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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Washburn men got a big spark from a freshman Saturday to defeat Pittsburg State 81-74 in Lee Arena and stay in the thick of the MIAA race.
Pittsburg State led by as many as 10 in the first half, but the Ichabods came roaring back in the final minutes of the period.
Freshman Jack Bachelor led a balanced Washburn attack with 14 points in Saturday's 81-74 MIAA win over Pittsburg State. [File photo/TSN]
Freshman Brayden Shorter scored 13 points and provided Washburn with a big first-half lift in the Ichabods' 81-74 MIAA win over Pittsburg State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
Freshman Brayden Shorter deposited two 3-pointers and dunked over the Gorilla defense – a one-man eight-point run to cut the deficit to 34-32 with 2:17 remaining in the half.
The Ichabods finished the half with a Jack Bachelor 3-pointer and a driving shot by Sam Ungashick to go up 37-36 at the buzzer, their first lead since they led 2-1 in the opening minute.
“Sometimes you need that and it’s good to have a guy come off the bench and do that,” Washburn coach Brett Ballard said of the spark provided by Shorter. “We were kind of stagnant and didn’t have much going and he did give us that spark.
“His teammates set him up. He had a couple of open looks. And then he made a great individual play on the dunk.”
“I wasn’t trying to take over the game or anything. I am just having fun out there,” Shorter said. “When I dunked it and heard the crowd, I love doing that. As long as I can give my team whatever I can, that’s what I’m going to do.”
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Washburn University women put an end to a three-game losing streak by downing No. 25-ranked Pittsburg State 75-62 Saturday at Washburn.
Prior to Saturday, Washburn dropped games at Central Missouri and at Lincoln, then at home against Missouri Southern.
Senior Aubree Dewey scored a game-high 23 points Saturday as Washburn snapped a three-game losing streak with a 75-62 MIAA win over Pittsburg State. [File photo/TSN]
“When you get into that streak, it’s easy to make it that perfect storm where you think that everything is going wrong,” said Washburn coach Lora Wentling. “But really, we got exposed in three different ways in those three games. Credit our kids, they handled each of those issues during the week in practice and their prep.
“We’ve been challenging the heck out of them as a staff. And they rose to the occasion and showed incredible toughness today.”
The Ichabods and Gorillas traded runs through the first half. After trailing 18-17 after a quarter, Washburn outscored Pittsburg State by 10 in the second quarter to go to halftime leading 41-32.
Senior Aubrey Dewey led the way in the first half, running to several fastbreak buckets to collect 15 points before halftime.
Washburn fought off any attempt by the Gorillas to rally in the second half. Ahead by just seven with 3:05 remaining, Washburn got back-to-back 3-pointers from senior Mackenzie Gamble and sophomore Aniah Wayne to widen the margin, finishing with a 13-point advantage.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Topeka West had plenty to play for in Saturday's Topeka Invitational Tournament game, getting what is now a rare opportunity to face city and USD 501 rival Topeka High while also getting a chance to pick up a second straight tournament win.
Sophomore Keimani Paul had a breakout 21-point game in Saturday's 55-30 Topeka Invitational win over Topeka High. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
And veteran West coach Rick Bloomquist also dangled a little extra motivation in front of his Chargers, who went out and turned in an impressive 55-30 win over the Trojans to claim the consolation title (fifth place) while improving to 6-4 on the season.
"It hopes that they knew Sunday was open for a practice if things didn't work out the way we wanted them to,'' Bloomquist said. "That was probably the biggest motivation that we were going to get it out of them one way or another.
"I said, 'You prove to me today that you want to play the game the way it's supposed to be played all the time or we'll just keep on teaching on Sunday.' Well, guess what, sometimes those motivations are much-needed.''
Topeka High (5-7) led 3-0 and 8-4 in the early going, but West rallied for an 11-8 first-round lead and boosted its advantage to double-digits (28-17) at the half.
West opened up a 17-point advantage (44-27) by the start of the fourth quarter and limited the Trojans to just three points over the final eight minutes while closing out its 25-point win.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Sophomore Imani McGlory scored a game-high 29 points with seven 3-pointers to lead the way as Topeka West's girls rolled to a 55-36 home United Kansas Conference victory over Leavenworth.
Sophomore Imani McGlory scored a career-high 29 points with seven 3-pointers in Topeka West's 55-36 UKC win over Leavenworth Friday night. [File photo/TSN]
McGlory, who also canned three 3s in limited time in the junior varsity game was joined in double figures by senior Rebecca Bearman, who had 14 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter as Topeka West improved to 4-5 overall and 3-5 in the UKC.
Topeka West will compete next Thursday, Friday and Saturday in the Capital City Classic at Seaman.
ROSSVILLE BOYS ADVANCE TO TITLE GAME
Rossville's boys will play for the championship in the Oskaloosa Invitational at 4:30 p.m. Saturday after a 57-38 semifinal win over Jefferson County North Friday night.
Rossville and Jefferson North were tied at 10-10 at the end of the first quarter but the Bulldawgs outscored North 47-28 the rest of the way to take the 19-point win.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
After winning its first five games by an average of 54 points, third-ranked (Class 5A) Highland Park finally got its first semblance of a test in Friday night's Topeka Invitational Tournament semifinal, and that was just fine with Scots coach Mike Williams.
Highland Park junior Ja'Corey Robinson goes in for a dunk in Friday's 67-52 semifinal victory over Shawnee Mission North. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Highland Park, the defending Topeka Invitational champion, earned a shot at a second straight title with Friday's 67-52 win over Shawnee Mission North and Williams said the semi-close game gave the Scots a welcome chance to work on game situations.
"Situations, you can practice them until you're blue in the face, but it isn't nothing like running into it in a game and having to respond,'' Williams said. "And not just the situations, but the adversity, the pressure and how we deal with things.
"That stuff comes out in close games. It doesn't come out in blowouts and we don't get to see that a lot of times.''
Highland Park, now 6-0, trailed the Bison on multiple occasions in the first half -- the last time at 18-15 early in the second quarter -- but the Scots ended the half with an 8-0 run to take a 30-21 halftime lead and SM North got no closer than six points in the second half.
