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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls bowling team rode its balance to a Class 6A regional team championship Wednesday at West Ridge Lanes, punching its ticket to next Thursday's state tournament at Wichita.
Washburn Rural's girls bowling team poses for a picture after winning the team title in Wednesday's Class 6A regional tournament at West Ridge Lanes. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural's girls react to the announcement that they finished first in Wednesday's Class 6A regional bowling tournament. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Senior Claire Ireland paced the Junior Blues with a 595 three-game series to finish fifth individually while three other Rural bowlers posted top-15 finishes and Washburn Rural finished its day with a strong performance in the four Baker format games to take a 3,040-2,988 victory over Olathe Northwest and Mill Valley.
"They were pretty solid all the way through,'' Rural coach Jo Ricard said of her team. "We've had a good week of practice leading up to this and we knew that if the girls would just do their job, get their spares and hit their targets and those type of things, that we would be OK.
"We had some really good practice work with Baker this week as well and Baker was strong again and we know that can be a huge key piece for us.''
Washburn Rural senior Claire Ireland bowled a 595 series to finish fifth in Wednesday's Class 6A regional tournament at West Ridge Lanes. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Ireland got her day off to a strong start with a 247 game, the second-highest game of the day in the girls tournament. Then, after struggling to a second-game 156, bowled a solid 192 in her final game to pace the Junior Blues.
"I was a little frustrated in the middle but I think I just needed to hit my target and it wasn't happening, but my last game helped me out a little bit,'' Ireland said.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Despite what was at times an ugly performance, the Topeka West boys took one of the top teams in Class 5A to the wire Tuesday, with the Chargers losing to Piper at home, 57-55.
Topeka West senior Johnny Young (1) scored 16 points in the Chargers' 57-55 UKC loss to league-leading Piper Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
One would think that a team that hit just four of 18 free throws would get blown out. Yet the Chargers had opportunities to tie the game in the final seconds despite the miserable performance from the line.
While the Chargers clanked free throws, Piper was an efficient 21-43 from the field and 13-15 from the line.
“The biggest reason we lost was free throws. That’s a no-brainer,” said Charger coach Rick Bloomquist. “I think we’re a pretty decent free throw shooting team. I can’t do anything about it today because that hasn’t been the situation before. But at this point in the season, probably the best thing I can do is not talk about it. I don’t want them to dwell on it. We’ll just go on and talk about the positive.”
Bloomquist found plenty of positive to take from the game.
“I just finished telling (the team) that what I liked was the second half,” Bloomquist said. “We had to get physical. It turned into a muddy game. It had to be that way for us to have a chance.”
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Topeka West girls defeated Piper 62-50 on Senior Night Tuesday, ending a three-game losing skid and perhaps gaining some momentum with just one game remaining before sub-state.
Topeka West senior Zoe Clark scored a game-high 17 points in Tuesday's home 62-50 UKC win over Piper. [File photo/TSN]
Topeka West senior Rebecca Bearman scored 14 points in the Chargers' UKC win over Piper Tuesday night. [File poto/TSN]
The Chargers had three players score in double figures while their defense frustrated Piper into 19 of 63 shooting from the field.
“They finally put four quarters together,” said Topeka West coach Angie Ketterman. “Our defense was amazing. We were getting points from everybody on the floor whereas before we were just getting it from a few kids. But the big thing tonight was our defense. Our defense has improved so much this season.”
Seniors Zoe Clark and Rebecca Bearman led the way for the Chargers.
Clark led all scorers with 17 points while Bearman dominated on the glass and added 14 points.
“We’ve been trying all year to get Rebecca to believe in herself around that basket and use that backboard. And tonight, she was doing that,” Ketterman said. “To get her scoring around the basket is huge for us.”
“It was big getting this win. Piper is a good team,” Bearman said. “We didn’t beat them the last time, so it felt great to get away with the win this time. We worked really hard for it so we’re excited.”
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights' girls basketball team suffered a 30-point United Kansas Conference loss at Seaman back on Jan. 12, one of the T-Birds' toughest nights of the season.
Shawnee Heights senior Breezy Canady (24), freshman KK Emmot (1) and their T-Bird teammates celebrate Tuesday's 57-51 UKC win over No. 2-ranked Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But the No. 7-ranked (Class 5A) T-Birds avenged that loss with their biggest win of the 2023-2024 campaign Tuesday night on their home floor, knocking off the No. 2-ranked (5A) Vikings, 57-51, to stretch their winning streak to nine straight games while handing Seaman its first UKC defeat.
"The mindset was really we had nothing to lose,'' Shawnee Heights senior point guard Breezy Canady said. "We were going in thinking they had it all to lose because they're at the top of the state (rankings) and we're not so we just wanted to play our hardest and not think about it.''
Seaman, 17-2 overall, 14-1 in the conference, led by a slight margin for the bulk of the first half, including a 17-13 first-quarter advantage and a 30-28 lead at the half, but Shawnee Heights (14-5, 12-3) opened the second half with a traditional three-point play and a 3-point hoop from freshman KK Emmot to take the lead and led 39-35 at the start of the final stanza after a 3-pointer from junior Taylor Brees.
"I think us having that flow and confidence the whole game, even though it went up and down we kept our energy and that's really what got through the whole game,'' Canady said.
Seaman scored four straight points to tie the game at 39 with 6:58 remaining but Emmot canned another 3-pointer and Canady scored off a steal to put Heights ahead to stay at 44-39.
"They're learning and they're growing and they're learning to believe in their teammates and in themselves some of the time,'' Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells said. "That's what I'm most proud of them is just sticking together and staying with it because it got tough there at the end and we knew it was going to get tough.''
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Tuesday wasn't one of Shawnee Heights' best offensive performances, but it was plenty good enough for the No. 6-ranked (Class 5A) T-Birds to post their 16th win in their last 17 games and ninth straight in a 69-55 home United Kansas Conference win over Seaman.
Junior Jaret Sanchez led Shawnee Heights with 18 points in Tuesday's 69-55 home UKC win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Brennon Dodge (11) scored 17 points in Tuesday's 69-55 Shawnee Heights UKC win over Seaman. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"We're kind of fun to watch when it's our best, but we still scored 69 points and missed how many layups?'' Heights coach Ken Darting said. "We were in the 80s if we just made layups and I don't think anybody shot it great.
"But that's been us all year, we've won in all ways. We've won in the 40s and 50s and we've won 90-30.''
Seaman, which played Heights within three points in the first meeting of the season between the two city rivals, gave the T-Birds another battle Tuesday despite being short-handed, with the Vikings within five points early in the fourth quarter before Heights pulled away late.
