually pushed their lead out to 22-16.
The momentum changed when Allison Maxwell hammered down a kill that started a run of eight unanswered points for Washburn to make it 24-22 in favor of the Ichabods. Central Missouri knotted up the score at 24 and then a successful UCM challenge tied the score at 25-all, but back-to-back attacking errors by the Jennies gave Washburn a 2-1 advantage in the match.
The teams exchanged points to start the fourth until Jalyn Stevenson recorded a kill to ignite a 10-2 scoring run to put Washburn in front, 16-9.
The all-around team effort continued both offensively and defensively as the Ichabods remained in control of the set. Kelsey Gordon put the match away with a kill.
Washburn hit .142 in the match and limited Central Missouri to an .096 hitting percentage. The Ichabods led in kills, 53-43, and held a slight edge in digs, 82-80.
Three Ichabods finished in double-figure kills, led by Berg's 19. She also had nine digs and five blocks. Stevenson and Gordon both contributed 10 kills apiece.
Allison Sadler notched her 11th double-double of the year with 47 assists and 19 digs. Libero Faith Rottinghaus led all players with 27 digs while Antonowich landed three of Washburn's five service aces and also scooped up 10 digs.
Audrey Fisher led the Jennies with 12 kills and was a part of seven blocks.
Concordia-St. Paul knocked off Nebraska-Kearney in the first semifinal, 3-2, to earn a spot in Saturday's 7 p.m. championship match against the Ichabods.
MATCH RESULT
Washburn def. Central Missouri, 14-25, 25-11, 27-25, 25-18.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Obviously there's still a lot of work to be done if Topeka West's boys basketball team wants to make another run at a Class 5A state title.
But veteran coach Rick Bloomquist had very few complaints about the way his Chargers, second in 5A last season, started the year Friday night, with West topping Washburn Rural 69-57 in a battle between the Centennial League stalwarts at West.
"It was a great start,'' Bloomquist said. "Those Washburn Rural kids are competitive, they're winners and they're well-coached, so we knew it was going to be a test for us without a doubt. I was a little concerned about a hangover from last year, but I don't think we had too much of a hangover. I thought we played pretty well.
"We have a lot of things to work on, especially free throws and silly fouls but you don't want to be perfect now, you want to be perfect later.''
Topeka West senior Elijah Brooks slams down a dunk on the way to a 32-point performance in West's 69-57 season-opening win over Washburn Rural. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior star Elijah Brooks, a returning All-Shawnee County first-teamer, was the ringleader for the Chargers, scoring 12 points with four dunks in the first 10 minutes on the way to a monster 32-point night as West returned to the court for the first time since falling to Maize in the 5A state championship game in March.
Brooks said it was great to get back out on the court.
"I don't know if it was excitement or nerves, but I think we were all ready for this game,'' Brooks said.
Junior Sincere Austin joined Brooks in double figures with 13 points while senior Zander Putthoff had nine points on three 3-pointers as Topeka West only trailed once in the game, at 2-0.
Brooks' early dunkfest helped Topeka West build an early 24-8 lead and the Chargers went on to take a 31-18 lead at the half.
Washburn Rural battled back in the second half to get within seven points late in the third quarter and the Junior Blues got as close as seven again late in the game, but were unable to get any closer as West shot 58.5 percent from the field and hit enough free throws (14 of 29) to hold Rural at bay.
Washburn Rural senior Quincey Kidd, reacting to a play Friday night, led the Junior Blues with 18 points in a 69-57 loss at Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Rural, which shot 50 percent from the field and connected on 17 of 19 free throw attempts, got 18 points from senior Quincey Kidd, 13 from junior Jack Bachelor and 12 points from sophomore Griffin Durst.
"I thought we showed some fight in the second quarter and then we cut it to seven in the third and seven in the fourth so we had two opportunities where we kind of got it close, but Elijah was just a little bit too much,'' Washburn Rural coach Kevin Muff said.
Rural used several players Friday that were seeing their first varsity action.
"We're brand new, but they'll figure it out,'' Muff said. "It may take just a little bit of time.''
