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By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn University women's basketball didn't have a great offensive night Wednesday against Northwest Missouri, shooting 31.5 percent while scoring just 45 points.

But thanks to an outstanding defensive effort, that was enough for the Ichabods to stretch their winning streak to three games with a 45-38 MIAA win over the Bearcats at Lee Arena.

Senior Payton Sterk scored a game-high 16 points in Wednesday's 45-38 Washburn home MIAA win over Northwest Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

"I think that's a credit to both teams,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said of the low-scoring contest. "Both teams are just not going to give you what you want. We both have a couple of things we do really well and we're both not going to give it to the other one, so you just hope that you get enough breaks and enough toughness plays to find a way and that's why I'm proud of my players because they did tonight.'' 

Playing at home for the first time in almost two weeks, Washburn improved to 13-5 overall and 6-3 in the MIAA while avenging an earlier double-overtime loss to Northwest.

"You don't ever want to get swept in league and they're a good team and they're going to get some people, so we really needed to get this one back to make sure we didn't get swept and we're thankful for home court,'' Westling said.

Washburn trailed Northwest Missouri (10-9, 3-6) 16-9 at the end of the opening quarter.   

The Bearcats still held a 21-15 advantage with 6:27 left in the opening half, but the Ichabods held Northwest scorelss for the remainder of the second quarter and finished the half on a 9-0 run to take a 24-21 lead into the locker room at the break.  

Northwest Missouri scored five points in the first two minutes of the second half to go in front, but were held to just four points the rest of the quarter.

A pair of jumpers by senior Payton Sterk put Washburn in front by four points before the Bearcats scored the final four to tie the game at 30 going to the fourth.  

A pair of 3-pointers from seniors Aniah Wayne and Gavi Giovannetti opened the fourth quarter for Washburn, with the second trey putting the Ichabods in front, 36-35. 

Northwest Missouri knocked down a 3-pointer to tie the game at 38 with 5:51 left but once again the Bearcats were held scoreless for more than five minutes.

Sterk knocked down what would be the go-ahead bucket with 3:18 remaining to start a 7-0 finish that finished off Washburn's seven-point win.  

Washburn won despite shooting hitting just 17 of 54 shots from the floor and 3 of 10 attempts from 3-point range as the Ichabod defense limited the Bearcats to 27.5 percent shooting while going 5 of 19 from behind the arc.  

Rebounding also went in favor of the Ichabods, 42-33, while Washburn held the visitors to zero fast break points and just five second-chance points.

Senior Yibari Nwidadah recorded a double-double with 13 points and 16 rebounds in Wednesday's 45-38 MIAA win over Northwest Missouri. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]  

Ichabod senior Yibari Nwidadah tied her career-high with 16 rebounds while scoring 13 points.

"I just go into pursuit,'' Nwidadah said of her big rebounding night. "I feel like we had really great perimeter defense and not letting their two shooters get hot. Their shots created long rebounds so I was just going to get it.

"We learned from (the earlier loss) and we executed better and that was our goal. We talk a lot about holding teams under 60, so we did a really good job there, and we take pride (in defense) because it fuels our offense. We just put a lot of energy into our defense.'' 

Sterk scored a game-high 16 points on seven of 13 shooting from the field.

Normally a shooting guard, Sterk saw a lot of time Wednesday night running the WU offense from the point guard position.

"Good for Payton for stepping up,'' Westling said. "She just wants to win. That's the thing about Payton, she'd play post if I asked her to.'' 

Sterk said she played the point earlier in her career, so Wednesday's stint wasn't completely foreign for her.

"I haven't done it in awhile, but it was good,'' Sterk said. "It's a little nerve-wracking at first once I get back into it, but it seemed to work.''

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By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

Washburn Rural girls basketball didn’t have it easy against Lawrence Tuesday night at Rural, but the Junior Blues picked up their seventh victory of the season, 45-40.

 

Freshman Brynn Anderson led Washburn Rural with 20 points in Tuesday's 45-40 home win over Lawrence. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

 In the first half, it was a struggle for both teams to find a rhythm of any kind.

“I think we were a little unsure of what we were supposed to be doing on offense, but I do think our defense was pretty decent,” Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. “That’s not the same Lawrence team that we’ve seen for several games. They were really aggressive, I thought they were solid. They had a great gameplan against us.

 

"We just weren't in sync with each other. We got out of it and hit some shots that we normally make but some didn’t fall early on.”

Both teams had trouble breaking the zone defense and they were sloppy with their possessions, turning it over several times and could not get many shots to fall, resulting in a low scoring first half.

Rural also had a problem with 6-foot-1 Lawrence junior Cami Nauholz in the paint, clogging the paint, blocking shots and making her presence felt on the other end to keep the Lions in the hunt, finishing with a team-high 19 points.

The first quarter ended with Rural up 6-5 as the Junior Blues hit a couple of shots to get things going. They led 10-5, their biggest lead of the game until Lawrence got it to within one.

Freshman Kamryn Smith drilled one from distance for Rural, making it 13-9 but then the Lions would tie it up at 13 late in the half thanks to Nauholz. After Rural freshman Brynn Anderson hit a three, Lawrence got one on the next possession, but the Junior Blues went into the break up three, 19-16.

After trading 3-point buckets to begin the third quarter, Rural senior Ella Hirschi, who finished with 12 points, drove to the paint and nailed a floater, putting Rural up 24-19, tying their biggest lead of the game.

Lawrence then went on a 9-0 run, capped by a Macyn Ramsey triple, and the Lions went up 28-24 and led 28-26 heading into the fourth quarter.

In the fourth, a couple of threes from senior Josie Carlgen and Hirschi, it was 32-32 all. Anderson, who finished with a game-high 20 points knocked down a deep three pushing the lead to five again, 38-33.

“Not really thrilled the way she got in foul trouble the way she did, but she’s still a freshman and still learning and nobody will take it to heart more than her,'' Bordewick said. "She’s a kid who is willing to learn and works hard to get there, but Kamryn Smith and Allie Hinck (who are also freshman) came in and gave us some great minutes.''

 

“We can’t score without getting stops on defense, so I feel like our team did a good job of getting stops and I was able to put some shots in and Josie hit some big shots and the other girls are working hard. Hallie (Walker) had 11 rebounds. It was a team effort and our defense kept us in the game,” Anderson said.

Ella Hirschi scored 12 points, including two game-clenching free throws, in Tuesday's 45-40 Washburn Rural win over Lawrence. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

The Lions brought it to within one again, 40-39 but Anderson converted an and-one opportunity with 30 seconds left and then Hirschi hit two free throws to put the icing on the cake.

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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 BOYS 74, BASEHOR-LINWOOD 50

Basehor-Linwood 9 16 9 16  -- 50

Topeka West      16 15 13 30  -- 74

Basehor-Linwood (6-6, 3-5) – Brown 2-7 2-2 6, Morrison 2-5 0-0 4, Hofer 1-4 0-0 3, Young 4-9 4-4 15, Calvert 4-10 0-0 8, Hutchinson 2-2 3-4 9, Peek 0-0 0-0 0, Nixon 1-4 0-0 2, Elliott 1-1 0-0 3, Hannah 0-1 0-0 0, Ashley 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-43 9-10 50. 

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.

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