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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls wrestling team, the defending Class 6A-5A state champion, tuned up for its title defense with the team championship in Saturday's regional tournament at Junction City.
Washburn Rural's girls wrestling team poses for a picture after winning the championship in Saturday's Class 6A-5A regional tournament at Junction City. [Washburn Rural women's wrestling]
The No. 8-ranked Junior Blues had four individual regional champs and qualified 10 wrestlers for state en route to a 227-159 margin over Kapaun Mt. Carmel, with Manhattan third with 144 points and Emporia fourth with 121.
Washburn Rural, which has posted three state titles and a runnerup finish in the four official girls state tournaments, got individual regional titles from junior 105-pounder Molly Spader, senior 135-pounder Laiken Clark, senior 145-pounder Fatima Escobar and senior 170-pounder TaAni Rhoten.
Spader, who improved to 32-2, took a hard-earned 9-8 decision over Newton's Brookelyn Treaster in the final while Clark (26-4) took a 6-0 decision over Wichita Southeast's Aileya Sath.
Escobar (32-5) pinned Manhattan's Sophia Hoeme in 1:08 while Rhoten (32-2) pinned Chinyereugo Okafor of Kapaun Mt. Carmel in just 28 seconds.
Also advancing to the regional finals were junior 115-pounder Maddy Blow (22-10), junior 125-pounder Annie Gallegos (17-3) and sophomore 130-pounder Madison Blanco (25-6)
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's Saturday home MIAA contest against No. 12-ranked Northwest Missouri went down to the final seconds, but after 15 lead changes and six ties the Bearcats pulled out a 75-72 win in Lee Arena.
Junior Michael Keegan led Washburn with 16 points in Saturday's 75-72 MIAA loss to Northwest Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The two teams were tied with 2:47 to play after a pair of made free throws by Washburn junior Andrew Orr but Northwest junior Andrew Mascari, who was a thorn in the Ichabods' side all day, hit one of his nine 3-pointers on the afternoon to put the Bearcats up 69-66 with 2:18 remaining.
Northwest pushed their lead to four at 71-67, but the Ichabods cut the lead back to one after a layup by sophomore Brady Christiansen with 14 seconds to play.
After an Ichabod foul, Northwest hit two free throws to go up four but a 3-pointer by junior Michael Keegan cut the lead to one with six seconds to play at 73-72.
Northwest hit a layup with four seconds left to go up three and Washburn's 3-pointer at the buzzer missed as the Ichabods fell for the first time at home this season.
Mascari led the Bearcats (19-4 overall, 15-2 MIAA) with a game-high 27 points on nine of 12 shooting from 3-point range.
"They had an unbelievable individual performance,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "Give credit to Mascari, (No.) 22. It was one of the best shooting performances I've ever seen.
"I thought we played hard, played a little tight and missed a bunch of free throws and once again didn't shoot it great. Transition opportunities really, really killed momentum. We had four or five transition layup opportunities and we don't convert and then it seemed like every time we didn't convert they came down and made a big shot. Those are big four and five-point swings, so those really hurt us.''
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Friday was a big night for Highland Park girls basketball.
Not only was Hi Park celebrating its Winter Royalty coronation night, but the Scots also rolled to a 75-10 non-league victory at Topeka West while 13 different players got the opportunity to see considerable playing time.
Freshman Pearmella Carter scored 33 points in Friday's 75-10 non-league win over KC-Central. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Senior Angelique Gowan-Britt (3) scored 17 points in Friday's 75-10 Highland Park win over KC-Central. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"That's always a good thing for our young ones with our schedule and not having very many 'C' team games or JV games being able to get them in there it gives them experience in front of kind of our home crowd I guess, that's always a good thing,'' Highland Park coach Rob Brown said.
Leading the show for the Scots was 5-foot-10 freshman standout Pearmella Carter, who more than tripled the Eagles' team score by herself with a 33-point night.
"She's going to be a special one,'' Brown said. "She's still learning the game because she's still a 14-year-old girl, but she's learned how to handle the ball more and learning to shoot the ball and her confidence is through the roof.''
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By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
There was a lot to celebrate for Washburn Rural Friday night, capped by a big rivalry win over the Junior Blues' biggest league rival on Winter Royalty night after a long week.
Senior Griffin Durst led the way with 17 points in Washburn Rural's 62-41 Centennial League win over Hayden Friday night. [File photo/TSN]
Sophomore John Hoytal (10) scored 14 points for Washburn Rural Friday night in a 62-41 Centennial League win over Hayden. [File photo/TSN]
The week started Monday at Manhattan with an overtime win and then after a loss against Junction City on Tuesday the Junior Blues finished off the week with a 62-41 win against Hayden.
Rural got off to a 10-0 start and went into halftime up 29-15 before pulling away for the 22-point win.
“You know it's it's been a long week,'' Rural coach Alex Hutchins said. "We started with a Monday night at Manhattan, and an overtime game, then then played a really tough Junction team on Tuesday and then you add the emotions of this rivalry game and kind of the festivities tonight that you're a little a wary of as a head coach.
"I don't know that we played our best game tonight, but I'm proud of our guys for scraping and getting the job done.”
Rural got big nights from senior Griffin Durst, who had 17 points, and sophomore John Hoytal, who finished with 14.
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By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
In front of a packed house at Washburn Rural for a big rivalry game on Winter Royalty night a fight ensued between the Lady Blues and the Hayden Wildcats in a game that went back and fourth all night long punch after punch before freshman Maddie Vickery hit the game-winning shot to give Rural a 46-44 Centennial League win.
Freshman Maddie Vickery (middle) hit the game-winning shot in Washburn Rural's 46-44 Centennial League win over Hayden Friday. [File photo/TSN]
“Maddie made some huge plays tonight,” Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. “When (teams) clamp down on Zoe Canfield, Maddie is known to kind of say, 'Okay let's go,' but they work so well with each other. Like that last set play, Zoe took her girl clear out of the play and cleared the lane for Maddie and she had a great finish on it.”
Rural would separate itself in the game and the Wildcats would claw back and stay right there, with Rural going into halftime up 28-20 and Hayden coming out after halftime to tie it up 34-34 late in the third quarter.
The Lady Blues were led in scoring by Vickery, who finished with a game-high 18 points.
“It was such a great team win,'' Vickery said. "I think we played really good defense, especially in the first half. We came out hot and battled until the end. We didn't let off the gas. It meant a little bit more because it was our winter formal game, so we wanted the 'W' for sure. To win that game on our home court with such an amazing crowd was pretty special.”
