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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights' girls basketball team ended its regular season with a disappointing five-point loss to United Kansas Conference rival Piper last Friday, but the T-Birds got a second shot at the Pirates in Wednesday's Class 5A sub-state semifinal.
Shawnee Heights celebrates its 67-59 double-overtime Class 5A sub-state victory over Piper Wednesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
And although the T-Birds stared a second straight loss in the face on multiple occasions, Shawnee Heights found a way to extend the game at the end of regulation and the first overtime before dominating the second OT to advance to Saturday's sub-state championship game with a 67-59 win.
"Tonight really I think it was just pretty much like do or die,'' Heights guard Breezy Canady said. "Especially us seniors we wanted obviously to make it to the second round, but we just gave everything we've got because there's nothing after this if we didn't.''
Canady said that last Friday's loss gave the T-Birds motivation in the rematch.
"I think we were maybe too big-headed,'' Canady said. "I don't know what was going on. Piper's a good team but we just lacked energy the other night and honestly we lacked energy at times in this game, too, but we figured it out.''
Shawnee Heights, which improved to 15-6, will go on the road to De Soto for Saturday's sub-state final while Piper finished its season 10-11.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Hayden's girls finished fourth and the Wildcat boys fifth as a team in Wednesday's first-ever Class 4A-1A state bowling tournament at Bowlero-Wichita while three Hayden bowlers took home state medals.
Chase Bauer finished ninth individually in the boys state meet while Emily Lee placed 11th and Jenna Henkensiefken 13th in the girls tournament.
Hayden finished fifth in the boys division with a team score of 3,377 while Blaser shot a three-game score of 637.
Blaser, a regional champion, shot games of 215, 209 and 213.
The Wildcats also got a 563 series from Kolton Meier, a 560 from John Stickland, a 512 from Trevor Christy, a 506 from Reece Renyer and a 418 series from Caston Meier.
E. Lee recorded a 523 series while Henkensiefken shot a 512.
Hayden got a 454 series from Ashley Lee, a 410 from Kinsley Reynoso and a 330 from Clemence Henry.
The 6A boys and girls tournaments will be contested Thursday at Bowlero-Northrock while the 5A tourneys will be held on Friday, also at Northrock.
CLASS 4A-1A STATE TOURNAMENT
Tuesday sub-state basketball: Top seed Highland Park boys roll to 85-43 5A semifinal win over Turner
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Highland Park got off to somewhat of a slow start in Tuesday's Class 5A boys sub-state semifinal against Kansas City-Turner, but opened up a double-digit advantage by halftime and turned the game into a rout with a 33-point third quarter on the way to an 85-43 win at Topeka High.
Highland Park senior Amari Taylor (0) scored 25 points in the Scots' 85-43 Class 5A sub-state win over KC-Turner Tuesday night. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
Highland Park senior Mikey Williams scored 21 points as the Scots improved to 20-1 with an 85-43 sub-state win over KC-Turner. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
The Scots led the Bears by just a 19-18 advantage at the end of the opening quarter but used a 20-9 second quarter to take a 39-27 advantage at the halftime break and outscored Turner 33-9 in the third quarter to take a 72-36 lead and force a running clock throughout the fourth quarter.
Senior Amari Taylor led Highland Park, now 20-1, with 25 points, followd by junior Mikey Williams with 21 points, junior Ja'Corey Robinson with 16 points and senior Tamir Anderson with 12 points on four 3-pointers.
Highland Park junior Ja'Corey Robinson slams down a dunk in Tuesday's 85-43 sub-state win over KC-Turner. [File photo/TSN]
Senior Tamir Anderson scored 12 points on four 3-pointers in Highland Park's 85-43 sub-state win over KC-Turner Tuesday night. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
Highland Park advanced to Friday's sub-state championship game to face the winner of the semifinal between Kansas City-Washington and Bonner Springs.
The sub-state championship game will be played at Topeka West, with the sub-state winner advancing to next week's Class 5A state tournament at Emporia's White Auditorium.
WASHBURN RURAL GIRLS 61, WICHITA NORTHWEST 24
The ‘second season’ began on Tuesday night with the first round of the sub-state tournament. The Grizzlies of Wichita Northwest
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights earned a shot at the Class 5A state tournament by rolling over St. James Academy 63-40 in the opening round of boys sub-state Tuesday at Heights.
Senior Brennon Dodge scored 23 points to lead the way in Shawnee Heights' 63-40 sub-state win over St. James Academy. [File photo/TSN]
Junior Jaret Sanchez scored 25 points as Shawnee Heights advanced to a sub-state final with a 63-40 win over St. James Academy Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
The T-Birds will host St. Thomas Aquinas Friday with the tournament berth on the line.
St. James had no answer for the T-Birds' defense and couldn’t stop Shawnee Heights’ one-two punch of Brennon Dodge and Jaret Sanchez. The pair combined for 38 points, nearly matching the Thunder’s total for the game.
In six seasons at Shawnee Heights, coach Ken Darting has yet to see one of his teams qualify for the state tournament. Winner of five state titles at other schools, Darting said it was a good thing the T-Birds were so good on defense Tuesday, because their offense left something to be desired.
“To be honest, I saw a lot of things I didn’t like,” Darting said. “Aside from Jaret and Brennon, we didn’t have anybody shoot it very well. But defensively we scrambled and hustled.”
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Topeka West started fast and finished even faster on the way to a home 65-45 win over Seaman in Tuesday's Class 5A sub-state semifinal.
Topeka West junior Jalen Foy (22), who scored 20 points, drives to the hoop in Tuesday's 65-45 sub-state win over Seaman, while KaeVon Bonner defends for the Vikings. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Sophomore Keimani Paul scored 18 points in Topeka West's 65-45 Class 5A sub-state win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
With Tuesday's win the 14-7 Chargers advanced to Friday's West Sub-State I championship game at Andover, the defending 5A state champion, while Seaman finished its season 9-12.
Topeka West, which beat United Kansas Conference rival Seaman for the third time, jumped out to a 14-point lead late in the first half and led by 11 (33-22) at the break, but the Vikings battled back to make it a one-possession game at 45-42 early in the fourth quarter before the Chargers dominated things the rest of the way, ending the game with a 20-3 run.
"That's the best thing about this basketball game, the fact that things were going our way and then the roller-coaster ride started going down again and they responded,'' Topeka West coach Rick Bloomquist said of his team. "They responded very well and the big thing was rebounding.
"We had to get more active on the boards and they adjusted to that. They acted like they were coached, and that was fun, the fact that they responded finally.''
