Lassiter scores career-high 25 points as West takes 74-50 UKC win over Bobcats
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Prince Lassister, the lone underclassman in Topeka West's starting lineup, has been good all season for the No. 2-ranked Chargers.
Junior Prince Lassiter scored a career-high 25 points in Topeka West's 74-50 home UKC win over Basehor-Linwood. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
But the 6-foot-6 junior frontliner stepped up his game another couple of notches on Tuesday night, scoring a career-high 25 points as the Chargers improved to 9-2 overall and 8-1 in the United Kansas Conference with a 74-50 home win over Basehor-Linwood.
Lassiter hit 10 of 14 shots from the field and five of seven free throws on the night as the Chargers tuned up for the Topeka Invitational Tournament Thursday through Friday at Highland Park with the 24-point victory.
"We always like to attack the rim,'' Lassiter said. "I know a lot of teams like to shoot a lot, but we like to get the easy buckets all the time, especially when we're taller than a lot of teams, we like to use that to our advantage.''
"We've been talking for about a week and a half about transition, pitching ahead, and if we don't have anything we're trying to get it inside to the big fella,'' Topeka West coach Christian Ulsaker said. "He's a great basketball player and he understands that if teams are doubling him he's going to kick it and find somebody.
"I'm so happy for Prince. I love seeing that from him.''
Topeka West went wire to wire for Tuesday's win, opening the game with an 8-0 run, capped by a Lassiter hoop, and he added back-to-back traditional three-point plays later in the quarter as the Chargers went up 14-5.
Basehor-Linwood (6-6, 3-5) was able to stay within striking distance of West in the first half, trailing 31-25 at the break, but the Chargers boosted their lead to double-digits (44-34) by the end of the third quarter and used a 30-point fourth quarter to pull away for the 24-point victory, West's biggest lead of the night.
Topeka West senior Keimani Paul scored 16 points in the Chargers' 74-50 UKC home win over Basehor-Linwood Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
Lassiter was one of four double-figure scorers for Topeka West, with senior Keimani Paul adding 16 points and Jay'Veon Traylor and Malakyah Duncan 13 each.
After opening the season with five straight wins, the Chargers had gone a so-so 3-2 over their previous five games before turning in a very solid performance against the Bobcats.
"We got back to the standard,'' Ulsaker said. "I told them tonight was the best energy, effort and toughness I've seen all year and this was a pretty dang good Basehor team. They're very physical, they do what they need to do offensively and defensively and I'm very proud of my players.
"Regardless if the shots are falling or not, they're doing what you need to do to win championships.''
Senior Chase Young paced Basehor-Linwood with 15 points, the lone Bobcat in double figures.
Topeka West will begin its bid for the Topeka Invitational Tournament championship at 6:30 p.m. Thursday against St. Thomas Aquinas after finishing second in 2025.
"I'm thrilled, especially this year,'' Lassiter said. "We're going for the championship. We want to win it all this year.''
Topeka West (9-2, 8-1) – Munganga 1-3 0-0 3, Traylor 5-8 2-2 13, Duncan 5-10 2-4 13, Paul 4-9 7-8 16, Lassiter 10-14 5-7 25, Phillips 0-2 0-0 0, Fox 1-3 0-0 2, Ware 0-1 0-0 0, Doby 0-1 2-2 2, Lloyd 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 26-51 18-23 74.
3-point goals – Basehor-Linwood 7 (Young 3, Hutchinson 2, Hofer, Elliott), Topeka West 4 (Munganga, Traylor, Duncan, Paul). Total fouls – Basehor-Linwood 20, Topeka West 14. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- Lassiter.
Bobcats ride dominating start to 77-31 UKC win over Chargers
Visiting Basehor-Linwood scored the first 10 points of the game Tuesday night and hit Topeka West with a 29-5 first quarter on the way to a 77-31 United Kansas Conference rout over the Chargers.
Topeka West junior Sydney VanDyke (5) scored 14 points and grabbed eight rebounds in Tuesday's 77-31 UKC loss to Basehor-Linwood. [File photo/TSN]
The Chargers, now 2-9 and 1-8 in the UKC, had trouble handling the Bobcats' pressure defense, with West finishing the night with 28 turnovers, including 11 in the opening quarter.
Rossville girls, Cair Paravel boys open tournament week with big wins
By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
The Rossville girls and Cair Paravel Latin boys basketball teams got tournament week off to a rousing start with a pair of big wins on Monday.
