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Topeka West girls open season with 68-45 romp past city rival Highland Park
By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
It was the first game of the season for both teams Wednesday night as the Highland Park Lady Scots would host the Topeka West Lady Chargers in a city rivalry.
Senior Addaline Hall scored 22 points with four 3-pointers in Wednesday's 68-45 win over Highland Park. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Last season the Chargers and Scott each beat each other once.
But this year there are changes with both teams as the leading scorers for both the Chargers and Scot transferred to Shawnee Heights, leaving both teams looking for new faces to lead them this season.
Wednesday's game would get under way with it needing two jump balls as both teams where full of excitement to get underway.
The Chargers would get the first basket of the season and take an early 4-0 lead but the Scots would bounce back and hit a layup and then a 3-pointer and take a 5-4 lead before West answered with a 7-0 run to go up 11-5 to end the first quarter with a 11-8 lead.
The Scots would answer the call to start the second quarter and go up 12-11, but that would be all it wrote for the Lady Scots as they would go cold and be held scoreless for the final 2 minutes before halftime as the Chargers would take 30-24 halftime lead.
The Chargers would come out of the locker room at halftime with urgency as they would play defense and force the Lady Scots to commit turnovers and take bad shots.
West would hold the Lady Scots scoreless until the 3-minute mark in the third, outscoring them 18-5 in the third quarter to take a 48-29 lead into the fourth.
“We talked about it at halftime, turning the defensive pressure back up, and the girls came out ready,'' West coach Angie Ketterman said. "They all stuck together as a team. They didn’t care when we were subbing in and out. It was a family team atmosphere and it looked good.”
The Lady Scots would try to chase the Chargers down in the fourth but could never get close as the Chargers would get the win, 68-45.
“They all came together as a team,'' Ketterman said. "We had freshman playing, we had sophomores, juniors and seniors all playing. And they all contributed to everything we did tonight. That’s what was so good about tonight.”
The Chargers got a huge night from 5-foot-10 senior Addaline Hall as she would lead all scorers on the night with 22 points with four 3-pointers.
“She’s tough, she’s not tall but she is tough, she can hang with the big girls on the inside.” Ketterman said.
“The adrenaline was really going for our first game, so every possession after we got going was helpful,'' Hall said. "The freshmen really came in and helped a lot as well.”
“It was the Chipotle before the game.”
The Chargers returned three seniors with plenty of varsity experience in Hall, Teairra Gonzalez and Breonnah Keeling. Keeling was already scheduled for surgery on her left knee and would fall hard on her right knee and would come out of the game and is most likely done for the season.
Teairra Gonzales scored 10 points in Wednesday's 68-45 Topeka West win over Highland Park. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Teairra Gonzalez would put 10 points on the board for the Chargers.
Ice-cold fourth quarter foils Trojan girls in 67-46 loss to Wamego
By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
An ice-cold fourth period doomed the Topeka High girls’ first effort of the season Thursday. A five-minute scoreless stretch let the visiting Wamego Lady Raiders get away with a 67-46 opening-night victory.
Junior Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton led Topeka High with 26 points in Thursday's 67-46 season-opening loss to Wamego. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]Caption Text
The Trojans trailed essentially they entire game, but they kept the deficit around five points most of the night. They trailed 41-36 to begin the fourth period. But Wamego reeled off a 16-0 run that was not broken until the 3:00 mark, at which point the game was out of reach for Topeka High.
Having finished 14-8 a year ago and returning a number of key veterans, it was not the start the Trojans hoped for.
“We’re not making excuses,” Trojan coach Ron Slaymaker said about the debut performance. “Wamego was pretty good. They’ve got good depth and they shot really well. So, you’ve got to give them some credit.”
Topeka High senior Keimara Marshall scored 12 points in Thursday's season-opening 67-46 loss to Wamego. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Trojans were led by junior Ahsieryrhuajh Rayton’s 26 and senior Keimara Marshall’s 12. But they struggled to get production beyond the two starting guards.
Sophomore forward Hailey Caryl, a returning starter who is an important rebounder and defender in the paint, spent the game on the sideline wearing a boot.
“Without Hailey in there, we have to put some people in spots where they don’t belong,” Slaymaker said. “We get past one or two people and we get pretty short. For 32 minutes, that catches up with you. But they know that with Hailey being out, that’s only an excuse. In sports, you’ve got to play without somebody sometimes. Everybody else has to pick up their slack. I don’t think we did that.”
No. 6 seed WU rolls to 3-0 sweep over No. 3 Wayne State in NCAA tourney opener
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No. 6 seed Washburn started hot and stayed hot Thursday morning to pull off a 3-0 sweep over No. 3 seed Wayne State College in the quarterfinal round of the NCAA Central Regional in Kearney, Neb.
No. 6 seed Washburn advanced to the second round of the NCAA volleyball tournament with a 3-0 sweep over No. 3 seed Wayne State. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
The Ichabods will face No. 2 seed Concordia-St. Paul in the regional semifinals at 4 p.m. on Friday.
Friday marked the second straight season that Washburn defeated the region's No. 3 seed as the No. 6 seed in the tournament.
Washburn (27-4) won the opening set, 25-16. The Ichabods kept rolling in a 25-14 second-set win before closing out the match with a come-from-behind 25-22 win over the Wildcats (27-5).
From point one the Ichabods led, quickly building a 5-1 lead after Keilah Rivers slashed a kill. Wayne State battled to tie the set at 11, but Washburn responded by winning six of the next eight points to go in front 17-13 after a Brynne Topolski kill. Another kill by Topolski started what would become an 8-1 run to end the first set.
The momentum carried over into the second set with Washburn in front 8-1 after an ace by Rivers. A 5-0 run shortly after put the lead into double-figures at 13-3. Autumn Gibbs served an ace that made it 18-7 as the Ichabods continued to roll. Brooklyn Morrisey finished off the set at 25-14 with a kill on a dish by Sydney Conner.
The Wildcats found some life early in the third set, jumping out to a 7-3 lead that grew to 13-6 after four straight points. Kills by Emery Keebaugh and Austin Broadie started a 5-0 rally for the Ichabods but the Ichabods were met by four points in a row from Wayne State.
Washburn trailed by as many as six more than midway through the set but would battle all the way back and tie things up at 20 after Keebaugh slashed another kill. From that point it was all Washburn as they finished the match on a 5-2 run with back-to-back kills by Broadie to move on.
