By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Topeka West played much better Tuesday night than it had in a 35-point early-season loss to Shawnee Heights.
But that wasn't enough for the Chargers to keep pace with the T-Birds, who went wire-to-wire for a 65-48 United Kansas Conference win at West after scoring the first 13 points of the game.
Shawnee Heights senior Breezy Canady (24) scored a game-high 21 points with four 3-pointers in Tuesday's 65-48 UKC win over Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"They are much-improved,'' Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells said of the Chargers. "Just their on-the-court awareness and the things they're doing on offensively kind of fits the players that they have.
"We knew that they had some girls that just can shoot the lights out. They're definitely doing a good job over here and told the grls, 'You can throw out the scouting report from last time because they've improved that much.''
Shawnee Heights, 10-5 overall, 8-3 UKC, didn't allow a Topeka West point until the 4:01 mark of the opening quarter as the T-Birds built leads of 13-0, 17-3 and 24-10 at the end of the stanza.
"What we really wanted to accomplish tonight is we wanted to get out in transition, we wanted to run our stuff and get good shots,'' Wells said.
Topeka West (6-10, 5-7) battled back from a 31-16 defict to get within seven points late in the first half before senior Breezy Canady hit her fourth 3-pointer of the half to put the T-Birds in front 36-26 at the break.
West got within eight points at the 4:42 mark of the third quarter but the T-Birds built their lead back to 15 (51-36) late in the quarter and took a 51-38 advantage into the fourth stanza.
The T-Birds led by a game-high 17 points twice late in the game, including the final margin.
Canady led all scorers with 21 points to pace four double-figures scorers for Shawnee Heights.
Shawnee Heights sophomore Reianna Vega (42) scored 13 points in the T-Birds' 65-48 UKC win over Topeka West Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Sophomore Reianna Vega added 13 points for the T-Birds while senior Rachel Swift had 12 points and freshman KK Emmot 10.
Sophomore Imani McGlory led Topeka West with 17 points, including three 3-pointers, while senior Rebecca Bearman added 11 points.
.SHAWNEE HEIGHTS GIRLS 65, TOPEKA WEST 48
Shawnee Heights 24 12 15 14 -- 65
Topeka West 10 16 12 10 --48
Shawnee Heights (10-5, 8-3)-- Emmot 4-9 2-4 10, Schulte 1-5 1-1 3, Canady 7-10 3-6 21, Vega 6-12 1-2 13, Swift 4-7 4-8 12, Brees 1-5 0-0 2, Euwer 0-2 0-0 0, H. Bowers 0 0-0 0, Torrez 2-2 0-0 4. Totals 25-52 11-21 65.
Topeka West (6-0, 5-7) -- I. McGlory 6-14 2-3 17, Hall 3-6 0-0 7, Gonzales 2-10 1-2 5, Clark 2-6 1-4 6, Bearman 4-8 3-4 11, Keeling 1-2 0-0 2, A. McGlory 0-2 0-0 0. Totals 18-48 7-13 48.
3-point goals -- Shawnee Heights 4 (Canady 4), Topeka West 5 (I. McGlory 3, Hall, Clark). Total fouls -- Shawnee Heights 9, Topeka West 19. Fouled out -- Hall, Bearman. Technical foul -- none.
