Washburn women ride 31-point game from Sterk to 87-60 road win
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball got a 31-point day from Payton Sterk and hit 15 3-pointers in Saturday's 87-60 MIAA win at Rogers State.
PaytonSterk scored 31 points with seven 3-pointers in Washburn's 87-60 road win at Rogers State on Saturday. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn, now 19-7 overall and 12-5 in the conference, posted its fourth straight victory while surpassing last season's win total and reaching a high-water mark for victories in Lora Westling's four seasons as the Ichabods' coach.
Washburn scored its first 12 points of the day on 3-pointers to lead 12-8 midway through the first quarter.
Offense for both sides came easy in the first quarter as the Ichabods were able to out-pace the Hillcats (9-17, 6-11) and lead 18-16 at the start of the second quarter.
Washburn opened the second quarter with an 11-0 Washburn run, capped off by an putback from senior Yibari Nwidadah to lead 29-16 at the 6:46 mark.
WU held Rogers State to 3-15 shooting in the second quarter and Sterk hit her third 3-pointer of the quarter just before the halftime buzzer to give the Ichabods a 41-23 advantage going into the locker room.
The Hillcats cut their deficit down to 13 points at the 7:29 mark of the third quarter before Sterk hit another triple.
Rogers State went 7-9 in the quarter and 3-3 from deep, but Washburn still headed into the fourth stanza with a 60-46 advantage.
Ichabod senior Gabi Giovannetti conna 3-pointer with 8:38 left in the game that was the start of 16-0 run, capped off by another Sterk shot from downtown, extending the Washburn lead to 30 points with 5:34 left.
From that point on the Ichabods emptied their bench while wrapping up the 27-point victory.
Washburn shot 48.5 percent for the game while drilling a season-high 15 3-pointers on 29 attempts, tying for the fourth most made 3s in a single game in program history. Rogers State shot 40.4 percent overall and was 7-23 from 3-point range.
A 43-26 rebounding advantage led Washburn to a 17-4 advantage in second chance points and 30-22 in paint scoring. The turnover battle was also won 15-12.
Sterk led the way with 31 points on 10-15 shooting and 7-10 from deep, the most points by any Ichabod this season. She also added four steals.
Nwidadah had a double-double with 11 points and 15 rebounds and Giovannetti finished with 16 points on 6-9 shooting with a steal.
Bailey Layman led Rogers State with 17 points as three Hillcats scored in double figures.
The Ichabods return home for the final week of the regular season, beginning with a 5:30 p.m. game against Pittsburg State on Wednesday.
Rick Peterson
No. 3 Ichabods get 26 points from Smith in 81-64 road romp
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 3-ranked Washburn Ichabods wrapped up their regular-season road slate Saturday with an 81-64 MIAA victory at Rogers State, improving to 26-1 overall and 16-1 in MIAA play.
Senior Bryson Smith scored a career-high 26 points in Washburn's 81-64 win over Rogers State on Saturday. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn wasted little time asserting itself Saturday, setting the tone with an early 6-0 run.
Sophomore Dillon Claussen got a pair of quick buckets for Washburn and senior Bryson Smith started what would be a career 26-point day as the Ichabods never trailed and built a double-digit lead midway through the first half.
A key stretch came when Washburn pieced together an 8-0 run, sparked by defensive stops and crisp ball movement.
Senior Brady Christiansen buried a perimeter jumper, junior Jack Bachelor knocked down a 3-pointer from the wing and Claussen capped the surge with a strong finish inside as Washburn held a 40-28 advantage at the half, shooting a blistering 55.2 percent in the opening 20 minutes.
The second half followed a similar script.
Each time Rogers State threatened to chip away at the deficit, Washburn answered.
Smith drew nine fouls on the afternoon and made a living at the free throw line where he went 11 of 13 for the game.
His 26-point effort was a Washburn career-best while Claussen added 14 points on 7 of 11 shooting with four rebounds and tying a career-high with six assists.
Sophomore Marcus Glock provided a spark off the bench with 12 points on 5 of 7 shooting, including two 3-pointers.
Junior Jeremiah Jones added eight points and a team-high six rebounds, helping the Ichabods secure a 33-21 edge on the glass.
Jones pulled within one of of tying the Washburn single-season steal record of 82 set by Will McNeill during the 2012-13 season.
Regional boys wrestling: Eleven champs lead 49 county qualifiers to state
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural led the way with 12 state qualifiers for the Class 6A state wrestling tournament as all nine Shawnee County teams qualified at least one competitor for state, with 11 individual regional champions.
