By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
LAWRENCE – No. 7-ranked (Class 6A) Topeka High avenged its 2022 state quarterfinal loss to No. 8 Blue Valley with a thrilling 56-51 win in Saturday's championship game of the Firebird Winter Classic.
Topeka High's girls basketball team poses for a team picture Saturday after winning the Firebird Classic championship. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Topeka High celebrates in its hudddle after Saturday's 56-51 win over Blue Valley in the championship game of the Firebird Classic. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Topeka High coach Brittney Redmond's whiteboard said, 'You owe them,' and although Redmond wasn't the coach last year when the Lady Trojans lost to Blue Valley in the state tournament, she echoed this game's importance to the players.
"Before this game, I told them you owe them something," Redmond said. "We kind of got off to a rough start and dug a hole for ourselves, but our halftime talk was that we were beating ourselves.
"It was all about effort and who wanted it more. If we could control our effort and give everything we got, we were going to win this game."
A key component to Blue Valley's squad is Oklahoma State commit Jayden Wooten. Wooten ended Topeka High's season last year on a driving layup as time ran out. On Saturday afternoon, that was on the mind of Topeka High.
"Coming into this game, I didn't know if we were going to stop (Wooten), but our game plan was to contain (Wooten)," Redmond said. "We had to play tight defense on her, but I told Keimara (Marshall) to take a step back and force her to shoot the ball."
Marshall, a freshman, was the unsung hero of the championship game. She was assigned to lock up Wooten and although Wooten had 16 points in the contest, Marshall's on-ball defense and pressure proved to be enormous for the Lady Trojans.
With Topeka High's team play heating up at the right time, Topeka High believes this four-game win streak can turn into something unique and "they're born to thrive" down the stretch.
Offensively, the Lady Trojans were lifted by multiple players.
Topeka High junior Ladaysha Baird scored a career-high 23 points in the Trojans' 56-51 win over Blue Valley in Saturday's Firebird Classic championship game. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Topeka High senior Kiki Smith scored 16 points in Saturday's 56-51 win over Blue Valley, helping the Trojans win the Firebird Classic. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Junior guard Ladaysha Baird had a game-high 23 points while senior guard Kiki Smith was right behind Baird with 16 points and Ayana Leesman had 11 off the bench.
Baird presented multiple problems for the Lady Tiger defense. Baird drilled six 3-point shots, including one to give the Trojans some separation near the end of the fourth quarter. Baird's catch-and-shoot ability was Topeka High's most dangerous weapon.
"I had a great day," Baird said. "I woke up, had the 10 o'clock shootaround and knew I was ready. I was excited about everything today, and we came in ready to play. Our board said, 'we owe them.' We came out here and turned that loss (from last year) into a win."
The Lady Tigers played pretty well against Topeka High in the first half. Topeka High's shooting didn't phase Blue Valley early. The Lady Tigers shot 48 percent from the field and led most of the half.
Whenever Topeka High had the hot hand, Wooten, Kate Sogard and Ainsley Lister sparked offensive runs, keeping their lead secure.
Blue Valley's 35-29 lead going into the halftime break wasn't a big lead, but it was significant because of how well the Lady Tigers were shooting the ball.
Topeka High would come out of the halftime break rolling and playing with a chip on their shoulders.
After letting Blue Valley tally up 35 points in the first half, the Lady Trojans only allowed 16 points in the second half. Blue Valley had eight points in both the third and fourth quarters.
"It was all effort," Redmond said. "(Blue Valley) wasn't doing anything that we couldn't stop. It was on us. Coming out (of halftime), our effort wasn't great, but we picked it up and got the result we wanted."
Offensively, Baird and Smith were game-changers. The Shawnee County standouts combined for 21 of the 27 second-half points scored for Topeka High.
"My shot selection on the 3s weren't really falling, but my mid-range was," Smith said. "In this game, honestly, I was doing everything I could to help the team out. Once we get in a flow and a rhythm, it's hard to stop us. Once we got in the second half, we slowed down and relaxed."
Smith hit a crucial jump shot with four minutes remaining in the game. However, the Lady Tigers responded with two straight baskets tying the game 47-47 with 3:30 left.
"Kiki is going to be Kiki," Redmond said. "I told her that I needed her to be a scorer. Ladaysha's playing well, and she kept passing it to Ladaysha, but I needed Kiki to score, too."
Baird would hit a triple giving Topeka High a lead with under a minute remaining in the contest. Topeka High would seal the deal with Baird's free throws, a 3-pointer and a Smith conversion.
TOPEKA HIGH GIRLS 56, BLUE VALLEY GIRLS
Topeka High 12 17 16 11 – 56
Blue Valley 17 18 8 8 – 51
Topeka High (11-3) – Baird 7-16 3-8 23, Marshall 2-4 0-0 4, Caryl 0-2 0-0 0, Shields 0-2 1-2 1, Smith 7-17 2-2 16, Leesman 4-5 1-2 11, Benning 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-47 7-14 56.
Blue Valley (9-3) – C. Bax 1-6 1-2 4, E. Bax 1-3 0-0 3, Sogard 3-4 0-0 9, Lister 8-13 3-4 19, Wooten 5-13 6-7 16, Jarrell 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-40 10-13 51.
3-point goals – Topeka High 9 (Baird 6, Leesman 3), Blue Valley 5 (Sogard 3, C. Bax, E. Bax) Total fouls – Topeka High 14, Blue Valley 11. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
