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Details: Created: 05 December 2025

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn University women's basketball rode a fourth-quarter comeback to knock off Nebraska Kearney 71-65 Thursday night in Lee Arena in the Ichabods' MIAA opener.

Senior Yibari Nwidadah (right) celebrates a big basket late in the game in Washburn's come-from-behind 71-65 MIAA win over Nebraska-Kearney. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN] Senior Yibari Nwidadah (32) celebrates a big basket late in the game in Washburn's come-from-behind 71-65 MIAA win over Nebraska-Kearney. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

While happy overall with the Ichabods' start to the season, Washburn coach Lora Westling has lamented the Ichabods' penchant for making things tougher than they need to be at times.

That bugaboo showed up again Thursday night, with the Ichabods trailing much of the game, but Washburn played its best when it needed it the most, taking control down the stretch.

"We've just got to settle in earlier and that's been a struggle,'' Westling said. "They'll respond and we'll put up a fight, we're not going to get kicked down, but we'd like to be a little more aggressive to start the fight.

"But I was really proud of our team down the stretch and I thought we got some big plays and especially some big stops. Our seniors didn't quit, they showed great resilience, and that's why you love to have seniors on your team.''

"We do definitely make it harder than we need to,'' WU senior Payton Sterk said. "but I think we do make it count when it's important and I think we were really good at dialing in our energy and really focusing in that second half and that's what won the game.''

The Ichabods (5-2 overall, 1-0 MIAA) jumped out to an early 7-0 lead while holding the Lopers (4-5, 0-1) scoreless until the 6:22 mark.

A hoop from Britany Kogbara made it 11-4 Washburn with 3:37 left in the opening quarter, but Nebraska Kearney finished the quarter on an 11-3 run, including the final seven points to lead 15-14.

Early in the second quarter Madelyn Amekporfor scored to put Washburn back in front, but the Lopers scored the next eight points as they held the Ichabods to 27.8-percent shooting from the floor in the quarter and Kearney held a 33-26 lead at the break.

The deficit for Washburn reached nine points midway through the third quarter, but a bucket by senior Yibari Nwidadah started a 7-0 run to pull the Ichabods within two.

Nebraska-Kearney led 49-47 going into the fourth stanza, but Washburn finally broke through to tie the game at 53 on a Kogbara basket.

Payton Sterk drove for a layup to put the Ichabods in front 58-56 with 5:48 to go.

The Lopers rallied to go back up by four, but Washburn answered with six in a row, the final four from senior Gabi Giovannetti.

An old fashioned three-point play by Nwidadah in the final minute put the Ichabods in front for good and the Ichabods held on to win, 71-65.

Details: Created: 04 December 2025

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

No. 6 seed Washburn started hot and stayed hot Thursday morning to pull off a 3-0 sweep over No. 3 seed Wayne State College in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Central Regional in Kearney, Neb.

No. 6 seed Washburn advanced to the second round of the NCAA volleyball tournament with a 3-0 sweep over No. 3 seed Wayne State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]

The Ichabods will face No. 2 seed Concordia-St. Paul in the regional semifinals at 4 p.m. on Friday.

Friday marked the second straight season that Washburn defeated the region's No. 3 seed as the No. 6 seed in the tournament.

Washburn (27-4) won the opening set, 25-16. The Ichabods kept rolling in a 25-14 second-set win before closing out the match with a come-from-behind 25-22 win over the Wildcats (27-5).

From point one the Ichabods led, quickly building a 5-1 lead after Keilah Rivers slashed a kill. Wayne State battled to tie the set at 11, but Washburn responded by winning six of the next eight points to go in front 17-13 after a Brynne Topolski kill. Another kill by Topolski started what would become an 8-1 run to end the first set.

The momentum carried over into the second set with Washburn in front 8-1 after an ace by Rivers. A 5-0 run shortly after put the lead into double-figures at 13-3. Autumn Gibbs served an ace that made it 18-7 as the Ichabods continued to roll. Brooklyn Morrisey finished off the set at 25-14 with a kill on a dish by Sydney Conner.

The Wildcats found some life early in the third set, jumping out to a 7-3 lead that grew to 13-6 after four straight points. Kills by Emery Keebaugh and Austin Broadie started a 5-0 rally for the Ichabods but the Ichabods were met by four points in a row from Wayne State.

Washburn trailed by as many as six more than midway through the set but would battle all the way back and tie things up at 20 after Keebaugh slashed another kill. From that point it was all Washburn as they finished the match on a 5-2 run with back-to-back kills by Broadie to move on.

