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Created: 06 January 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

TUESDAY'S GAMES

Connor Hanika, Hayden

EMPORIA (8-0, 0-0) at HAYDEN (3-5, 0-0)

Hayden is coming off a 79-60 non-league loss at Shawnee Heights on Friday while Emporia remained undefeated with a 73-38 non-league romp past Circle. Both the Wildcats and Spartans will be opening Centennial League play Tuesday. Senior Connor Hanika led Hayden with 20 points against Shawnee Heights while junior Mason Becker added 17 points.

Cam Ross, Shawnee Heights

DE SOTO (2-3, 0-2) at SHAWNEE HEIGHTS (3-3, 2-2)

Shawnee Heights evened its record at 3-3 with a 79-60 home win over Hayden last Friday while De Soto closed out 2025 with a 56-40 loss to Seaman on Dec. 19. Junior Cam Ross led Shawnee Heights with 28 points and four 3-pointers against Hayden while senior Ja'Veon Alston added 19 points with a pair of 3-pointers. 

WABAUNSEE (5-1, 3-0) at CAIR PARAVEL (4-2, 2-0)

Cair Paravel Latin is off to a solid start, including a 60-39 Flint Hills League win over Chase County on Dec. 19, and faces a tough test Tuesday against a Wabaunsee team that is also unbeaten in league play after a 63-56 win over Osage City to close out 2025. Sophomore Chase Hastert leads Cair Paravel with a 16.3 scoring average and also pulls down 7.5 rebounds a game.

Keimani Paul, Topeka West 

TOPEKA WEST (5-1, 4-0) at LEAVENWORTH (2-3, 1-2)

Topeka West will be looking to bounce back Tuesday after the No. 2-ranked (Class 5A) Chargers dropped a 53-49 non-league game at 6A Free State Monday night. Senior Keimani Paul led West with 19 points and four 3-pointers against the Firebirds while senior Malakyah Duncan added 12 points. Leavenworth dropped a 66-36 United Kansas Conference decision to Basehor-Linwood last Friday.

WASHBURN RURAL (5-2, 0-0) at JUNCTION CITY (4-2, 0-0)

Washburn Rural stretched its winning streak to four games with a 68-53 non-league win at Olathe West on Saturday while Junction City has won three straight games after a 56-53 win over Shawnee Mission North last time out. Sophomore Brooks Ballard scored 21 points with six 3-pointers in the Junior Blues' win over Olathe West. Tuesday's game is the Centennial League opener for both Rural and Junction City.

Read more …

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Things got a little sloppy at times for Hayden girls basketball Tuesday night, but the Wildcats achieved their most important objective, snapping a brief two-game losing streak with a 53-37 home win over Emporia.

Sophomore Hailey Schmidtlein scored a game-high 14 points in Tuesday's 53-37 Hayden win over Emporia. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Now 7-2 on the season, Hayden begin defense of its Centennial League championship with Tuesday's win, going wire to wire for the Wildcats' second win of the season over the 4-5 Spartans.

"We played with good effort tonight,'' Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson said. "We defnitely need to clean some stuff up and become a better team, but the effort was there.'' 

The Wildcats didn't have a great shooting night -- 37.9 percent from the field and 4 of 13 from the free throw line -- and turned the ball over 19 times.

But Hayden pestered the Spartans into 31.7 percent shooting and 24 turnovers.

Hayden, which was coming off a 38-36 heartbreaker at Shawnee Heights last Friday, scored the first four points and went up 8-2 and 10-3 before ending the opening quarter with a 10-5 lead.

The Wildcats outscored the Spartans 13-6 in the second quarter and led by as many as 14 before taking a 23-11 advantage to the locker room at halftime.

Hayden continued to pull away in the third quarter, opening up a 39-21 cushion, and cruised over the final eight minutes.

Sophomore Hailey Schmidtlein scored a game-high 14 points to lead the Wildcats while sophomore Blakely Walter came off the bench to add 10 points as nine Hayden players cracked the scoring column.

Junior Kaylee DeWitt led Emporia with 13 points while sophomore Maycee Davis added 9 points.

Hayden will continue Centennial League play on Friday, going on the road to face Washburn Rural.

