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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
In his heart, veteran Shawnee Heights boys basketball coach Ken Darting believes his T-Birds could be undefeated right now.
But after dropping a pair of single-digit games to open the season, Heights has bounced back with a vengeance, reeling off three straight United Kansas Conference wins, including an 85-37 home rout over Leavenworth Friday night.
Shawnee Heights senior Dylan Sanchez, applying defensive pressure Friday night, scored a game-high 14 points with four 3-pointers in the T-Birds' 85-37 UKC rout over Leavenworth Friday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Sophomore Da'Quan Lee (15) goes up for a shot in Shawnee Heights' 85-37 UKC win over Leavenworth Friday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"The big thing of it is we didn't get down,'' Darting said of the early losses. "That's what you worry about with a young team, 'Oh, we've already lost two, we're done.' But we won two really tough games against (Topeka) West and at Basehor and I'm proud of them because we did stay the course.''
Shawnee Heights dominated Friday's game from start to finish, scoring the first 13 points and steadily adding to its advantage throughout the game.
The T-Birds led 25-9 at the end of the quarter and took a huge 51-22 lead to the locker room at the half.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Veteran Shawnee Heights girls basketball coach Bob Wells was quick to admit that Friday wasn't one of the T-Birds' best nights.
But Heights was good enough to achieve to achieve its main, and really its only objective, taking a home 39-35 United Kansas Conference decision over Leavenworth in the T-Birds' final game before the holiday break.
Freshman KK Emmot scored a game-high 17 points in Shawnee Heights' 39-35 UKC win over Leavenworth Friday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Sophomore Reianna Vega (42) scored 11 points, seven in the fourth quarter, in Shawnee Heights' 39-35 UKC win over Leavenworth Friday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"I thought we did some nice things time and time again,'' Wells said. "We'd make a great drive, we'd make a move and have an open perimeter shot and we couldn't get the ball in the net. It would rim around and rim around and then I think it got in our heads a little bit.
"Thank goodness we had a couple of girls step up at the end and hit a few shots.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn Ichabods return to Missouri for their second straight contest Saturday as they will face Missouri Western at the St. Joseph Civic Arena at 3:30 p.m.
Washburn (5-4 overall, 1-2 MIAA) fell 68-65 last time out at Northwest Missouri on Wednesday while the Griffons (8-2, 3-2) topped Emporia State 76-54 on Thursday night.
Sophomore Sam Ungashick is Washburn's leading scorer at 16.3 points per game entering Saturday's game at Missouri Western. [File photo/TSN]
Saturday's meeting will be the 105th between the two schools with Washburn leading the series 60-44. Washburn will be looking to snap a two-game losing streak to the Griffons on Saturday.
The game will be played in the St. Joseph Civic Arena instead of on campus because of Missouri Western's graduation ceremonies.
Sophomore Sam Ungashick leads the Ichabods with a 16.3 scoring average while averaging 4.0 rebounds, 3.3 assists and 1.4 steals per game. Ungashick has reached double figures in each of the last eight games.
Junior Andrew Orr is scoring 13.9 points per game this season while going 29 of 30 from the free throw line, which ranks second in the nation in percentage at 96.7. He is shooting 58 percent from the field, hitting 48 of 83 attempts.
Freshman is scoring 9.7 points per game off the bench while adding 2.1 rebounds and 3.0 assists this season.
Brady Christiansen is averaging 8.4 points with a team-high 7.8 rebounds.
The Ichabods rank eighth in the nation in defensive rebounds per game, leading the MIAA with 28.1 per game.
The Ichabods are third nation in 3-point shooting at 43.5 percent, hitting 81 of 186 attempts.
JaRon Thames averages 17.1 points for Missouri Western and scored 25 against Emporia State last time out.
Julius Dixon is averaging 14.0 points while Zion Swader and Taye Fields are both scoring 11.4 points per game. Fields is averaging a team-high 9.3 rebounds per game after recording 12 against the Hornets.
Washburn will wrap up the 2023 calendar against Northeastern State next Tuesday with a 4 p.m. afternoon contest at Lee Arena.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball will finish its road swing through the Show Me State at 1:30 p.m. Saturday against the Missouri Western State Griffons in the Civic Arena.
Senior Aubrey Dewey scored 18 points to lead the way as Washburn rallied for a 66-64 road win at Northwest Missouri State on Wednesday. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn will play its final road game of 2023 on Saturday against the Griffons before turning to Lee Arena next Tuesday to host Northeastern State in a 2 p.m. contest.
Saturday's game is being played in the St. Joseph Civic Arena, with the game moved due to graduation ceremonies in the Missouri Western Arena.
Washburn is coming off a 66-64 road win at No. 23 Northwest Missouri State on Wednesday. WU is now 7-2 overall on the year and has gone 2-1 in the MIAA.
The Griffons are off to a 7-3 start on the year and are 3-2 in the MIAA after an 80-60 win over Emporia State on Thursday.
Sophomore Yibari Nwidadah is averaging a double-double for the Ichabods and has registered six double-doubles this season. She is is tied for the team scoring lead with a 13.6 average while also pulling down a team-best 10.8 rebounds per game.
Nwidadah is shooting a team-best 58.6 percent from the floor.
Senior Aubrey Dewey is also averaging 13.6 points for the Ichabods while playing a team high 32.4 minutes per game. She also averages 6.3 assists and from the point guard position, Dewey is second on the team with 5.7 rebounds per game and has come away with 1.8 steals per contest.
Aniah Wayne is scoring 10.2 points per game this season and leads the Ichabods with 19 3-pointers.
WU is 14th in the nation in scoring margin as the Ichabods have outscored teams by an average of 20.2 points per game.
On the defensive end the Ichabods are sixth in the nation in field goal percentage defense with opponents shooting a combined 33.0 percent. That ranks first in the conference.
Connie Clarke paces the Griffons with a 13.2 scoring average. She also pulls down a team high 7.8 rebounds per game while coming away with 2.5 steals per game.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman sophomore KaeVon Bonner and Rossville sophomore Rylee Dick have been selected by the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency as the Rising Stars of the Week.
The Dan Key Agency will recognize top Shawnee County underclassmen throughout the bulk of the 2023-2024 school year.
Here’s a brief look at the accomplishments of Bonner and Dick over the past week:
Seaman sophomore KaeVon Bonner (13) has been named the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency boys Rising Star of the Week after leading the Vikings to a 76-74 UKC win over Piper Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
KAEVON BONNER, Seaman
Bonner, a sophomore, scored 27 points with four 3-pointers in Tuesday night's home United Kansas Conference game against Piper, with the Vikings rallying over the final four minutes to pull out a 76-74 victory.
Bonner was fouled with 12 seconds left in the game and hit both free throws to give Seaman the victory.
Bonner is averaging 22.3 points a game for the 2-1 Vikings, with 28 and 27-point performances.
Rossville sophomore Rylee Dick has been named the Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency girls Rising Star of the Week after earning MVP honors in last week's Irish Classic. [X photo]
RYLEE DICK, Rossville
A sophomore, Dick was named the tournament's most valuable player in last week's Chapman Irish Classic after helping lead Rossville to three straight wins and the championship.
Dick scored 23 points with three 3-pointers and a six of six performance at the free throw line in last Saturday's 83-40 win over Chapman after scoring 16 points in Friday's 60-45 win over Salina Sacred Heart and 23 points with three 3s in Tuesday's 105-16 first-round victory over Kansas City-Bishop Ward.
Dick followed up last week's tournament performance with a 19-point game in Tuesday's 78-23 win over Kansas City Christian, hitting five 3-pointers in the game as Rossville improved to 5-0.
