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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls, who have advanced to the Class 6A championship game three straight seasons, put themselves in position to earn another trip to state with a 72-26 semifinal victory over Lawrence Free State Wednesday night at Rural.
Washburn Rural sophomore Gracie Hayes scored 18 points on six 3-pointers in Wednesday's 72-26 Class 6A sub-state semifinal win over Free State. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
The Junior Blues, now 15-6, took control with a 20-5 first quarter and opened up a 45-12 advantage over the Firebirds (3-18). Rural led 63-21 at the start of the fourth quarter, forcing a running clock over the final eight minutes.
Sophomore Gracie Hayes had a big night for Rural, hitting six 3-pointers to lead the Junior Blues with 18 points.
Senior Kate Hinck scored 10 points in Wednesday's 72-26 Washburn Rural sub-state semifinal win over Free State. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural sophomore Maddie Vickery scored 10 points in Wednesday's 72-26 sub-state win over Free State. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Senior Kate Hinck and sophomores Brooklyn Rutherford and Maddie Vickery added 10 points apiece while junior Ella Hirschi added nine points.
With Wednesday's win the Junior Blues advanced to Saturday's 3:30 p.m. sub-state championship game to host Centennial League rival Manhattan, a 51-27 winner over Maize.
The Junior Blues and Indians will be playing for the third time this season, with Rural winning the first two meetings.
Undefeated Hi Park boys take 72-51 win over Bears
Highland Park, the top Class 5A East boys seed, improved to 21-0 on the season with a 72-51 home semifinal win over No. 16 Kansas City-Turner Wednesday night.
The Scots, third in 5A the past two seasons, will host Basehor-Linwood on Saturday in a 5 p.m. sub-state final at Highland Park.
The Bobcats advanced to the championship game with a 44-37 win over Spring Hill.
Silver Lake boys survive Osage City rally, 64-62
Silver Lake's boys built a double-digit advantage over Osage City Wednesday night and needed every bit of it, holding on for a 64-62 home sub-state semifinal decision over the Indians.
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By CHARLES SPURLOCK
Special to TopSports.news
The semifinal round of Class 5A boys sub-state at Seaman was a rematch from late January, where the Seaman Vikings defeated the Valley Center Hornets, 61-55, in the fifth-place game of the January Jam Tournament in Valley Center.
Senior Bryer Finley (2) scored 25 points in Wednesday's 68-61 overtime sub-state loss to Valley Center. [File photo/TSN]
But on Wednesday night, the Hornets won a tough, back-and-forth battle over the Vikings, 68-61 in overtime.
“I thought Valley Center played well. We knew they would be scrappy and they hurt us early by running out and getting easy shots,” Seaman coach Craig Cox commented after the game.
Although the Hornets were getting those easy shots early, the Vikings were able to buckle down on defense and were leading the game 25-22 at the end of the first half. Senior Bryer Finley led the Vikings with 9 points while junior Cameron Brian scored 6 points over the first sixteen minutes.
“Probably the biggest stretch was in the third quarter where we built a sizable lead, but they went on a 10-0 run and had all the momentum,” Cox commented on the important third quarter that saw Valley Center take a 38-36 lead into the fourth quarter.
The fourth quarter saw the teams trade baskets until Valley Center was able to stretch their lead to 51-46 with just over four minutes remaining. But Seaman fought back with a 6-0 run to take a 52-51 lead which was followed by a 4-0 run, giving the Hornets a 55-52 lead with a little over two minutes remaining.
With Valley Center leading 56-54 with 48 seconds left, Seaman called a timeout and junior KaeVon Bonner responded by getting fouled and knocking down both free throws to tie the game with 31 seconds left. Valley Center held the ball for the last shot, but was unable to score and the game went to overtime, tied at 56.
In the overtime, Seaman scored first on a layup by Finley, but Valley Center responded with a three-pointer by senior Caleb Needham, who led the Hornets with 16 points -- all in the second half and overtime.
In what was the biggest sequence of the overtime, Bonner was fouled with 2:46 left, trailing 59-58, but missed both free throws. Senior Dalton Smith grabbed the offensive rebound for the Vikings, but he also missed both free throws. Valley Center missed two of their own free throws and Finley was able to tie the score at 59 with a little over two minutes remaining in overtime. Moments later, Seaman was able to take a 61-60 lead, but Needham responded for the Hornets with another three-pointer with 1:20 left to regain the lead, 63-61.
Seaman wasn’t able to score for the remainder of the game while Valley Center made five free throws to make the final score, 68-61.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
There was no doubt that Wednesday's Class 5A sub-state semifinal between No. 3 East seed and No. 14 Kansas City-Sumner was a game that Shawnee Heights coach Ken Darting expected to win.
But there were also plenty of things Darting wanted his team to accomplish in the T-Birds' postseason opener.
Senior Deacon Pomeroy led all scorers with 24 points and grabbed 11 rebounds in Wednesday's 74-41 Shawnee Heights Class 5A sub-state win over KC-Sumner. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Shawnee Heights senior Jaret Sanchez scored 22 points with six 3-pointers in Wednesday's 74-41 sub-state win over KC-Sumner. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]AAr
And for the most part Darting felt like his team, now 18-3, accomplished those goals in Heights' 74-41 home romp past the 7-14 Sabres.
