By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights' boys basketball team, which cracked this week's Class 5A state rankings at No. 9, backed that up Tuesday night with an impressive 73-61 United Kansas Conference road win over No. 4-ranked De Soto.
After having its seven-game win streak snapped by Blue Valley North in Saturday's championship game of the Shawnee Mission West Invitational, the T-Birds bounced back with Tuesday's win, avenging a 56-46 season-opening loss to the Wildcats.
"It's a benchmark win for Shawnee Heights,'' T-Bird coach Ken Darting said. "It's what we've been playing for.''
Junior Jaret Sanchez led the T-Birds with 27 points and 10 rebounds while senior Brennon Dodge added 16 points and six rebounds and junior Deacon Pomeroy had 12 points and eight rebounds for Heights, which improved to 8-3 on the season.
Senior star David Cobin led 10-2 De Soto with 23 points and 10 rebounds.
Shawnee Heights will be back at home Friday night, hosting city rival Hayden in a non-league contest.
Bulldawgs ride Dick's 27-point night to 78-16 tournament win
Rossville's girls, No. 3-ranked in Class 3A, opened their tournament bid in the Jefferson County North Invitational Tuesday night with a 78-16 first-round win over Atchison County.
Sophoore Rylee Dick scored a career-high 27 points, including four 3-pointers, to lead the Bulldawgs while freshman Nora Burdiek added 20 points and senior Emma Mitchell 17.
Rossville opened up a 35-3 first-quarter lead and led 52-3 at the half and 71-13 at the end of the third quarter.
The Bulldawgs are scheduled to play a 6 p.m. semifinal on Friday.
Topeka West runs win streak to three games with 51-46 road win over Bobcats
Topeka West earned a 51-46 United Kansas Conference road win at Basehor-Linwood Tuesday, the Chargers' third straight victory.
Tuesday's win gave Topeka West, now 7-4, a regular-season sweep over the Bobcats.
The Chargers will be at home Friday for a UKC game against Leavenworth.
Scot boys bounce back with non-league win
Highland Park's boys bounced back from Saturday's loss in the Topeka Invitational championship game with a 66-46 non-league road victory at Eudora Tuesday night.
The Scots, ranked No. 3 in Class 5A by the KBCA, were coming off Saturday's 64-61 loss to 6A power Wichita Northwest and improved to 7-1 with the win over the Cardinals.
Junior Ja'Corey Robinson led the Scots with 19 points while junior Mikey Williams added 14 points.
Eudora hands Highland Park girls first loss
After taking four straight lopsided wins, Highland Park's girls basketball team suffered its first loss Tuesday night, with Eudora taking a 55-47 non-league win over the Scots at Eudora.
"Tough loss, but girls played well through adversity,'' Scots coach Rob Brown said. "A test we needed -- only Game 5 for us. Had a slow start but battled back in second half and started playing HP ball, which started with us turning up our defense.''
Freshman Pearmella Carter finished with 15 points and nine rebounds for Highland Park while DeAsia Sanders had 16 points and three steals.
Silver Lake girls remain unbeaten with 67-32 romp
Top-ranked (Class 3A) Silver Lake improved to 11-0 on the season with Tuesday's 67-32 non-league home win over Santa Fe Trail.
The Eagles put the game away with a 26-4 opening quarter and were in command by a huge 45-13 margin over the Chargers at the half.
Silver Lake led 64-19 at the start of the fourth quarter, forcing a running clock over the final eight minutes.
Senior Makenzie McDaniel led Silver Lake with 23 points while senior McKinley Kruger added 17 points and Kailyn Hanni and Kaylee Deiter eight points apiece.
Eagle boys take 70-59 win over Chargers
Sophomore Dayne Johnson and junior Jared Johnson combined for 42 points Tuesday night as Silver Lake recorded a 70-59 non-league home victory over Santa Fe Trail.
Dayne Johnson led all scorers with 25 points while Jared Johnson added 17 as Silver Lake improved to 7-4.
Three other Silver Lake players scored between six and eight points in the Eagle win.
Silver Lake and Santa Fe Trail were tied at 14 at the end of the first quarter before the Eagles used a 24-12 second quarter to open up a 38-26 halftime advantage.
Santa Fe Trail cut its defict to eight points at the end of the third quarter (57-49) before Silver Lake closed out the double-digit win with a 13-10 scoring edge the rest of the way.
Rural drops 55-54 nailbiter to Olathe East
Washburn Rural (4-8) dropped a 55-54 non-league decision at Olathe East Tuesday night, with the Hawks snapping the Junior Blues' two-game win streak.
Olathe East (7-5) led 26-22 at halftime.
Washburn Rural will return to action next Tuesday, hosting Blue Valley in a non-league game.