Welcome to Top Sports News
Highland Park girls end long layoff with 42-40 win over Shawnee Mission West
By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
It had been 12 days in between Games 1 and 2 for the Highland Park Lady Scots, who lost their season-opener to Topeka West.
Rob Brown's Highland Park girls picked up their first win of the season Tuesday night at home, rallying for a 42-40 non-league win over Shawnee Mission West. [File photo/TSN]
But the Scots made the long layoff pay off with a 42-40 home non-league victory over Class 6A school Shawnee Mission West.
The game would be a tale of two halves for the Scots, who saw themselves trailing the Vikings 10-7 at the end of the first quarter and 22-12 at halftime.
But defense wins games and defense it was as the Lady Scots would come out hot and hold the Vikings to 18 total points after halftime while scoring 30 points themselves.
“At halftime, I stressed that it is going to be our defense,'' Highland Park coach Rob Brown said. "We had to make some adjustments. I stressed to them tonight that this game was going to be the first to 40 wins and I was right.
"I keep telling the girls that our defense is going to be key for us. Offense is going to take care of itself, but we have to play defense without fouling.”
The Scots got huge shots when it mattered out of senior Koralee Jones who was cold for the night and had missed her last eight shots before hitting the biggest shots of the night.
With under two minutes to go in the game Jones would hit the net to tie the game at 38 and then with a minute to go in the game Jones would come up big again for her team as she would find the basket again this time to put her team up 40-38.
“It just says a lot about her confidence that it is growing, people don’t know, this is her third year playing basketball,'' Brown said. "So her confidence has grown with every practice and every game. The girls trust her and she trusts her teammates.”
“Just reflecting off the team’s energy, we played aggressive defense and kept grinding on offense, we didn’t let ourselves get flustered and kept attacking, and my shot finally fell when it mattered,” Jones said.
Shawnee Mission West would take a timeout with 18 seconds left and hit a shot to tie the game at 40.
But the Scots would get the ball down the court and it would find it’s way into the hands of sophomore Tavvi Williams-Sanders, who scored the game-winning basket.
“She is always in the right spot and she has that little soft touch to go back up with it,” Brown said.
“It means a lot to me because I wasn’t doing so good, and at the beginning of the game I got mad, but my teammates kept motivating me and I was at the right place at the right time to hit the shot,” Williams-Sanders said.
Topeka West boys top UKC foe Piper 72-62 to remain undefeated
By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Two Class 5A state tournament teams from last season battled it out on Tuesday night, with the Topeka West boys basketball picking up the United Kansas Conference win over Piper, 72-62, moving to 4-0 on the year.
Senior Malakyah Duncan led Topeka West with 19 points as the Chargers improved to 4-0 with a 72-62 UKC win over Piper. [File photo/TSN]
Even though his team got down early in the first quarter, West coach Christian Ulsaker liked how the Chargers didn’t waver.
“Showing the veteran leadership,'' Ulsaker said. "We've got a lot of seniors and juniors who have been battle tested throughout the years at Topeka West. They’re very good at handling pressure and understanding what they need to do to get the wins.''
Piper jumped out to a 5-0 lead and it took the Chargers until the 4:35 mark to score their first bucket of the game by senior Malakyah Duncan.
The Chargers would then go on a 10-2 run thanks to a Duncan-and-one and a triple from senior Gad Munganga to push the Topeka West lead to 12-7.
However, Piper would go into the second quarter with a 17-15 lead as Kamari Knott hit a three to re-take the lead.
In the second quarter, Piper led by five, 20-15, but Munganga wouldn’t go away, knocking down another three in the right corner pocket to get West within two at 23-21.
Senior Keimani Paul would then tie it off an offensive rebound with a mini floater off the baseline, forcing a Pirates timeout with 3:28 left in the half. Paul had 15 points on the night
Both teams would trade buckets until the end of the half until Ulsaker called a timeout with nine seconds left in the half to draw up an out of bounds play and it worked for none other than Munganga, who drilled another trey to close out the first half, with Topeka West leading 30-29. Munganga finished with 14 points.
That type of game, playing in transition, kicking it out for three’s if they’re there is something the Chargers want to continue to do.
“We’re a transition team,'' said Duncan, who had a team-high 19 points. "We've got to get out and run and that’s how we get our points early in the game. That’s our thing.''
