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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Hayden girls basketball coach Carvel Reynoldson has seen his team play a lot better than the Wildcats did Friday in their 2025 debut.
But thanks to a huge first half from senior Norma Greco and double-figure performances from all four players who cracked the scoring column, the third-ranked (Class 4A) Wildcats played plenty well enough to take a 60-47 non-league win over Shawnee Heights at Hayden.
Senior Norma Greco led Hayden with a game-high 17 points in Friday's 60-47 home win over Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"We practiced really well over break and moved the ball really well and were strong with it,'' Reynoldson said. "So I don't know if the emotion of being in front of our home crowd for the first real tough game got the best of us or what, but it was definitely sloppy.''
Hayden, which improved to 6-0, trailed a couple of times early but the Wildcats took an 11-10 lead at the 2:54 mark of the opening quarter on a hoop from senior Brylee Meier and never trailed again.
The Wildcats led 19-14 at the end of the quarter and led by as many as 13 points in the second stanza before taking a 38-27 advantage to the locker room at the half.
Greco was the catalyst for the Wildcats, scoring 15 points in the half with four 3-pointers on the way to a game-high 17-point game.
"Norma had been struggling scoring,'' Reynoldson said. "She had been doing a lot of other things really well, but it was good to see her break through.''
After the Wildcats pushed their lead to 47-29 with 3:12 left in the third quarter on a Meier 3-pointer, the 3-2 T-Birds ended the quarter with six straight point to cut their deficit to 47-35.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball starts the new year with another chapter against its most storied rival, with the Ichabods facing Emporia State at 4 p.m. on Saturday in Emporia's White Auditorium.
unior Yibari Nwidadah averages team-highs of 17.6 points and 7.5 rebounds for Washburn, which opens 2025 Saturday at Emporia State. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn is 6-7 on the year overall and 0-3 in the MIAA after falling 85-72 on the road to Central Missouri on Dec. 21 in its final game of 2024 while Emporia State moved to 7-5 on the year and 2-1 in the MIAA after defeating Central Missouri 70-66 on Thursday at home.
Saturday's meeting with Emporia State will be the 114th all-time meeting between the two teams.
Junior Yibari Nwidadah leads Washburn with a 17.6 scoring average while shooting a team-high 71.8 percent from the field and grabbing a team-best 7.5 rebounds. Nwidadah has started all 11 games she has played and has shot over 50.0 percent in every game this season while recording two double-doubles. The Olathe North product has the best field goal percentage in the nation.
With 178 career offensive rebounds Nwidadah is ninth in program history and is eight boards away from moving up to No. 8. In overall rebounds she ranks 24th in Washburn history with 473.
Junior Payton Sterk is scoring 15.6 points a game while starting all 13 contests and playing a team-high 29.7 minutes per game. Sterk is shooting 44.0 percent from the floor and a team-high 39.2 percent from deep while dishing out 2.6 assists a game. The Colorado Springs native has drilled a team-high 29 3-pointers.
Former Bishop Miege star Gabi Giovannetti is averaging 11.3 points for the Ichabods, with the junior starting all 13 games and playing 26.3 minutes a game. She is second on the team with 20 made triples and has made a 3-pointer in all but two games.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No. 2-ranked Washburn University men's basketball will make its 2025 debut at 1:40 p.m. Saturday in Emporia, facing rival Emporia State in White Auditorium.
Senior Andrew Orr has now scored 1,051 career points entering Saturday's MIAA road game against Emporia State. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods are 12-0 overall and 3-0 in the MIAA after picking up a 70-52 win over Central Missouri on Dec. 21 in their last action. The Hornets are 4-8, 1-2 after falling 72-69 to Central Missouri at home on Thursday.
Saturday's contest is the MIAA Game of the Week on 38 TheSpot in Kansas City.
The Ichabods and Hornets will play again on Jan. 15 in Topeka, 11 days after Saturday's meeting.
Washburn is off to its best start to begin a season at since starting the 2003-04 season 16-0 en route to the MIAA regular-season championship. The Ichabods are one of five undefeated teams remaining in the NCAA Division II ranks, joining Minot State (15-0), Pace (13-0), Nova Southeastern (12-0) and Daemen (11-0).
Washburn senior Andrew Orr became the 28th member of the Ichabod 1,000 point club with a free throw at Fort Hays State on Dec. 7 and now has 1,051 career points, moving into 22nd all time. Next on the scoring chart is Ron Ford, who scored 1,055 points from 1962-66, and then Topeka West product Alex North who scored 1,082 points from 2010-15.
Senior Jacob Hanna is closing in on 1,000 points in his collegiate career between Washburn and Illinois-Springfield, scoring 912 career points.
Ichabod senior Michael Keegan has 872 career points in 108 career games as an Ichabod and has moved into sixth all-time at Washburn in career blocks with 88. Keegan has also moved into the top 10 on the all-time steal chart with 122 and it leading the MIAA with 29 steals.
