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Created: 13 December 2025

By CHARLES SPURLOCK

Special to TopSports.news

DESOTO -- The Washburn Rural girls battled the Liberty, Mo. Blue Jays in the championship game of the DeSoto Hardwood Classic on Saturday afternoon.

In a game of ebbs and flows, Liberty won the closely contested title game, 47-46.

Washburn Rural came out of locker room for the start of the game on absolute fire. Senior Ella Hirschi scored the first eight points with two 3-pointers, causing Liberty to take a timeout with 5:25 left in the opening quarter. Freshman Brynn Anderson joined the scoring column with a basket to extend the lead to 10-0 before the Blue Jays scored their first basket with 4:12 remaining in the quarter. The teams exchanged points over the last four minutes and the Junior Blues led 14-5 after the first eight minutes.

The second quarter represented a flip of the script, with Liberty taking control throughout the second quarter while Washburn Rural committed seven turnovers. The Blue Jays outscored the Junior Blues 11-4 over the first four minutes, cutting the Rural lead to 18-16. Liberty took its first lead of the game with a little over a minute remaining before halftime at 20-19 on a basket by senior Enslie Dryer. The Blue Jays finished the half on a 13-3 run to take a 26-21 advantage to the locker room. 

The third quarter saw Liberty extended its lead to seven points on three different occasions while Washburn Rural could get no closer than five points in the entire quarter. Liberty junior Elecea Norman scored 10 points in the quarter, including the final six, giving Liberty a 41-32 lead heading into the final stanza.

Over the first 3 minutes, 17 seconds of the fourth quarter, Washburn Rural was able to cut the lead to 45-41, coming from senior Josie Carlgren’s six points, a Anderson bucket and a free throw by senior Hallie Walker.

 

After holding Liberty scoreless for almost three minutes, Anderson scored five straight points, with the last bucket being a step-back three pointer, giving Rural the lead, 46-45. The teams traded scoreless possessions over the next minute and Liberty’s Enslie Dryer hit a layup with 20 seconds remaining to give Liberty the 47-46 lead. The Junior Blues had multiple chances over the final 20 seconds, but couldn’t get a shot to fall.

Washburn Rural was led by Brynn Anderson’s 22 points and six rebounds. Hirschi was the only other Rural player in double figures with 12 points. Walker pulled down 10 rebounds.

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Created: 13 December 2025

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn University men's basketball's most experienced player came through huge when it mattered the most Saturday in Lee Arena.

Senior Brady Christiansen scored 8 of his 12 points in the second overtime as Washburn outlasted Central Missouri, 78-72. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Senior Brady Christiansen, who has played 104 games in an Ichabod uniform, scored eight of his 12 points in the second overtime period as the Ichabods outlasted Central Missouri 78-72 to improve to 11-0 overall and 3-0 in the MIAA.

Christiansen, who also grabbed a game-high eight rebounds with three assists, scored five straight points in the second OT to put Washburn in front 69-63 with 2:51 remaining in the second five-minute extra session and later drained a huge 3-pointer to give the Ichabods a 74-69 advantage with 59 seconds left.

"I kind of just got lost in the moment,'' Christiansen said. "I'm still a little bit lost for words right now, but I think when the team needed plays I was ready to step up.

"It's someone else's night every night, but credit to how tough we played on defense I think that was what really kept us in the game because we didn't shoot it worth a lick. They got 72 points in two overtimes and that's really good defense and coach is proud of that. It was a really good team-effort win.''

Washburn coach Brett Ballard wasn't surprised that his 6-foot-7 frontliner, who has been a steady performer for the Ichabods since his freshman season, came through in the clutch.

"He's always consistent and he really rises in big moments,'' Ballard said. "He made a huge shot in Florida when we needed it early in the season and this game those plays late, he's not afraid of that moment. He's put the time into it and I'm really happy for him because he's just been consistent for us for four years.'' 

The No. 2-ranked Ichabods erased multiple deficits, including a seven-point deficit with five minutes left in regulation and a five-point deficit in the first OT, to pull out their 22nd straight home victory.

The Ichabods finished the game with a decisive 15-9 advantage in the second overtime after the teams were deadlocked at 63 following the first extra period.

Washburn trailed by as many as seven points in the first half but closed the opening period strong and carried that momentum into the second half, where the game tightened into a possession-by-possession battle.

Washburn shot 42.3 percent in the second half and forced key turnovers late to send the game to overtime tied at 56.

Both teams scored 7 points in the first overtime to force a second extra session.

Washburn took control for good in the second overtime.

Sophomore Dillon Claussen led Washburn with 21 points in Saturday's 78-72 double-overtime win over Central Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Sophomore Dillon Claussen opened the period with a free throw and followed with strong finishes at the rim as part of a game-defining 9-0 run that stretched the lead to six.

Claussen capped the run with a fastbreak dunk off a Jeremiah Jones steal to push the margin to 78-69 in the final seconds.