Junior Prince Lassiter was a great presence down low for the Chargers, finishing with nine points. He would get an and-one opportunity and missed the free throw, but Topeka West grabbed the offensive board and Munganga would make it 36-31.
“Overall, they threw a lot at him (Prince),'' Ulsaker said. "A lot of smaller guards trying to front him, kind of frustrate him early. They did a good job of that, I don’t know if last year Prince would’ve stayed as calm as he did.
"That’s just a testament to his maturity and his upbringing. He’s doing a great job.”
Munganga pushed the West lead to nine, 44-35, giving the Chargers their biggest lead in the third. And after a Duncan bucket to close out the quarter, the Chargers led 50-44 going to the fourth.
West would extend its lead to 10 off a Paul layup as Piper called a timeout with 5:41 left. Piper would go on a mini 6-0 run, forcing turnovers with a halfcourt press to put its deficit to 56-52.
Paul stepped up big in the final minutes of the game. He was fouled on a layup but an intentional foul was called and, made one of two free throws and the Chargers got the ball back but didn’t capitalize on the opportunity for more points turning the ball over, leading 63-52.
Chargers fall in United Kansas Conference tilt to Piper
By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Topeka West girls basketball had a tough time against Piper at home on Tuesday night, falling to 1-4 on the year, 60-31.
Junior Sydney VanDyke scored eight points to tie for team-high scoring honors in Topeka West's 60-31 UKC loss to Piper Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
The Chargers began the game with five straight turnovers but luckily for Topeka West that only led to four Pirates points.
The full court pressure from Piper caused fits for Topeka West the whole first half, holding the Chargers almost four minutes without any points in the first quarter as Piper led 6-2.
Topeka West got it to 8-7 on a 3-pointer from Patience Allen, who ended with five points, but Piper ended the quarter on top 15-9 which could’ve been more if Piper knocked down more free throws after being in the bonus for the last half of the quarter.
“After that first quarter the girls settled down a little bit,'' Topeka West coach Angie Ketterman said. "We knew Piper coming in was going to be very fast and we really focused on making sure we’re getting back all the way to slow them, down which I thought we did for most of the game. We missed a lot of easy shots that we normally make.''
The Pirates then put their foot on the gas pedal, extending their lead to 20-9 off an Angela Walker three on the left wing, finishing with five points. They got up to 24-9 forcing a Topeka West timeout at the 4:04 mark, securing a 9-0 run.
The Chargers got it back to 14 off a Aveah McGlory three but Piper in transition immediately drilled a three of their own to bring the lead back to 17. Piper would take the 31-13 lead into halftime, holding the Chargers to just four points in the quarter.
The rest of the game, Piper was in complete control and never looked back. They got their lead up to 31, 55-24 in the fourth quarter and that would make it a running clock for the rest of the game with seven minutes left. The biggest lead was 32 at one point, 58-26.
Teairra Gonzales and Sydney VanDyke both finished with a team-high eight points for the Chargers.
Despite the 1-4 start, they can use this as a learning lesson.
“We’ve got some young girls rotating in and for them to see that pace of the game and that level that they have to get to, these first couple of games we’ve played they’ve had to step up with that and I think they did that. The scoreboard seemed a lot closer to us because I feel like we were getting back, they were doing the things that we asked them to do, our stuff just wasn’t falling,” Ketterman said.
PIPER 60, TOPEKA WEST 31
Piper 15 16 18 10 -- 60
Topeka West 9 4 11 7 -- 31
Topeka West 1-4 - Allen 2-2 0-0 5, Gonzales 2-2 3-4 8, Traylor 0-2 1-2 1, VanDyke 3-8 2-5 8, Hall 0-0, 4-4 4, Perkins 1-1 0-0 2, McGlory 1-1 0-0 3.
Piper 4-1 - Bendetto 1-2 7, McPherson 2-2 4, McCallop 3-4 17, Kolenda 0-0 2, Hollinshed 6-7 14, Walker 0-0 5, Gerber 0-2, 10
3-point goals – Piper 3 (McCallop 2 Walker 1) Topeka West 3 (Allen 1, Gonzales 1, McGlory 1). Total fouls – Piper 16, Topeka West 14. Fouled out – Ogles. Technical fouls -- none.
