By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka HIgh's girls and Topeka West's boys basketball teams continued their early-season rolls Thursday night, with the Trojans taking a 64-51 non-league win at Bonner Springs while the Chargers took a 58-54 non-league win at Junction City.
Topeka High's boys dropped an 86-78 decision at Bonner Springs while Topeka West's girls lost a tight game at Junction City, 41-36.
Senior Kiki Smith scored 26 points Thursday night as Topeka High improved to 6-1 with a 64-51 win at Bonner Springs. [File photo/TSN]
TOPEKA HIGH GIRLS 64, BONNER SPRINGS 51 -- Seniors Kiki Smith and Adisyn Caryl combined for 42 points to lead 10th-ranked (Class 6A) Topeka High to its sixth straight victory, 64-51 at Bonner Springs.
Smith scored 26 points and Caryl 16 for the 6-1 Trojans, combining for 14 points in the final quarter.
Smith hit four 3-pointers and went 8 of 9 at the free throw line, including a 4 of 4 performance in the fourth quarter.
Caryl scored eight of her 16 points in the fourth quarter and went 4 of 4 at the free throw line over the final eight minutes.
Topeka High led 23-17 at the end of the first quarter and held a slim four-point halftime advantage (35-31) before outscoring the 3-2 Braves 29-20 in the second half.
Bonner Springs star Mariyah Noel, an Ole Miss commit, led all scorers with 31 points, 12 in the fourth quarter.
Thursday's win closed out the 2022 portion of the Trojans' schedule.
Topeka West senior Malachi Berg scored 20 points in the Chargers' 58-54 non-league win at Junction City Thursday night. [File photo/TSN]
TOPEKA WEST BOYS 58, JUNCTION CITY 54 -- Topeka West, ranked No. 8 in Class 5A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association, posted its second win of the week with a third game coming up Friday night.
After winning at Lansing on Tuesday, the Chargers improved to 4-1 with a 58-54 road win Thursday night over former Centennial League rival Junction City.
Topeka West, which has won four straight games, will host Kansas City-Turner in a United Kansas Conference game Friday night.
Senior Malachi Berg paced Topeka West against Junction City with 20 points while senior Sincere Austin and junior Caleb Noonoo added 12 points apiece. Senior Xavier Alexander had eight points for the Chargers, including a pair of 3-pointers.
BONNER SPRINGS BOYS 86, TOPEKA HIGH 78 -- Topeka High led 38-31 at the half but Bonner Springs scored 55 points in the second half to pull out the 86-78 non-league victory.
Topeka High senior Mason Gomez had a big night for the Trojans, scoring 22 points with 7 rebounds, 4 steals and 3 assists.
Topeka High fell to 1-4 in its final game of 2022.
JUNCTION CITY GIRLS 41, TOPEKA WEST 36 -- Topeka West dropped its second five-point decision of the week Thursday night, falling to 0-5 with its third straight single-digit defeat.
The Chargers pushed Lansing to overtime in Tuesday's 58-53 loss before playing another tight battle on Thursday in the 41-36 defeat.
Topeka West will be back in action Friday, hosting winless Kansas City-Turner in a United Kansas Conference contest.