"We had a few people that I saw selfishness, happy with the 3 and wanted to get that easy bucket, but what I like about this group is I can never say they don't play hard,'' Darting said. "They come to play. Every game they're going to play hard.''
Shawnee Heights senior Jaret Sanchez connected on three 3-pointers in the first two minutes to stake the T-Birds to a 9-4 lead and Heights was in command by a 24-9 margin by the end of the opening quarter.
By halftime the T-Birds had stretched their margin to 27 points (47-20) and Shawnee Heights led 70-33 at the end of the third quarter, forcing a running clock over the final eight minutes.
Heights senior Deacon Pomeroy and Sanchez combined for 46 points, with Pomeroy scoring a game-high 24 points and also grabbing 11 rebounds and Sanchez adding 22 points with six 3-pointers.
Junior Da'Quan Lee also cracked double figures with 15 points.
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By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
The Class 4A No. 2-ranked Hayden girls looked as good as advertised Wednesday night as they rolled to a 53-17 home sub-state semifinal win over the Blue Comets of Chanute.
Senior Millie Ramsey led Hayden with 17 points in Wednesday's 53-17 sub-state win over Chanute. [File photo/TSN]
Hayden senior Norma Greco scored 14 points with four 3-pointers in Wednesday's 53-17 sub-state win over Chanute. [File photo/TSN]
The Wildcats would open things up quickly with a 9-0 run to get the game started and then Chanute would counter and trail the cats 10-6 at the end of the first quarter.
But that would be all it wrote for the Comets as Hayden would wake up on offense and start to show why they are the top seed on the East side of the bracket as the Wildcats would out-score the Comets 36-9 the rest of the way including a 25-0 run that stretched midway through the first quarter all the way to the fourth quarter.
A big part of that help was 17 points from senior Amelia Ramsey, who was a perfect 8-8 from the field before she missed her last shot to finish 8-9 to lead all scorers.
Senior Norma Greco would be hot from deep for the Wildcats as she would go 5-6 from the field and 4-5 from 3-point range.
"Our plan was to really penetrate the gaps and try to swing it and get open looks or get the ball inside and let Millie go to work, and it definitely helps when there is multiple of us scoring and it’s not just from one place it makes us hard to beat,'' Greco said.
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By NICHOLAS GAINEY
Special to TopSports.news
The Topeka High girls basketball team opened Class 6A sub-state play in exhilarating fashion, nearly losing a late lead but hanging on for a 44-41 victory over Wichita South on Wednesday night in The Dungeon at Topeka High School.
Sophomore Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton scored 17 points in Wednesday's 44-41 Topeka High home sub-state win over Wichita South. [File photo/TSN]
Freshman Hailey Caryl (40) scored 14 points in Topeka High's 44-41 sub-state win over Wichita South Wednesday night. [File photo/TSN]
Both teams struggled to put up points in the opening minutes of the contest, but freshman Hailey Caryl put the Trojans on the board first with a layup and foul, hitting the free throw to convert the three-point play.
Topeka High looked to break the game open early, with layups from Keimara Marshall and Ahsieryrhuajh Rayton giving the Trojans a 7-2 lead and forcing a timeout from the visiting Titans with 3:24 remaining in the first quarter.
The break in the action did not deter the Trojans, with Rayton knocking down a 3-pointer to extend the lead to 10-2.
Down by eight early, Wichita South went on a run of its own, with Valentina Hart finishing a layup after an offensive rebound to cut the deficit to 11-9 at the end of the period.
The second quarter opened with an excellent defensive play from Marshall, blocking Janiah Cathey’s game-tying layup attempt. But the Titans would take the lead a minute later with a 3-pointer from Mahogany Butler, forcing a timeout from Topeka High coach Ron Slaymaker.
The teams would trade leads for the remainder of the half, before a late layup from Wichita South’s Sa’Kirra Brown gave the visitors a 21-19 advantage at halftime.
Brown scored all seven of her points on the evening in the quarter. Coming out of the locker room, the Trojans stormed back, going on a 7-0 run to force a Titan timeout just under two minutes into the second half.
Topeka High tightened up its defense in the quarter, only allowing Wichita South to score four points in the frame. The cold spell did not carry over into the fourth quarter for the Titans, with Butler knocking down a 3-pointer to cut the Topeka High lead down to two.
The hosts answered with another 7-0 run, capped off by Rayton’s second 3-pointer of the evening to give the Trojans their largest lead of the night.
Wichita South refused to go quietly, with D Chiles hitting a pair of 3-pointers and Hart converting a pair of free throws to cut the deficit to one.
With the offense struggling to score from the field, Topeka High closed out the contest by attacking the basket and getting to the free throw line. The Trojans’ final seven points came from the charity stripe, helping secure the three-point victory.
Rayton led Topeka High with 17 points, shooting 50 percent from the field on the evening. Caryl added 14 points along with seven rebounds. Jo’Mhara Benning led the Trojans on the glass, pulling down eight rebounds.
