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By NICHOLAS GAINEY

Special to TopSports.news

The Topeka West girls basketball team earned its first win of the 2024-2025 season with a 67-37 United Kansas Conference victory over Kansas City-Turner on Friday at West.

Junior Imani McGlory scored 16 points Friday in Topeka West's 67-337 UKC win over KC-Turner, pacing four Chargers in double figures. [File photo/TSN]

The Chargers jumped out to a quick 7-0 lead, using defensive pressure to force turnovers from the Golden Bears.

Imani McGlory earned the first points of the contest by knocking down a shot from beyond the 33-point arc, while Addaline Hall added two layups to force a Turner timeout.

The strong Charger defense held the Golden Bears at bay for most of the first quarter, with the visitors only mustering one made field goal in the frame, giving Topeka West a 14-3 lead.

The Turner offense improved in the second quarter, scoring the first basket of the period on their way to a 10-point frame, but the Chargers’ Breonnah Keeling scored eight of her 13 points in the quarter to give the hosts a 28-13 halftime advantage.

Topeka West opened up the contest in the third quarter, out-scoring the Golden Bears 23-10 in the period.

McGlory started the second-half, scoring with a layup off an assist from Hall, while Teairra Gonzales knocked down two 3-pointers to extend the Charger lead.

Turner put together its best eight minutes of offense in the fourth quarter, with Kahlis Jones giving the Golden Bears the first field goal of the period.

Jones would go on to knock down a pair of 3-pointers in the quarter, but McGlory and Hall would add long-range shots of their own to help prevent a comeback attempt from the visitors.

Izzy Kutina chipped in a pair of free throws in the final seconds to secure the victory for the Chargers.

McGlory led Topeka West with 16 points on 6-11 shooting.

Gonzales added 15 points, while Hall and Keeling reached double figures with 13 points each.

Jerzey Hanna paced Turner with 16 points on 3-9 shooting, while going 9-18 from the free-throw line. Jones added 10 points and eight rebounds for the Golden Bears.

Topeka West returns to action on Tuesday, Jan. 21 with a trip to Basehor-Linwood.

TOPEKA WEST GIRLS 67, KC-TURNER 37

Turner             3 10 10 14 -- 37

Topeka West 14 14 23 16 -- 67

Turner (0-6, 0-5) -- Boyd 1-3 0-0 3, Chavez 0-0 0-0 0, Henderson 0-0 0-0 0, Lopez 2-4 0-2 4, Ollie 2-7 0-0 4, Hanna 3-9 9-18 16, Jones 4-13 0-0 10, Mitchell 0-1 0-0 0, Rhodes 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-37 9-20 37.

Topeka West (1-6, 1-6) -- Allen 0-2 0-2 0, Traylor 0-0 0-0 0, I. McGlory 6-11 0-0 16, VanDyke 1-4 1-4 3, Keeling 6-11 1-2 13, Hall 5-15 2-6 13, Gonzales 6-13 1-2 15, A. McGlory 2-8 0-0 5, Williams 0-0 0-0 0, Kutina 0-1 2-2 2. Totals 26-65 7-18 67.

3-point goals -- Turner 4 (Jones 2, Boyd, Hanna), Topeka West 8 (I. McGlory 4, Gonzales 2, Hall, A. McGlory). Total fouls -- Turner 14, Topeka West 14. Fouled out -- VanDyke. Technical fouls - none.

By NICHOLAS GAINEY

Special to TopSports.news

The Topeka West boys basketball team saw 10 players find the scoring column as the Chargers downed visiting Kansas City-Turner 63-41 in United Kansas Conference action on Friday night at West.

Junior Malakyah Duncan (12) led a balanced Topeka West scoring attack with 10 points in Friday's 63-41 UKC win over KC-Turner. [File photo/TSN[

The Chargers jumped out to a 4-0 lead in the opening minutes of the contest with baskets from Jalen Foy and Kamoni Ford, but Turner’s Mekhi Follick answered with five quick points to give the visitors their only lead of the night.

Topeka West responded with a layup from Keimani Paul and a 3-pointer from Jay’veon Traylor to take a 9-5 lead.

Follick added a basket to cut the lead back to one possession, but the Chargers took advantage of multiple Golden Bears turnovers to take a 17-10 lead after the first quarter.

The teams traded baskets for the entirety of the second quarter.

Despite running a fast-paced offense, the Chargers struggled to get shots to fall, only tallying 11 points in the period.

West looked to take a double-digit lead into the halftime locker room, but Follick knocked down a 3-pointer late in the half to cut the Charger lead to 28-20 entering the break.

With the Golden Bears hanging around after 16 minutes, Topeka West opened up the contest in the third quarter.

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By Rick Peterson

TopSports.news

OK, so Washburn Rural's 42-28 home Centennial League win over Emporia Friday night was far from pretty.

But it was exactly what Alex Hutchins' Junior Blues needed coming off a tough six-point loss to Blue Valley West on Tuesday.

Junior Simon Rowley (facing) scored 13 points to lead Washburn Rural in Friday's 42-28 Centennial League win over Emporia. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

"We felt like we lost Tuesday because we let their physicality get the best of us,'' Hutchins said. "And this was quite the back-to-back test playing an Emporia team that kind of prides itself on being physical. So we really thought that this was kind of a judgement game for our guys.

"Were they going to respond to the challenge and step up and match the physicality or was it going to be an issue again? It wasn't pretty, but Emporia doesn't let anybody beat them pretty. We've got some guys who like to make shots and take pride in scoring but we can't have a bad taste in our mouth after an ugly win against a team that forces you to play ugly.''

Washburn Rural, which improved to 6-2 overall and 2-0 in the league, never trailed on the night (there was one tie at 5-5) and didn't allow more than 10 points in a quarter and limited Emporia (4-3, 0-1) to eight or fewer points in three of the four periods.

Rural took a 14-10 first-quarter lead on a buzzer-beating 3-pointer from senior Amare Jones and outscored the Spartans 12-4 in the second period to go up 26-14 at the half.

Back-to-back hoops from junior Simon Rowley and Jones to open the second half boosted Rural's lead to 30-14 and the Junior Blues went on to lead by 18 points twice in the quarter before taking a 38-22 advantage into the final eight minutes.

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