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By JUSTIN BURKHARDT

TopSports.news

Topeka West, winners of three of its last four games, hosted the Lansing Lions in a United Kansas Conference matchup Tuesday night, looking to keep its momentum going.

Senior Teairra Gonzales led a balanced attack with 14 points in Topeka West's 52-16 home UKC win over Lansing Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]

And the Chargers achieved that goal in dominant fashion, rolling to a 52-16 victory.

“We have been playing some good basketball here lately,” said West coach Angie Ketterman.

The Chargers got off to a strong start as senior Patience Allen opened the scoring with two free throws for the early lead.

Lansing answered with a 3-pointer to briefly go ahead, but Allen quickly responded with a personal 6-0 run to give West a 9-5 advantage.

Teairra Gonzales then added five quick points to push the lead to 15-5 at the end of the first quarter.

Allen scored eight of her 13 points in the opening frame.

“I was getting open looks, and coach had been telling me that I need to be more aggressive and if I am open to take the shot,” Allen said.

Lansing struck first in the second quarter, but the Chargers responded with a 15-5 run.

Gonzales led the charge, scoring seven of her game-high 14 points in the quarter.

“Coach kept telling us to get off to a big start and go from there, get open looks and be aggressive,” Gonzales said.

Topeka West took a commanding 30-10 lead into the locker room at halftime.

Allen and Gonzales continued their strong play in the third quarter, helping spark a 6-0 run before Lansing finally broke through to make it 36-12.

The Chargers outscored the Lions 8-3 the rest of the period to extend the lead to 44-15 heading into the fourth quarter, triggering a running clock and all but sealing the victory.

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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Topeka High girls basketball took control early Tuesday night and never looked back, avenging an earlier 11-point Centennial League loss to Hayden with a 59-47 league romp past the Wildcats at The Dungeon.

Junior Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton scored a game-high 23 points in Tuesday's 59-47 Topeka High win over Hayden. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

The Trojans, who topped the .500 mark for the first time this season, only trailed once on the night, at 3-2, and there was just one tie, at 6-6, before Topeka High, now 9-8 overall and 4-2 in the league, scored the final eight points of the opening quarter to go up 14-6.

Topeka High went on to open up a 14-point advantage (27-13) before Hayden (13-5, 4-2) scored the final seven points of the half to cut its deficit to 27-20.

But the Trojans scored the first four points of the third quarter to go back in front by double-digits and led by 14 twice before taking an 11-point (45-34) advantage at the end of the third quarter and led by as many as 17 early in the fourth.

"It's always nice to get a good start,'' Topeka High coach Ron Slaymaker said. "Every coach would say that, but if you don't you don't fold your tent, but it's nice to get it and I thought we played with energy and all the things you want to play with in any game.

"And we just kept it going, pretty much through the whole game.'' 

Sophomore Hailey Caryl (40) scored 15 points Tuesday as Topeka High improved to 9-8 with a 59-47 win over Hayden. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Junior Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton paced the Trojans with a game-high 23 points while sophomore Hailey Caryl added 15 points and all seven Topeka High players that saw action cracked the scoring column as High won its third straight game.

"They're playing really well right now,'' Slaymaker said.

Sophomore Hailey Schmidtlein led Hayden with 14 points in Tuesday's 59-47 loss at Topeka High. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Hayden sophomore Hailey Schmidtlein overcame a slow start to lead the Wildcats with 14 points while senior Ella Foster and sophomore Blakely Walter added 11 each.

Foster helped keep the Wildcats in the hunt with three 3-pointers while Schmidtlein and Walter both connected on two treys.

Topeka High will go on the road Thursday for a non-league game against Seaman, which handed the Trojans a 75-60 loss in the final round of the Capital City Classic on Jan. 31.

Hayden will return to action Friday with a Centennial League game at Emporia.

TOPEKA HIGH GIRLS 59, HAYDEN 47

Hayden          6 14 14 13  -- 47

Topeka High 14 13 18 14 -- 59

Hayden (13-5, 4-2) – Walter 4-9 1-2 11, Schmidtlein 5-12 2-2 14, Foster 3-5 2-2 11, Huscher 0-2 0-0 0, Watts 0-1 0-0 0, Wichman 1-1 0-0 2, Mitchell 0-4 1-2 1, Borjon 1-3 0-0 3, Connell 2-7 1-2 5. Totals 16-44 7-10 47. 

Topeka High (9-8, 4-2) – Short 3-4 0-0 6, Marshall 1-3 0-0 2, Rayton 8-21 6-7 23, Caryl 6-7 2-4 15, Gotru 2-3 2-2 6, Triplett 1-2 1-1 3, Whayne 1-2 1-2 4. Totals 22-42 12-16 59.

3-point goals – Hayden 8 (Foster 3, Walter 2, Schmidtlein 2, Borjon), Topeka High 4 (Rayton 2, Marshall, Short). Total fouls – Hayden 6, Topeka High 9. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- none.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

For three quarters Tuesday night at Topeka High, Hayden's boys basketball team played as well as it has in Dwayne Anthony's two seasons at the school.

Senior Connor Hanika scored 20 points and grabbed 12 rebounds in Hayden's 64-59 Centennial League win at Topeka High Tuesday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

And over the final seven minutes or so, the Wildcats gave their coach plenty of things to address when they return to practice.

But after letting a 21-point advantage early in the fourth quarter get down to a one-possession game in the closing seconds, Hayden escaped with a 64-59 Centennial League sweep over Topeka High, with the Wildcats completing a season sweep over the Trojans.

"It got crazy, thank God for timeouts,'' Anthony said. "My guys are just learning how to play basketball, and I mean at a level that we want to play. And it doesn't always look pretty.

"We did good for the first three quarters and then that fourth quarter we get a little shaky, then the intensity comes up, and we've got to go back and talk about it tomorrow and just to continue to level up.'' 

Hayden, which had taken a 16-point win over High earlier in the season, took it to the Trojans again in the rematch, with the Wildcats never trailing en route to improving to 9-9 overall and 2-4 in the league.

But after using a 20-9 second quarter to open up a 29-17 halftime behind a big 14-point, eight-rebound first half from senior Connor Hanika, Hayden boosted its lead to 21 points late in the third quarter and led 48-29 at the start of the final period.

"The guys came out and executed what we planned,'' Anthony said. "I tell the guys that it's a simple game, and when they embrace that and give their energy, it's a lot of fun for us.

"But sometimes the energy wanes or the thought process wanes and that's where we have to get better.''

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