Welcome to Top Sports News
WU women to put three-game winning streak on the line at Missouri Western
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball will put its three-game winning streak on the line Saturday as the Ichabods head to St. Joseph, Mo. for a 1:30 p.m. contest against Missouri Western.
MIAA player of the week Yibari Nwidadah leads Washburn in scoring and rebounding and leads the nation in field goal percentage. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods are11-8 on the year and 5-4 in the MIAA after beginning their road swing with a 71-60 win over Northwest Missouri on Wednesday.
Missouri Western fell to 11-6 overall and 6-3 in the MIAA with a 68-62 overtime battle to Central Missouri at home on Wednesday.
Saturday's contest against Missouri Western will be the 106th all-time meeting between the two teams.
Washburn opened up the 2025 calendar year inside Lee Arena with an 88-73 win over Missouri Western, snapping the Griffons' seven-game winning streak.
Junior Yibari Nwidadah leads Washburn with a 17.8 scoring average and 7.5 rebounds while also shooting a team-high 67.0 percent from the field. Nwidadah has started all 17 games she has played in, logging 27.5 minutes per game. She has shot at or above 50.0 percent in all but one game and has four double-doubles.
The Olathe North product has the best field goal percentage in the nation while ranking second in the MIAA in points per game and eighth in rebounds. She has 15-plus points in 12 games this year. She was named the MIAA Women's Basketball Athlete of the Week on Monday for the first time in her career.
With 194 career offensive rebounds Nwidadah is seventh in program history. She needs 23 offensive boards to move up to sixth. In overall rebounds she is 15th in Washburn history with 519. Her career field goal percentage of .585 is the best in program history. In scoring she ranks 38th with 807 career points.
Thursday prep BB roundup: Vikings, T-Birds, Junior Blues advance to tournament semifinals
By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Seaman boys basketball advanced to the semifinals of Valley Center's January Jam Thursday, with the Vikings posting a 74-64 first-round win over Maize.
Junior KaeVon Bonner (3) led Seaman with 26 points in Thursday's 74-64 January Jam tournament win over Maize. [File photo/TSN]
The No. 7-ranked (Class 5A) Vikings, now 7-2, will face No. 9-ranked (6A) Olathe Northwest in an 8 p.m. semifinal Friday night.
Junior KaeVon Bonner paced Seaman with 26 points, backed by senior Bryer Finley with 17 points and junior Landon Wiltz with 10 points.
Seaman's semifinal opponent, Olathe Northwest, is also 7-2 on the season after Thursday's 58-20 tournament rout over Garden City.
Senior Deacon Pomeroy led Shawnee Heights with 16 points in Thursday's 67-39 Viking Classic win over SM West. [File photo/TSN]
T-Bird boys roll past SM West, 67-39
No. 4-ranked (Class 5A) Shawnee Heights posted a 67-39 first-round win over tournament host Shawnee Mission West Thursday in the Viking Classic, earning a 7:30 p.m. semifinal matchup with Ozark, Mo. Friday night.
The 7-2 T-Birds were led by senior Deacon Pomeroy's 16 points while senior Jaret Sanchez added 14 points and junior Tyren Parker 11.
Junior Ontarius Emmot narrowly missed double figures with 8 points while junior Da'Quan Lee had 6 points.
Ozark improved to 8-6 on the season with a 63-32 first-round win over Louisburg.
Junior Blues advance in Pittsburg tourney, 65-58
Washburn Rural improved to 7-2 on the season Thursday night with a 65-58 quarterfinal win over Joplin, Mo. in the Bill Hanson Memorial Tournament.
With Thursday's win the Junior Blues advanced to a 7:30 p.m. Friday semifinal, facing the winner of Thursday's quarterfinal between Webster Groves, Mo. and Branson, Mo.
Washburn Rural jumped out to an 18-7 first-quarter lead and held on the rest of the way as Joplin outscored Rural 51-47 over the final three quarters.
Senior Amare Jones led five double figure scorers for the Junior Blues with 15 points, followed by senior Kaden Ballard and junior Simon Rowley with 13 points apiece, junior Draden Chooncharoen with 11 points and junior John Hoytal with 10.
Both Ballard and Hoytal went 4 of 4 at the free throw line for Rural.
Junior Maddie Gragg (32) led Seaman with 16 points in Thursday's 59-44 UKC road win at De Soto. [File photo/TSN]
Seaman girls take crucial UKC road win at De Soto
Seaman, the top-ranked team in Class 5A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association, improved to a perfect 10-0 Thursday night with a 59-44 United Kansas Conference road win over No. 4-ranked De Soto.
Now 9-0 in the UKC, the Vikings posted the double-digit win over the Wildcats (9-2) after posting a 3-point 53-50 win over De Soto on Dec. 20 at Seaman.
Seaman got 16 points from junior Maddie Gragg, followed by seniors Anna Becker and Jaida Stallbaumer with 14 and 13 points, respectively.
No. 1-ranked Ichabod men rally for double-digit road win over Northwest Missouri
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 1-ranked Washburn University men's basketball team rallied from a 3-point halftime deficit, closing the game with an 8-0 run over the final 3:59 of the contest for an 80-69 win over Northwest Missouri on Wednesday in Bearcat Arena.
Sophomore Brayden Shorter recorded his first collegiate double-double with 18 points and 10 rebounds in Wednesday's 80-69 MIAA road win at Northwest Missouri. [File photo/TSN]
Sophomore Jack Bachelor scored 12 of his 17 points in the second half as undefeated and top-ranked Washburn rallied for an 80-69 MIAA win at Northwest Missouri. [File photo/TSN]
Improving to 18-0 on the season and 9-0 in the MIAA, Washburn swept the regular-season series over the Bearcats for the first time since the 2010-11 season.
The Ichabods trailed at the half (40-37) for only the second time this season and not since a 36-32 deficit against Texas Permian Basin in San Antonio on Dec. 18 in a game they rallied to win by 14 after trailing by as many as nine in the game.
Washburn shot 43 percent in the opening frame, trailing until taking an 18-17 lead over the Bearcats. A 10-1 run by the Ichabods pushed Washburn's lead to 28-20, but the two teams traded leads seven times in the opening half and Northwest took a 40-37 lead into the break on a 3-pointer at the buzzer by Emorie Knox.
Starting the second half the Bearcats stretched their lead to seven at 44-37 with 18:51 to go before Washburn chipped away at the lead and pulled within one at 46-45 after a 3-pointer by Jack Bachelor with 16:04 left.
Washburn tied the score at 52 with 13:46 to go on a jumper by Dillon Claussen and would take a 54-52 lead on a Brayden Shorter dunk.
The lead was short-lived as the Bearcats came back with a 3-pointer of their own to take a 55-54 lead on their next possession, but Washburn came right back with a jumper by Bachelor as the Ichabods regained the lead at 56-55 with 11:58 to play.
