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A1 Lock & Key Performers Dec. 15, 2025
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Austin Broadie
AUSTIN BROADIE, Washburn University
A 6-foot senior rightside hitter, Broadie was named a first-team All-American by the American Volleyball Coaches Association after helping lead the Ichabods to a share of the Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association regular-season title and the second round of the NCAA Tournament. The MIAA Player of the Year, Broadie registered 348 kills on the year with a .302 hitting percentage, 72 blocks and 72 digs.
Dillon Claussen
DILLON CLAUSSEN, Washburn University
Claussen, a 6-foot-8 sophomore, scored 21 points with 7 rebounds, 4 assists and 4 blocked shots Saturday as No. 2-ranked Washburn men's basketball improved to 11-0 on the season with a 78-72 double-overtime Mid-America Intercollegiate Athletics Association victory over Central Missouri in Lee Arena.
Malakyah Duncan
MALAKYAH DUNCAN, Topeka West
Duncan, a senior basketball standout, scored 23 points Friday, hitting 8 of 11 shots from the floor and 7 of 11 free throws, as No. 4-ranked (Class 5A) Topeka West remained unbeaten with a 71-57 United Kansas Conference road romp past No. 2-ranked Seaman. Duncan scored 17 points earlier in the week as the Chargers posted a 79-44 non-league win over Shawnee Mission West.
Rural girls fall short to Liberty in De Soto tournament championship game, 47-46
By CHARLES SPURLOCK
Special to TopSports.news
DESOTO -- The Washburn Rural girls battled the Liberty, Mo. Blue Jays in the championship game of the DeSoto Hardwood Classic on Saturday afternoon.
In a game of ebbs and flows, Liberty won the closely contested title game, 47-46.
Washburn Rural came out of locker room for the start of the game on absolute fire. Senior Ella Hirschi scored the first eight points with two 3-pointers, causing Liberty to take a timeout with 5:25 left in the opening quarter. Freshman Brynn Anderson joined the scoring column with a basket to extend the lead to 10-0 before the Blue Jays scored their first basket with 4:12 remaining in the quarter. The teams exchanged points over the last four minutes and the Junior Blues led 14-5 after the first eight minutes.
The second quarter represented a flip of the script, with Liberty taking control throughout the second quarter while Washburn Rural committed seven turnovers. The Blue Jays outscored the Junior Blues 11-4 over the first four minutes, cutting the Rural lead to 18-16. Liberty took its first lead of the game with a little over a minute remaining before halftime at 20-19 on a basket by senior Enslie Dryer. The Blue Jays finished the half on a 13-3 run to take a 26-21 advantage to the locker room.
The third quarter saw Liberty extended its lead to seven points on three different occasions while Washburn Rural could get no closer than five points in the entire quarter. Liberty junior Elecea Norman scored 10 points in the quarter, including the final six, giving Liberty a 41-32 lead heading into the final stanza.
Over the first 3 minutes, 17 seconds of the fourth quarter, Washburn Rural was able to cut the lead to 45-41, coming from senior Josie Carlgren’s six points, a Anderson bucket and a free throw by senior Hallie Walker.
After holding Liberty scoreless for almost three minutes, Anderson scored five straight points, with the last bucket being a step-back three pointer, giving Rural the lead, 46-45. The teams traded scoreless possessions over the next minute and Liberty’s Enslie Dryer hit a layup with 20 seconds remaining to give Liberty the 47-46 lead. The Junior Blues had multiple chances over the final 20 seconds, but couldn’t get a shot to fall.
Washburn Rural was led by Brynn Anderson’s 22 points and six rebounds. Hirschi was the only other Rural player in double figures with 12 points. Walker pulled down 10 rebounds.
Jennies hand Ichabod women first MIAA loss, 67-56
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball played the entire fourth quarter without senior star Yibari Nwidadah as Central Missouri pulled away down the stretch for a 67-56 MIAA win over the Ichabods Saturday in Lee Arena.
Junior Madelyn Amekporfor led Washburn with 16 points, including three 3-pointers, in Saturday's 67-56 loss to Central Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Nwidadah, Washburn's leading scorer and rebounder, did not return after hitting her head on the floor after a collision late in the third quarter, but Ichabod coach Lora Westling refused to use Nwidadah's injury as an excuse as WU suffered its first conference loss.
"They're a big team, we knew that, and I think I'm most frustrated by just our lack of awareness,'' Westling said. "We knew what they were going to do and we let them to do it, and I think that's just poor execution of our game plan because we had some counters to their size, we didn't execute it.
"I thought we were really selfish tonight and trying to do a lot on our own. We've been doing a good job of getting into 17, 18 assists a game and we were back to eight tonight because we were trying to do too much. We just didn't have enough juice and energy and we can make all the execuses we want, but at the end of the day we didn't show up tonight and you're not going to beat anybody like that, let alone a really good team like Central.''
The Jennies (6-3 overall, 2-1 MIAA) opened the game with the first five points, but Washburn (6-3, 2-1) was able to get going offensively, pulling ahead at 10-9 after a layup by Gabi Giovannetti at the 2:46 mark. Central Missouri kept connecting from outside, hitting 4 of 6 shots from 3-point range in the quarter to lead 18-12 after 10 minutes.
Both sides traded baskets to begin the second quarter, the Ichabods pulled within three points after a steal and score by Nwidadah at the 5:02 mark. The Washburn offense bounced back after a slow first quarter to shoot 50.0 percent in the second.
The Ichabods went in front briefly in the final minute of the half after Payton Sterk hit a pair of free throws. The Jennies hit a free throw on the other end to forge a 29-29 tie at halftime.
Washburn got five straight points from Aniah Wayne to go up 39-35 with 5:23 remaining in the third quarter, but the next six points came from the Jennies, who would lead by 45-42 heading to the fourth quarter.
Sterk hit a jumper with 7:29 to go in regulation that tied the game up at 45, but the Ichabod offense slowed down while Central Missouri scored the next 10 points to lead by double figures inside of five minutes remaining.