Rossville opened its girls title bid in the Jefferson County North Invitational with a 60-22 first-round win over the tournament hosts while Cair Paravel's boys rolled to a 64-30 first-round win over West Franklin in the Flint Hills League tournament at Emporia's White Auditorium.
Senior Rylee Dick scored 27 points Monday against JCN to move into the No. 3 spot on Rossville's all-time scoring list. [File photo/TSN]
Lady Bulldawg senior Rylee Dick scored 27 points in Rossville's win over JCN, moving into the No. 3 spot on Rossville's career scoring list with 1,281 points.
Rossville junior Nora Burdiek added 23 points as the Bulldawgs advanced to a 6 p.m. semifinal on Wednesday.
Cair Paravel's boys, playing West Franklin for the second straight game, took control early with a 19-7 first quarter before opening up a 39-16 halftime advantage.
Blaine Durbin led Cair Paravel with 17 points while Lucas Marichal added 14 points and Caleb Cleverson 13 with three 3-pointers.
Now 9-2 on the season, CPLS will play a semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Thursday against Lyndon.
Other area tournament pairings:
TOPEKA INVITATIONAL TOURNAMENT
BOYS
At Highland Park
Thursday
3:30 p.m. -- Topeka High vs. Shawnee Mission East.
5 -- Lansing vs. Shawnee Mission North.
6:30 -- Topeka West vs. St. Thomas Aquinas.
8 -- Highland Park vs. Wichita Northwest.
Friday
3:30 p.m. -- Topeka High-SM East loser vs. Lansing-SM North loser.
5 -- Topeka West-St. Thomas Aquinas loser vs. High-Wichita Northwest loser.
6:30 -- Topeka High-East winner vs. Lansing-SM North winner.
8 -- Topeka West-St. Thomas Aquinas winner vs. Highland Park-Wichita Northwest winner.
Saturday
10 a.m. -- Fifth place (main gym); Seventh place (South gym).
WU women's basketball returns to Lee Arena Wednesday after long road trip
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn women's basketball will be back in Lee Arena for the first time in almost three weeks Wednesday, hosting Northwest Missouri State at 5:30 p.m.
Lora Westling's Washburn women's basketball team returns home Thursday after a four-game road trip. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn, 12-5 overall, 5-3 in the MIAA after a 69-55 win at Newman on Saturday, will be looking to avenge a 65-61 double-overtime loss to the Bearcats 11 days ago.
Northwest Missouri State is 10-8 overall and 3-5 in the conference after a 60-46 loss to No. 6-ranked Fort Hays State last time out at home.
Senior Yibari Nwidadah is averaging a team-high 13.2 points and 7.6 rebounds for the Ichabods while also shooting a team-high 57.9 percent from the floor.
With 274 career offensive rebounds Nwidadah is third in program history and she ranks sixth in overall rebounding with 745 career boards. Her career field goal percentage of .580 is the second best in program history and Nwidadah ranks 13th among all Ichabods with 1,203 career points.
Senior Payton Sterk is averaging 11.4 points and has hit a team-high 28 3-pointers for Washburn while senior Gabi Giovannetti averages 11.1 points with 26 3-pointers. She also averages a team-high 1.8 steals.
Giovannetti led Washburn with 19 points in the earlier loss to Northwest.
Senior Aniah Wayne has come off the bench in every game this season, playing 19.6 minutes per game and averaging 6.3 points. Wayne is coming off a big week last week, scoring 17 points in the Ichabods' Thursday night win at Emporia State and 13 points with four 3-pointers in Saturday's win over Newman.
Ichabod junior Kellyn Hunter also scored 13 points off the bench against the Jets, her Washburn career high.
Andrea Lopreato leads Northwest in scoring at 12.7 points per game on 36.5 percent shooting while also leading the Bearcats with 1.6 steals per game and averaging 4.8 rebounds and 2.2 assists.
Bailey Birmingham is averaging 10.8 points while hitting a team-high 42 3-pointers.
Washburn has a 63-16 advantage in the all-time series with Northwest.
The Ichabods are 35-5 against the Bearcats in Topeka.
Washburn will host Missouri Western at 1 p.m. on Saturday. The Ichabods dropped a 75-67 loss at Western in the first game of the Ichabods' recent road trip.
Lora Westling's Washburn women's basketball team returns home Thursday after a four-game road trip. [File photo/TSN]
