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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Seaman's girls basketball team opened defense of its Class 5A state championship Friday night, surviving a tough test from Piper to take a 69-67 United Kansas Conference road win.
"What a great atmosphere for the first game of the season,'' Seaman coach Matt Tinsley said. "Im proud of our girls. We were tough when we needed to be and we had some kids step up and be brave.''
Junior Maddie Gragg scored 21 points to lead Seaman in Friday's 69-67 UKC win over Piper. [File photo/TSN]
Junior Maddie Gragg led four double-figure scorers for the Vikings with 21 points while junior Anna Becker added 20 points, senior Jadyn Stallbaumer 14 points and senior Ava Esser 13.
Senior Anna Becker moved into the all-time career assist lead for Seaman in Friday's 69-67 win over Piper. [File photo/TSN]
Esser grabbed 10 rebounds to give her a double-double while senior Kinley Wilhelm also had 10 rebounds and Becker had eight assists and moved into the top spot on the Seaman all-time list.
The game was tight throughout, with Seaman leading 23-19 at the end of the first quarter before the Pirates used a 13-6 second quarter to take a 32-29 halftime advantage.
Seaman still trailed by a point (53-52) at the start of the fourth quarter before the Vikings outscored the Pirates 17-14 over the final eight minutes to pull out the two-point victory, hitting 8 of 8 free throws late in the game.
"Before the game we talked about our journey and taking the first step and this is a good win,'' Tinsley said.
The Vikings will be at home Tuesday to face Lansing.
Piper boys take 69-51 win over Vikings
Piper, the Class 5A boys state runnerup last season, opened its 2024-2025 campaign with a 69-51 home United Kansas Conference victory over Seaman.
Piper led 14-9 after one quarter and took control with a 19-8 second quarter, taking a 33-17 advantage to the locker room at halftime.
The Pirates went on to open up a 51-30 advantage at the start of the fourth quarter before Seaman outscored Piper 21-18 the rest of the way.
Seaman got a team-high 12 points from junior KaeVon Bonner while newcomer Cameron Brian and Axton Brewer added nine points apiece.
Seaman will be at home Tuesday to host UKC rival Lansing.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Silver Lake boys basketball team stormed back from a third-period deficit to get by visitor Perry Lecompton Friday night, 59-52.
When Perry Lecompton’s Marius Carlsen and Eli Dean buried back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Kaws a 48-42 lead with a minute remaining in the third quarter, all the momentum shifted away from the Eagles.
Senior Jared Johnson (33) sparked a second-half Silver Lake rally in Friday's 59-52 win over Perry-Lecompton. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But senior Jared Johnson grabbed the momentum right back by canning a three of his own. Johnson sparked a 12-0 run that swung the game. The Eagles locked down on defense, holding Perry Lecompton to just four points over the final nine minutes of the game.
“I wasn’t really shooting the ball that well and I just felt like I wasn’t getting my shot,” Johnson said. “But one of my teammates said, ‘Just let the thing fly.’ And I thought, 'I can’t let my team down. They need me to shoot.’ So, I did, and it turned from there.”
Perry Lecompton had to adjust with their leading scorer, Ronnie Baker, relegated to the bench with foul trouble. After missing much of the first half, the junior reeled off eight points in the first 2:30 of the third period. But two more fouls ended his evening.
Carlsen, a senior exchange student from Norway, introduced himself with 22 points for the Kaws, including four 3-pointers.
“That’s a good team over there,” Silver Lake coach Shannon Kruger said. “We had a lot of respect for them coming in, and they were as advertised. They made a few plays and hit a couple of shots.”
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
There were plenty of questions surrounding this year’s version of the Silver Lake girls basketball team. At least some of those questions were answered Friday night when the defending Class 3A state champs steamrolled Perry Lecompton, 78-23.
Junior guard Kailyn Hanni scored 12 points as Silver Lake opened its season with a 78-23 romp past Perry-Lecompton. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Silver Lake lost five seniors – four of them starters – from the team that stormed to a title last March. A lot of experience, and a lot of offensive production, must be replaced. The early results were positive.