Junior Jack Bachelor scored 16 points in Washburn's 78-72 double-overtime win over Central Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Junior Jeremiah Jones scored 13 points and had seven steals in Washburn's 78-72 double-overtime MIAA victory over Central Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Claussen led all Washburn scorers with 21 points, adding seven rebounds, four assists and four blocks in 40 minutes. Bachelor chipped in 16 points while Jones finished with 13 points and seven steals.

Tyson Ruud provided a spark off the bench with nine points and seven boards.

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Created: 13 December 2025

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn University women's basketball played the entire fourth quarter without senior star Yibari Nwidadah as Central Missouri pulled away down the stretch for a 67-56 MIAA win over the Ichabods Saturday in Lee Arena.

Junior Madelyn Amekporfor led Washburn with 16 points, including three 3-pointers, in Saturday's 67-56 loss to Central Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Nwidadah, Washburn's leading scorer and rebounder, did not return after hitting her head on the floor after a collision late in the third quarter, but Ichabod coach Lora Westling refused to use Nwidadah's injury as an excuse as WU suffered its first conference loss.

"They're a big team, we knew that, and I think I'm most frustrated by just our lack of awareness,'' Westling said. "We knew what they were going to do and we let them to do it, and I think that's just poor execution of our game plan because we had some counters to their size, we didn't execute it.

"I thought we were really selfish tonight and trying to do a lot on our own. We've been doing a good job of getting into 17, 18 assists a game and we were back to eight tonight because we were trying to do too much. We just didn't have enough juice and energy and we can make all the execuses we want, but at the end of the day we didn't show up tonight and you're not going to beat anybody like that, let alone a really good team like Central.''   

The Jennies (6-3 overall, 2-1 MIAA) opened the game with the first five points, but Washburn (6-3, 2-1) was able to get going offensively, pulling ahead at 10-9 after a layup by Gabi Giovannetti at the 2:46 mark. Central Missouri kept connecting from outside, hitting 4 of 6 shots from 3-point range in the quarter to lead 18-12 after 10 minutes.  

Both sides traded baskets to begin the second quarter, the Ichabods pulled within three points after a steal and score by Nwidadah at the 5:02 mark. The Washburn offense bounced back after a slow first quarter to shoot 50.0 percent in the second.

The Ichabods went in front briefly in the final minute of the half after Payton Sterk hit a pair of free throws. The Jennies hit a free throw on the other end to forge a 29-29 tie at halftime.  

Washburn got five straight points from Aniah Wayne to go up 39-35 with 5:23 remaining in the third quarter, but the next six points came from the Jennies, who would lead by 45-42 heading to the fourth quarter.  

Sterk hit a jumper with 7:29 to go in regulation that tied the game up at 45, but the Ichabod offense slowed down while Central Missouri scored the next 10 points to lead by double figures inside of five minutes remaining. 

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Created: 12 December 2025

By TODD FERTIG

TopSports.news

For three periods, the Cair Paravel boys went toe-to-toe with the top-ranked team in Class 1A Div. II – defending state champion Axtell – before finally fading 42-36 at home on Friday.

Sophomore Chase Hastert scored 18 points with three 3-pointers in Cair Paravel's 42-36 loss to top-ranked Axtell Friday night. [Photo by Barry Benteman/Special to TSN]

The Lions learned on Tuesday morning that, when another team canceled its visit to Cair Paravel, the opening would be filled by the 1A powerhouse. Axtell has recently won several football and track and field championships in addition to last year’s basketball crown.

Though Axtell lists an enrollment of just 42 students, its size advantage against the Lions was impressive. Despite being undersized, Cair Paravel coach Chip Kueffer encouraged his team to take the fight to the Eagles.

“Our identity has to be grit. We’ve got to be a gritty team,” Kueffer said. “For the last several years, we’ve been undersized, so we’ve got to make up for that. We’ve got to compensate for that difference in size. That means rebounding, defending. I think we got a lot of the 50-50 balls. I think we were first to the floor a lot of times.”

Cair Paravel came out unaffected by the Eagles’ glossy resume. After falling behind 5-0, the Lions struck back with an 8-0 run of their own. They led 14-12 after one period.

Cair Paravel extended the lead to 18-12 in the first minute of the second quarter. But the momentum swung again, with Axtell reeling off 12 straight points. The Eagles led 26-25 at halftime.

With the teams and crowds at a fever pitch, each team scored just three points in a wild third period. Axtell led 29-28.

That’s when Axtell’s size, depth and experience finally overwhelmed the Lions. The visitors’ stifling defense held Cair Paravel scoreless for more than six minutes, during which Axtell scored 11 points to build a lead the Lions couldn’t overcome down the stretch.

“We gave up too many second-chance opportunities, too many offensive rebounds,” Kueffer said. “(Axtell is) the real deal. Very well coached. They’ve got a lot of size, a lot of toughness. They’ve got a lot of muscle to them. They all guard. They put a lot of pressure on you and they speed you up.”

Lions’ sophomore Chase Hastert poured in 18 points in the first half, hitting three three-pointers in the opening quarter.

“We did well in the first half, so in the second half, we had their attention,” Kueffer said. “They did a good job keying on our guards and slowing us down.”

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