Rick Peterson, Top Sports News Writer — Rick Peterson

Details: Created: 04 December 2024

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn Rural junior swimming standout Daniel Allen had a valid reason for sitting out the 2024-2025 high school season.

After a season away from high school swimming, Washburn Rural junior Daniel Allen was a part of three wins in Wednesday's Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

But Allen is happy to be back with his Rural teammates this winter, and the Junior Blues are certainly happy to have him.

"I decided to focus on the club career last year to try to get to sectionals and futures, which I made this last summer and just see how far I could get my sophomore year,'' Allen said. "And then this year I'm just doing it (high school) for the guys. This is a lot more fun than club swim and there's a lot more camaraderie on the team since we're all about the same age, and I think that's a good aspect of it.

"We're able to have more fun at the meets. It's not as high intensity (as club), it's more relaxed and there's not as much expectation from you until you get closer to state and league, so I think it's just a good experience overall. I would say all club swimmers should try high school just to feel the different atmosphere.''

Allen made his season debut in Wednesday's Topeka West Invitational at the Capitol Federal Natatorium with a pair of individual victories while also helping Rural post a relay victory and a runnerup finish.

Allen won the 200-yard freestyle by more than nine seconds in 1:50.28 and he took a five-second win in the 100 butterfly in 52.82.

Allen also teamed with Castle Wallace, Hunter Kennedy and Joseph Jensen to win the 200 freestyle relay in 136.77 and teamed with Quenten Jessop, Braeden Montgomery and Thomas Appuhn to finish second in the 400 free relay in 3:34.33.

Washburn Rural's Thomas Appuhn was a double individual winner in Wednesday's season-opening Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Washburn Rural's Castle Wallace (top) and Seaman's Kinser Barbosa finished one-three in the 100-yard breaststroke in Wednesday's Topeka West Invitational. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Appuhn and Wallace also had three wins on the day, with Appuhn winning the 200 individual medley (2:07.93) and the 100 backstroke (57.15) and teaming with Wallace, Andres Morao-Jaspe and Quenten Jessop to win the 200 medley relay (1:38.95) while Wallace won the 100 breaststroke (1:07.86) and swam on Rural's winning 200 medley and 200 free relays.

Washburn Rural coach Bob Burdick was thrilled with the Junior Blues' opening day performance as Rural won a meet-best seven events and posted five runnerup finishes and a third on the way to a second-place team finish behind Olathe Northwest (514-501).

"We had a lot of surprises with a lot of younger guys who had really great times and we've got to keep building to the future and not just looking at the present,'' Burdick said. "We had nine young guys who had never swam in a meet and suprised us beyond expectations and our top swimmers did great, even dropped time from where they ended last year, so that is fantastic.

"We had a good solid meet and now we can just keep working and building the team.''

Seaman finished fifth with 157 points, led by a third-place finish in the 100-yard breaststroke (1:09.03) by Kinser Barbosa.

Topeka High's Will Stewart posted third-place finishes in the 50 freestyle (23.52) and the 100 free (53.35).

TOPEKA WEST INVITATIONAL

Details: Created: 04 December 2025

By JUSTIN BURKHARDT

TopSports.news

It was the first game of the season for both teams Wednesday night as the Highland Park Lady Scots would host the Topeka West Lady Chargers in a city rivalry.

Senior Addaline Hall scored 22 points with four 3-pointers in Wednesday's 68-45 win over Highland Park. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Last season the Chargers and Scott each beat each other once.

But this year there are changes with both teams as the leading scorers for both the Chargers and Scot transferred to Shawnee Heights, leaving both teams looking for new faces to lead them this season.

Wednesday's game would get under way with it needing two jump balls as both teams where full of excitement to get underway.

The Chargers would get the first basket of the season and take an early 4-0 lead but the Scots would bounce back and hit a layup and then a 3-pointer and take a 5-4 lead before West answered with a 7-0 run to go up 11-5 to end the first quarter with a 11-8 lead.

The Scots would answer the call to start the second quarter and go up 12-11, but that would be all it wrote for the Lady Scots as they would go cold and be held scoreless for the final 2 minutes before halftime as the Chargers would take 30-24 halftime lead.

The Chargers would come out of the locker room at halftime with urgency as they would play defense and force the Lady Scots to commit turnovers and take bad shots.

West would hold the Lady Scots scoreless until the 3-minute mark in the third, outscoring them 18-5 in the third quarter to take a 48-29 lead into the fourth.