HAYDEN GIRLS 53, EMPORIA 37

Emporia  5 6  10 16  -- 37

Hayden 10 13 16 14  -- 53

Emporia (4-5, 0-1) – Aguirre 2-9 0-2 4, Hines 1-2 0-0 3, Wiltz 2-11 2-7 6, DeWitt 5-12 2-2 13, Davis 2-6 5-10 9, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Hess 1-1 0-0 2, B'Hymer 0-0 0-0 0, Scobee 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-41 9-19 37. 

Hayden (7-2, 1-0) – Schmidtlein 6-20 1-2 14, Foster 1-1 1-2 4, Huscher 0-1 1-2 1, Borjon 2-8 0-0 5, Watts 3-5 0-0 6, Walter 4-10 0-2 10, Wichman 1-4 0-0 2, Mitchell 3-6 0-3 6, Wrench 0-0 0-0 0, Connell 2-3 1-2 5, Slyter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-58 4-13 53.

3-point goals – Emporia 2 (Hines, DeWitt), Hayden 5 (Walter 2, Schmidtlein, Foster, Borjon). Total fouls – Emporia 15, Hayden 16. Fouled out – none. Technical foul -- none.

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

For nearly three and a half quarters of Tuesday's Centennial League game at Hayden, Emporia boys basketball didn't always look like an undefeated team.

Hayden senior Connor Hanika scored a game-high 22 points in the Wildcats' 59-56 loss to Emporia Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

But the Spartans were in top form when it counted the most, storming back from a 15-point deficit to shock the Wildcats 59-56 and improve to a perfect 9-0 overall and 1-0 in the league.

"I just told them, 'Just stay steady. You're going to get through this storm and you can't get down when it's not going your way,'' Emporia first-year coach Evan Burns said. "We were just trying to get a spark going.'' 

After a 10-10 tie at the end of the opening quarter, Hayden (3-6, 0-1) opened up 29-22 lead at halftime and stretched its advantage to 43-30 at the start of the fourth quarter.

Hayden looked like the rout was on when junior Carter Compton scored to put the Wildcats in front 53-38 with 4:47 remaining, but the rest of the game was all Spartans, who outscored the hosts 21-3 the rest of the way, including the final 13 points.

"We couldn't get anything going, we were missing easy layups and couldn't make anything and Hayden was making everything they threw up and their crowd was into it,'' Burns said. "But that's why we play this game, to just have opportunities like this to have memories forever.'' 

Emporia, who did not lead in the second or third quarters, tied the game at 56 with 1:30 remaining on a 3-pointer from junior Harrison Trelc and took the lead with 48.4 seconds remaining on a free throw from senior Rylan Crowell, who hit another charity with 28.7 seconds left to give the Spartans a 58-56 advantage before senior Maddox Shivley canned a free throw with 10.1 seconds remaining to account for the final margin.

"Honestly, I'm so happy for this type of game because it gives us that much more momentum to carry over and carry on,'' Burns said.

The Spartans outscored the Wildcats 29-13 in the fourth quarter.

Junior Terrick Franklin paced Emporia with 21 points while Crowell finished with 17 points and Trelc added 12.

Senior Connor Hanika scored a game-high 22 points for Hayden while Compton added 12 points.

Hayden will be on the road Friday at Washburn Rural for a Centennial League contest. 

EMPORIA BOYS 59, HAYDEN 56 

Emporia 10 12 8 29 -- 59

Hayden 10 19 14 13  -- 56

Emporia (9-0, 1-0) – Trelc 5-12 0-1 12, Seidl 0-5 0-0 0, C. Bloomquist 3-4 0-0 6, Crowell 4-13 8-11 17, Franklin 9-16 3-6 21, Shivley 0-2 1-2 1, Harrington 1-1 0-0 2, K. Bloomquist 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-53 12-20 59. 

Hayden (3-6, 0-1) – Mitchell 2-3 0-4 4, Hanika 9-14 4-5 22, Becker 2-7 1-2 6, Kidd 2-3 2-2 6, Compton 4-8 3-4 12, Tourtillott 2-6 0-0 4, Wolff 1-5 0-0 2. Totals 22-46 10-17 56.

3-point goals – Emporia 3 (Trelc 2, Crowell), Hayden 2 (Becker, Compton). Total fouls – Emporia 17, Hayden 20. Fouled out – Mitchell. Technical foul -- Emporia bench.