“I wanted us to play free, I wanted us to play aggressive, and I wanted us to play confident. We did that,” said Silver Lake coach Kyle Porter. “So now the goal is to play a little more under control. To understand time and score and how the officials are calling the game, and just grow from the experience. I always think that if you start aggressive and confident, you can always rein that in a little bit.”
The new-look Eagles exploded out of the gate, ripping off 16 points before the visiting Kaws could get on the board. They rolled on from there, holding the opponents to fewer than eight points in each period.
“We played through mistakes. I think that was the biggest thing,” Porter said. “First game, you’re always going to have things happen. I think we were getting over those mistakes pretty well.”
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Over the last 27 minutes of Friday's season-opener against Blue Valley Northwest, Washburn Rural's girls led for 1.5 seconds.
But thanks to Junior Blue junior Josie Carlgren, that was enough for Rural to take a 44-43 come-from-behind non-league win over the Huskies at Rural.
Washburn Rural junior Josie Carlgren launches her game-winning 3-pointer in Friday's 44-43 win over Blue Valley Northwest. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural trailed by 12 points with a minute and a half left in the third quarter and was down by seven with two minutes left before mounting its late charge.
The Huskies, who were just seven of 16 at the free throw line, went in front 43-41 on a free throw by Rylie Edwards with 12.9 remaining but Washburn Rural got the ball to Carlgren in the corner and she swished the game-winning 3-pointer, her only basket of the night, as time ran down.
Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick and the Junior Blues' bench react to Josie Carlgren's game-winning 3-pointer Friday night. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
"Jo just felt her moment and she said, 'I just knew it was going in. The minute I shot it, I said it's in,' '' Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. "That's the confidence that we're kind of telling them that they need.
"And you're talking about a kid that's kind of bided her time and she stepped up in a pretty big moment right there.''
After Carlgren's clutch hoop 1.5 seconds was put back on the clock, but Rural senior Kate Hinck intercepted the Northwest inbounds pass to clinch the win.
Washburn Rural celebrates Friday's 44-43 win over Blue Valley Northwest. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural, which has been to three straight Class 6A championship games, led 7-3 early in the game but Northwest took a 17-13 lead at the end of the quarter and the Junior Blues were fighting from behind the rest of the night.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 3-ranked Washburn University men opened MIAA play with a bang Thursday night, recording the largest margin of victory in the 50-game series with Nebraska-Kearney in an 87-52 road win.
Washburn sophomore Jack Bachelor scored 19 points to lead the way in the Ichabods' 87-52 win at Nebraska-Kearney Thursday night. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods (8-0 overall, 1-0 MIAA) trailed 3-0 after the Lopers (1-6, 0-1) hit a long jumper. Then, after a 3-pointer by WU's Jack Bachelor tied the score, the Lopers took a 5-3 lead, but the Ichabods used a 17-1 run over the next 6:07 of the contest to take a 20-6 lead as Washburn was 7 of 10 during the stretch while the Ichabod defense held the Lopers to 0-7 shooting from the field.
The Lopers used an 8-0 run to cut Washburn's lead to 28-10 with 7:17 to play in the first half before Washburn used another double-digit run, outscoring the Lopers 10-0 to go up 20 before taking a 44-26 lead into the break.
Bachelor hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the second half to push Washburn's lead to 23.
The Lopers connected on two more jumpers before the Ichabods ripped off another big run of 17-3, going up by 33 with 8:57 left.
After the final media timeout, Bachelor connected on another 3-pointer and Jake Schadegg hit two treys of his own 28 seconds apart, giving Washburn its 11th 3-pointer on the evening as the Ichabods rolled to the 35-point win.
The 35-point win topped the previous series victory margin of 31 in an 89-58 win over the Lopers on Jan. 16, 2019 in Topeka.
Washburn snapped a three-game MIAA-opener losing streak with the win over the Lopers, recording its first win in its league lid-lifter since 2020.
Bachelor's 19 points was a game high as the Washburn Rural product finished 5 of 8 from 3-point range.