“We talked about it at halftime, turning the defensive pressure back up, and the girls came out ready,'' West coach Angie Ketterman said. "They all stuck together as a team. They didn’t care when we were subbing in and out. It was a family team atmosphere and it looked good.”

The Lady Scots would try to chase the Chargers down in the fourth but could never get close as the Chargers would get the win, 68-45.

“They all came together as a team,'' Ketterman said. "We had freshman playing, we had sophomores, juniors and seniors all playing. And they all contributed to everything we did tonight. That’s what was so good about tonight.”

The Chargers got a huge night from 5-foot-10 senior Addaline Hall as she would lead all scorers on the night with 22 points with four 3-pointers.

“She’s tough, she’s not tall but she is tough, she can hang with the big girls on the inside.” Ketterman said.

“The adrenaline was really going for our first game, so every possession after we got going was helpful,'' Hall said. "The freshmen really came in and helped a lot as well.”

“It was the Chipotle before the game.”

The Chargers returned three seniors with plenty of varsity experience in Hall, Teairra Gonzalez and Breonnah Keeling. Keeling was already scheduled for surgery on her left knee and would fall hard on her right knee and would come out of the game and is most likely done for the season.

Teairra Gonzales scored 10 points in Wednesday's 68-45 Topeka West win over Highland Park. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Teairra Gonzalez would put 10 points on the board for the Chargers.

Details: Created: 03 December 2025

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

The ultimate goal for Washburn University basketball this season is to make another run at an NCAA Division II championship after reaching the national semifinals a year ago.

But the immediate goal for Brett Ballard's Ichabods is to successfully defend their MIAA regular-season title, a quest that begins at 7:30 p.m. Thursday in Lee Arena against Nebraska-Kearney.

Brett Ballard's 8-0 Washburn Ichabods will open MIAA play Thursday at home against Nebraska-Kearney. [File photo/TSN]

"I told our guys I don't know that the people outside of our circle appreciate it as much as we do, but winning the conference is a big, big deal for us,'' Ballard said. "It was a huge deal last year and we're going to fight like heck to do it again this year.

"If you can win this conference, that's a memory these guys will have forever, so a new season kind of starts (Thursday) and we need to try to take care of business at home.''

Washburn is 8-0 after topping the 100-point mark for the second game in a row in a 115-30 win over Ottawa last Saturday in Lee Arena, setting several school records in the process.

The Lopers enter the game with a 4-3 overall mark and have won their last three games in a row, including a 62-59 win over Wayne State (Neb.) last time out last Saturday in Kearney.

The Ichabods are 22-13 all-time in MIAA openers winning, last season's conference opener over the Lopers 87-52 in Kearney.

The Ichabods lead the nation in scoring margin in the NCAA D-II ranks at plus-35.4 points per game and third in field goal percentage at 55.1 percent.

Washburn is also ninth in assists per game (21.3), 10th in assist/turnover ration (1.84), seventh in effective field goal percentage (.619) and sixth in rebound margin (plus-15.3).

Washburn is also seventh in scoring defense (59.3 points per game), sixth in fastbreak points (23.4), eighth in defensive field goal percentage (35.7) and seventh in turnover margin (plus-7.6).

The Ichabods have not been out-rebounded in a game this season.

Washburn went over the 100-point mark for the 84th time in program history in its 115-30 win over Ottawa last time out.

Jack Bachelor is 11th in the nation in 3-pointers made with 22 and Dillon Claussen is eighth in the nation in field goal percentage at 71.4, leading the MIAA.

Bachelor and Claussen have scored in double figures in all eight games this season.

Jeremiah Jones is eighth in the nation in total steals with 21 and is ranked 16th in steals per game at 3.00 per contest.

The Ichabods have five Nebraska natives on their roster this season in Brady Christiansen (Lincoln), Claussen (Omaha), Marcus Glock (Wahoo), Kade Cook (Gretna) and Tayvin Zephier-Murphy (Omaha).

Tyson Ruud has scored a career-high 13 points in three of the last four games.

Page 9 of 1018

Ichabod women rally past Nebraska-Kearney 71-65 in MIAA opener

No. 6 seed WU rolls to 3-0 sweep over No. 3 Wayne State in NCAA tourney opener

Allen marks return to high school swimming with three golds for runnerup for Rural

Topeka West girls open season with 68-45 romp past city rival Highland Park

No. 2-ranked Washburn men's basketball to put 8-0 record on the line in MIAA opener