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Rick Bloomquist's talented Topeka West boys basketball team is back at full strength and that could spell bad news for the Chargers' Centennial League opponents.
Topeka West has been without junior standout Elijah Brooks for all or part of six games due to a foot injury.while another junior starter, Zander Putthoff, missed part of a game with an ankle injury.
But both players are healthy again and both played key roles Friday night as Topeka West rolled to a 71-53 league win at Seaman, with Brooks scoring 21 points while Putthoff adding 14 points and hit 4 3-pointers.
“This is the first time in a long time we’ve been healthy 100 percent,” Bloomquist said. “That was as good of an amoeba defense as we’ve played in a long time here at West. Offensively, we shared the ball a lot, had great spacing and penetrated when we should have. ... It was all pretty good.”
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Washburn Rural's Jack Hutchinson scores 2 of his 23 point against Emporia. (Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN)
By RICK PETERSON
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Washburn Rural’s boys basketball team enjoyed one of its best offensive performances of the season in Friday night’s home Centennial League matchup with Emporia, shooting 57.5 percent from the field as senior standouts Jack Hutchinson and Joe Berry combined for 38 points.
But while Rural coach Kevin Muff was pleased with the Junior Blues’ 63-point output, he wasn’t necessarily happy with fact that his team allowed 55 in a 63-55 league win.
“We’ll take 63, but we’ve got to be better defensively,’’ said Muff, whose team improved to 7-3 overall and 6-1 in the league. “We can’t let teams get the ball where they want to get it and move it how they want to move it.
“I told the team tonight, we’re 10 games in. We’re over halfway done with our season, so it’s time.“
Washburn Rural, which lost two of three games in last week’s Basehor-Linwood tournament, came out hot Friday night, opening up a 19-11 first-quarter advantage after leading by 10 late in the quarter.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural’s defense still isn’t as good as veteran Junior Blues girls basketball coach Kevin Bordewick wants it to be.
But the Rural coach had a lot to like on the offensive end Friday as the Junior Blues improved to 10-1 with a 63-24 romp past city rival Shawnee Heights at Rural.
The Junior Blues, ranked No. 4 in Class 6A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association, shot 51 percent from the field and had seven players combine for 11 3-pointers on the night.
“When you shoot well from the outside it covers up a lot of things, but we’ll take that because there’s been a lot of times where we don’t shoot real well and we struggle a little bit,’’ Bordewick said. “That sure does open things up.’’Sophomore MaRyah Lutz led Washburn Rural with a game-high 16 points and 4 3-pointers while sophomore Alysa Ladson came off the bench to hit a pair of 3s in the fourth quarter and five other players hit a trey apiece, including sophomore Brooklyn DeLeye, who finished with 11 points.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
High scores were the norm in Thursday's Emporia's Quadrangular at Flint Hills Lanes, with four bowlers rolling 700-plus series and competitors combining for 15 games over 240.
Seaman dominated the day, with Viking junior Makenzie Millard and senior Dylan Birkenbaugh sweeping the individual titles and leading their teams to team championships.
Dylan Birkenbaugh
Millard rolled a 708 three-game series, including games of 258 and 246, to lead Seaman's girls to a 2,524-1,827 margin over host Emporia as the Viking swept the top four individual spots.
Makenzie Millard
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Shawnee Heights' girls basketball team was able to stay within striking distance of top-ranked and undefeated Topeka High through the first half Thursday night before the Trojans pulled away for a 71-28 win at Shawnee Heights with a dominating second half.
Shawnee Heights was within 3 points early in the second quarter and was down by a 30-20 margin at the half before the Trojans outscored the T-Birds 41-8 in the second half to improve to 9-0 on the season.
Junior NiJaree Canady scored 16 of her game-high 28 points in the first half while senior Lilly Smith added 16 points and 4 3-pointers and sophomore Kiki Smith 11 points and 3 3s.
Senior Tatum Brown and freshman Breezy Canady scored 7 points apiece for Shawnee Heights (3-5) while senior Taylor Hawkins added 6 points on a pair of 3-pointers.