Leading Rural to a third-place 6A regional team finish were regional champions Landen Kocher-Munoz, a senior 144-pounder, and junior 215-pounder Jadyn Baum.
Silver Lake led the Shawnee County contingent with a county-high five regional champions and a county-best runnerup regional team finish in 3A-1A, with the Eagles getting regional titles from senior 120-pounder Bryce Cormier, senior 138-pounder Garret Holmes, senior 157-pounder Jayden Waterer, senior 190-pounder Paxton Willett and sophomore 285-pounder Carter Spreer.
Shawnee Heights qualified 10 wrestlers for the 5A state tournament, led by freshman 113-pound regional champion Jacob Bonebrake and 150-pound junior champ Brody Brown while Hayden got 4A regional titles from junior 175-pounder Caleb Menke and senior 190-pounder Jude Krentz.
Here's a look at Saturday's regional tournaments involving Shawnee County high schools:
Washburn Rural senior 144-pounder Landen Kocher-Munoz, a two-time Class 6A state champion and a three-time state finalist, won a regional title Saturday at Wichita North. [File photo/TSN]
Kocher-Munoz, Baum power Rural to third-place regional showing
Regional champions Landen Kocher-Munoz and Jadyn Baum led 12 Class 6A qualifiers for perennial state contender Washburn Rural, which finished third as a team in the 6A West regional at Wichita North.
Kocher-Munoz, a senior two-time state champion and three-time state finalist, won the regional title at 144 pounds to improve to 35-4 on the season.
Kocher-Munoz, a defending state champion, capped his regional title run with a 13-5 major decision over Manhattan senior Cameron Coonrod (42-5).
Baum, a junior 215-pounder, improved to 25-4 on the season with a 16-1 technical fall over Wichita South senior Jayden Kirk (28-5). Baum posted a third-place state finish in 2025 as a sophomore.
Washburn Rural got runnerup regional finishes from 113-pound freshman Andrew Peterson (23-10), 120-pound senior Ryder Harrison (25-6), 138-pound senior Cooper Stivers (31-6) and junior Brodye Kocher-Munoz (27-7) while Rural senior Brenner Beninga (175) qualified fourth for state, freshman Hayden Broxterman (106), junior Gavin Homeyer (190) and sophomore Kaiden Marshall (285) placed fifth, sophomore Owen Dowell (132) was sixth at regionals and sophomore Caleb Schwartz (165) seventh.
Topeka High will be represented at state by senior 157-pounder Jordan Stiner and junior 175-pounder Landon Snyder, who both posted eighth-place regional finishes.
Maize won the team title in the 6A West Regional with 272.5 points, followed by Manhattan with 251 points and Rural with 223.5 points. Topeka High placed 16th as a team with 29 points.
The 6A state meet will be contested Friday and Saturday at the Advent Health Sports Park in Overland Park.
T-Birds qualify 10 for 5A state meet
Shawnee Heights placed fourth as a team in Saturday's Class 5A East regional at Lansing while qualifying 10 wrestlers for this weekend's state tournament in Park City.
The T-Birds got regional championships from 113-pound freshman Jacob Bonebrake and 150-pound junior Brody Brown.
Bonebrake improved to 17-1 with a 3 minute, 37-second pin over Blue Valley Southwest junior Caden Magdefran (19-8) in the 113-pound regional final while Brown improved to 33-6 with a 5:27 win by fall over De Soto junior Eli Anderson (27-15).
Evan Johnson, a 175-pound senior (32-8) posted a runnerup regional finish while sophomore Mason Moore (126), freshman Markis Owens (157) and junior Jaiden Converse (165) qualified for state with sixth-place regional finishes, junior Dallas Owens (138) and sophomore Carter Kamanda (144) placed seventh and sophomore Reid Niedfeldt (132) and junior Landyn Bafford (285) qualified eighth.
Highland Park will be represented at state by senior 175-pounder Philiciono Rice (14-19) and junior 165-pounder Joshua Hernandez-Torres (15-15), with Rice placing seventh and Hernandez-Torres eighth at regionals.
Basehor-Linwood won the 5A East regional team crown with 266 points while Heights was fourth with 156.5 points and Highland Park 16th with 17 points.
The 5A state tournament will be held Friday and Saturday in Park City.
PaytonSterk scored 31 points with seven 3-pointers in Washburn's 87-60 road win at Rogers State on Saturday. [File photo/TSN]
