By KYLE MANTHE
The Washburn Review
Topeka West and Seaman girls basketball were in action Friday night in both teams' final game before tournament week.
It will be the Vikings who head into the week with momentum as they captured a 49-18 road win over the Chargers thanks to a relentless defensive effort.
“Our effort was great, defensively the girls were flying around,” said Seaman coach Matt Tinsley. “We played great defensively and I thought we executed our offense better in the second half.”
The win moved Seaman to 6-3 on the year while Topeka West fell to 1-11.
Freshman Anna Becker scored a game-high 19 points in Seaman's 49-18 Centennial League win at Topeka West Friday night. [File photo/TSN]
The Vikings took control of the game from the start, with five quick points by freshman Anna Becker in the first four minutes to take a 9-2 lead. The full-court press of Seaman held the Chargers in check, resulting in a 14-4 lead after eight minutes.
The beginning of the second quarter was promising for Topeka West as they outscored the Vikings 2-0 over the first two minutes. In the final five minutes two starting sophomores, Siani Sanchez and Zoe Clark, exited due to injury and did not return.
In that time Seaman’s press intensified, leading to turnovers and easy baskets. Becker again led the charge with eight of the 11 points for the Vikings in the quarter, building a 25-6 halftime lead.
“We were real active on our press. I told them you got to exert all of your effort on the defensive end and our defense can lead to our offense, we got some runouts,” Tinsley said.
Each team had its highest scoring quarter in the third. The Chargers had mixed success against Seaman’s press, as it resulted in some easy baskets along with turnovers going the other way.
Junior Jazmyn Ford led Topeka West with seven points in the quarter, doing all of her work around the basket. On the other side, it was a balanced offensive attack, with five players scoring for the Vikings.
Becker knocked down two 3-pointers to give her a game-high 19 points while both junior Carstyn Anderson and sophomore Taylin Stallbaumer scored two baskets each in the quarter, to boost Seaman's lead to 29 entering the fourth period.
Three early points in the fourth by Seaman freshman Maegan Mills made it a running clock as only eight combined points in the quarter were scored and the Vikings left with a 49-18 road win.
Seaman was led by Becker’s 19 points, Stallbaumer was also in double figures with 11 and Mills added seven from the forward position.
The Chargers got nine points from Ford and had four others score two points.
“We love the opportunity to play and I told the girls at halftime, at this point in the season, midway through the season, teams can go one of two ways. A lot of teams may be ready to pack it in but we've got to be the team that says hungry, and continue to get better,” Tinsley said.
The Chargers will be heading to Lawrence Free State High School beginning Thursday, Jan. 27 to begin the three-day tournament while Seaman will be at Topeka High beginning the same day.
SEAMAN GIRLS 49, TOPEKA WEST 18
Seaman 14 11 19 5 -- 49
Topeka West 4 2 9 3 -- 18
Topeka West (1-11, 1-9) – Hopper 0-0 0-0 0, Valenzuela 0-0 1-3 1, Sanchez 0-2 2-2 2, Mays 1-4 0-0 2, Foster 0-0 0-0 0, Duncan 0-1 0-2 0, Benson 1-3 0-0 1, Clark 0-1 0-0 0, Ford 4-5 1-1 9, Bearman 1-4 0-0 2. Totals 7-18 4-8 18.
Seaman (6-3, 6-3) – Anderson 2-5 0-1 5, Schullman 0-1 0-0 0, J. Stallbaumer 0-0 0-0 0, Spurlock 1-1 0-0 2, E. Stallbaumer 0-0 0-0 0, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, T. Stallbaumer 5-13 0-2 11, Becker 7-13 3-4 19, Wilhelm 0-3 0-0 0, Gormley 1-5 0-3 2, Mills 3-7 1-6 7, Esser 0-3 1-2 1, Stuewe 1-3 0-0 0. Totals 20-54 5-18 49.
3-point goals – Topeka West 0, Seaman 4 (Becker 2, T. Stallbaumer 1, Anderson 1). Total fouls – Topeka West 14, Seaman 12. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.