WU sophomore Brayden Shorter is fifth in the nation in 3-pointers per game at 3.83 and he's ranked seventh in total 3-pointers made at 46.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It's been an extremely busy time for Washburn University head football coach Zach Watkins as he began putting his stamp on the Ichabod program since being named the 38th head coach in WU history on Nov. 26.
Zach Watkins, who was named Washburn's head football coach in late November, announced his full-time coaching staff on Thursday. [File photo/TSN]
[Graphic courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Watkins, a Washburn Hall of Famer and former Ichabod defensive coordinator, took a major step in that process on Thursday, announcing his seven member full-time coaching staff as preparations gear up for the 2025 season.
Former Ichabod star Dane Simoneau is the lone full-time holdover from Craig Schurig's 2024 staff and will serve as WU's offensive coordinator while two other members of Watkins' first coaching staff have ties to the school.
"Making some staff changes, that's never easy, but you have to put your vision on the program,'' Watkins told TopSports.news Thursday. "During that time, with the staff changes there were a lot of responsibilities put on just a few people, but Dane Simoneau and our young coaches (primarily graduate assistants) did a great job of handling all the things that needed to be done as we hired fulltime staff.
"It's been a lot with recruiting, to our current players and making sure their grades and finals are good. It's been very hectic but it's been very rewarding to work through all that stuff. Now, to get the full staff here, we have recruiting visits coming up and all the processes that have to happen with that. The entire recruiting process is accellorating from from what it used to be, so between making the staff changes and the new staff coming in, it's put us a little bit behind, but we're going to rebound just fine.''
Watkins said he's very happy with the staff he's been able to assemble.
In addition to Simoneau, Kaleb Koch, who will serve as WU's defensive coordinator, and Jarvis Harrod, who will coach defensive backs and serve as special teams coordinator, both played for the Ichabods and were graduate assistants for WU.
Watkins' staff also includes former Kansas State star and Oklahoma State assistant Travis Britz while all of the new additions have extensive coaching experience at the high school and/or collegiate level.
"I think the most important thing in a program is the people and that's the players, the coaches, the administration,'' Watkins said. "People make every situation good or bad and wanting to be a head coach and preparing to be a head coach that's the No. 1 thing that you have to be aware of is what people are available to your staff and who can you go after.
"So I had a bunch of ideas of guys I wanted to talk to. I had a lot of conversations for limited spots and I think we've got a very good staff put together.''
Watkins said getting his staff in place was a major milestone but he also knows that he and his coaches will be working non-stop all the way until the opening of the 2025 season in the fall.
"It was the hiring process, right into our current players' final grades, right into recruiting, right into the new semester starting, into workouts and spring ball,'' Watkins said. "It never ends and it's really good to be full go all the time because there's no other way to work than to be all in and do it full speed.''
A look at Watkins' full-time coaching staff:
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The 2025 portion of the Shawnee County high school basketball season begins with a pair of doubleheaders on Friday, Jan. 3.
Highlighting Friday's slate is a boys clash between USD 501 rivals Highland Park and Topeka High as well as an all-city twinbill between Hayden and Shawnee Heights. Topeka High's girls will also be in action Friday, hosting Wichita Life Prep Academy.
Here's a glance at all four of Friday's games involving county teams:
FRIDAY GIRLS
Senior Millie Ramsey leads 5-0 Hayden with a 13.8 scoring average. [File photo/TSN]
Sophomore KK Emmot is averaging a team-high 20.5 points for Shawnee Heights. [File photo/TSN]
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS (3-1) at HAYDEN (5-0)
Shawnee Heights completed its pre-holiday slate with a 57-40 United Kansas Conference win at Topeka West while Hayden, third-ranked in Class 4A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association, remained unbeaten with a 56-37 win over defending 6A champion Shawnee Mission South to close out 2024. Shawnee Heights sophomore KK Emmot ranks No. 4 in the city of Topeka with a 20.5 scoring average and has hit 13 3-pointers while T-Bird senior Kaydence Torrez is averaging 12.5 points and a team-high 8.8 rebounds. Senior Millie Ramsey is averaging a team-high 13.8 points and 9.3 rebounds for Hayden and reached the 1,000-point milestone for her career against SM South. Senior Brylee Meier is averaging 13 points and 5.8 rebounds for the Wildcats with 11 3-pointers while freshman Hailey Schmidtlein is averaging 12.8 points, 4.3 rebounds and 4.5 steals. Game time: 4 p.m.
Sophomore Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton leads Topeka High's girls with a 20.8 scoring average and has hit a city-high 14 3-pointers. [File photo/TSN]
WICHITA LIFE PREP ACADEMY (5-7) at TOPEKA HIGH (2-2)
Topeka High has been idle since posting a 58-40 win over Notre Dame de Sion in the third-place game of the De Soto Hardwood Classic and will be facing a Life Prep Academy team that has already played 12 games while facing schools from seven different states. The Fire are coming off a 51-42 loss to Fort Smith, Ark.-Northside. Trojan sophomore Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton is No. 3 in the city in scoring with a 20.8 average and has connected on a city-high 14 3-pointers while junior Keimara Marshall is averaging 11.3 points and is also averaging 4.3 steals and 3.0 assists. Game time: 6 p.m.
