By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Topeka High girls basketball dropped a 67-55 home Centennial League contest Friday night after a hot shooting night from Manhattan.
The first half had 75 combined points as both teams were trading basket after basket, but Manhattan pulled away down the stretch in the second half for the win.
“When you get in that desperation mode, you have to do something almost every trip down the court,” Topeka High coach Ron Slaymaker said. “I thought the first half was one hell of a basketball game, wow.
"They have a nice team, they shoot well. We played pretty good defense and they still shot well. I’m disappointed that we lost, but I’m not disappointed with the way we played.”
Topeka High senior Keimara Marshall started the scoring for both teams with a 3-pointer and sophomore Hailey Caryl would convert an and-one opportunity making it 6-2 early on.
Junior Ahsieryrhuajh Rayton earned an and-one opportunity but before her free throw, the Indians called a timeout with 4:51 left in the quarter. Rayton missed the free throw, but .
would put the Trojans back up 13-7 the very next possession with a triple after a MHS and-one.
After MHS started pressing to create turnovers from Topeka High, Slaymaker called a timeout to draw up a play on the inbounds. It worked as Rayton found space down the floor and kissed it off the glass for two, and Topeka High led 20-18 after one quarter.
The game would change leads several times in the second stanza, as one team would hit a three, and the other would hit a three.
Trojan sophomore Hailey Caryl knotted the game at 28-28, knocking down three threes in the quarter.
Topeka High would push its lead back to six, but Manhattan kept scoring. Evie Banks was hot from downtown in the game, making it 34-31, but Caryl hit another from distance, as the Trojans went back up six, 37-31.
Manhattan would take the lead into halftime after Ansley Beckett hit two free throws with 50 seconds left, 38-37.
Out of halftime MHS would go up six after another three and then eventually went up nine at 47-38, forcing Topeka High into a timeout with 5:13 left in the third quarter.
Topeka High struggled to find a rhythm in the third quarter until Rayton scored four straight points.
Manhattan would end the third quarter up five (53-48) after Jelena Depusoir scored in the paint.
In the fourth quarter, Manhattan played keep away most of the quarter as the shot clock wasn’t functional for the night.
Manhattan would push its advantage to 59-52, forcing Slaymaker to call a timeout at the 4:44 mark to try to find some momentum, but MHS wasn’t having any of that
.
Bailey Busch got fouled for Manhattan, missed the and-one chance but MHS got the rebound and then Busch nailed a trey to make it 64-53, ending any chance for the Trojans.
“We only get better from that,” Slaymaker said. “We played 32 minutes with great effort, but you have to put that with some execution. The first half the execution was there for both teams but power to them. They had the edge on us, we couldn’t get back in the third quarter to gain control like we did, they had it all.”
Kat Ball led Manhattan (6-2 overall, 1-0 Centennial) with 13 points while Busch and Banks added 12 apiece.
Rayton scored a game-high 21 points for High, while Caryl added 17.
MANHATTAN 67, TOPEKA HIGH 55
Manhattan 18 20 15 14 -- 67
Topeka High 20 17 11 7 -- 55
Manhattan (6-2) – Larson 3 0-0 6, Becket 2 2-2 4, Depusior 5 0-0 10, Hall 1 0-0 2, Ingram 1 0-0 3, Ball 2 8-9 13, Busch 5 3-4 12, Banks 4 1-2 12.
Topeka High (3-5) – Triplett 1 0-0 2, Marshall 3 0-0 7, Rayton 8 3-5 21, Caryl 5 4-5 17, Gotru 3 2-2 8.
3-point goals – Manhattan 7 (Ingram 1, Ball 1, Busch 2, Banks 3), Topeka High 6 (Marshall 1, Rayton 2, Caryl 3,). Total fouls – Manhattan 13, Topeka High 16. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- none
