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Shawnee Heights girls even record at 3-3 with 67-30 UKC romp past Topeka West
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights girls basketball got off to a bit of a rough start this season while wading through a rugged opening stretch that included a pair of games against Class 6A schools, including No. 2 Shawnee Mission South, as well as a United Kansas Conference matchup with state-ranked 5A power Piper.
Shawnee Heights senior Imani McGlory drives to the basket in Friday's 67-30 UKC win over Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But after starting the year 1-3, Bob Wells' T-Birds enter the holiday break with momentum after reaching the .500 level with back-to-back United Kansas Conference routs.
Shawnee Heights started the week with a tough three-point overtime loss to Manhattan, but bounced back with a 77-point win over Lansing before rolling past Topeka West 67-30 Friday night at Heights.
"We needed to come out and play well,'' Wells said. "What I told them is, 'I don't care what the score is, we need to come out and execute and do the things we've been working on in practice,' and offensively we saw that.
"We've got a long ways to go defensively and just working on defense and working on talking and doing some of those fundamental things a little bit better, but that's something that people have to learn and we've got to do a better job teaching them to get them to where we want them to be ... defensively we're a work in progress.''
The T-Birds, now 3-3 overall and 3-1 in the conference, never trailed Friday after Heights juniors KK Emmot and Sami Baum opened the game with 3-pointers.
Shawnee Heights went on to open up a commanding 22-8 lead by the end of the opening quarter and took a 40-13 advantage to the locker room at the half.
The T-Birds boosted their margin to 60-25 in the third quarter, forcing a running clock throughout the entire fourth quarter.
All five starters had at least eight points for Shawnee Heights, led by Emmot with a game-high 17 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
Baum and junior Pearmella Carter added 11 points apiece while seniors Reianna Vega and Imani McGlory scored nine and eight points, respectively.
Topeka West (1-5, 0-4) got 15 points from junior Sydney VanDyke while VanDyke and senior Addaline Hall grabbed eight rebounds apiece.
Shawnee Heights will return to action Jan. 2 to host 4A power Hayden in a non-league game while Topeka West will travel to Leavenworth for a UKC game on Jan. 6.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS GIRLS 67, TOPEKA WEST 30
Topeka West 8 5 12 5 -- 30
Shawnee Heights 22 18 20 7 -- 67
Topeka West (1-5, 0-4) – Gonzales 0-5 0-0 0, VanDyke 4-8 7-8 15, Ogles 1-6 0-0 2, Hall 2-7 0-0 4, McGlory 1-11 0-0 3, Allen 0-1 0-0 0, Kutina 1-2 0-0 2, Traylor 1-4 2-4 4, Fox 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 10-45 9-12 30.
Shawnee Heights (3-3, 3-1) – Emmot 6-13 3-5 17, McGlory 3-6 0-0 8, Carter 2-9 7-8 11, Baum 5-7 0-0 11, Vega 4-5 0-0 9, Hamilton 2-5 1-2 5, Schmidt 2-5 0-0 4, Karlyle 1-1 0-0 2, Moeder 0-1 0-0 0, Doby 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 25-52 11-15 67.
3-point goals – Topeka West 1 (A. McGlory), Shawnee Heights 6 (Emmot 2, I. McGlory 2, Baum, Vega). Total fouls – Topeka West 13, Shawnee Heights 9. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- none.
No. 2-ranked West boys stay unbeaten with hard-earned 63-58 win over No. 7 T-Birds
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After reeling off four straight double-digit victories to open the 2025-2026 season, Topeka West boys basketball got its toughest test of the year Friday night at Shawnee Heights.
Junior Prince Lassiter led a balanced Topeka West attack with 15 points in Friday's 63-58 UKC win at Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
And Christian Ulsaker's No. 2-ranked (Class 5A) Chargers used a clutch fourth-quarter performance to pass that test, taking control down the stretch in a 63-58 United Kansas Conference victory over the seventh-ranked T-Birds, improving to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the conference.
Topeka West trailed 36-32 at the half and the game was knotted 48-all at the start of the fourth quarter before the Chargers used a 5-0 run to take the lead and held off the T-Birds (2-3, 2-2) the rest of the way.
"We knew a (Ken) Darting-led team defensively is always going to be gritty and he had them ready for this game, so I'm glad our guys came out prepared,'' Ulsaker said. "It's one that we needed. We haven't really had that (battle) in the fourth, a little bit with Piper, but it was good to see us rise up in crunch time in the fourth quarter and come away with a win.''
The game was close throughout, with West's biggest lead of the night six points with 2:14 left while the T-Birds' biggest advantage was four points on four occasions.
Junior Prince Lassiter, the only underclassman in Topeka West's starting lineup, led a balanced Charger attack with 15 points while senior Keimani Paul added 14 points and seniors Malakyah Duncan and Jay'Veon Traylor 13 apiece.
"Overall, I just like to be a team player,'' Lassiter said. "Of course, anybody wants to score, but ultimately you've got to do what's best for your team. I'm glad I had the experience last year to play some varsity minutes because I'm definitely a lot more comfortable this year.''
"He brings that edge that our team needs,'' Ulsaker said of Lassiter. "And we have to feed off of that. Prince is huge that way.''
Freshman Quincy Dixon (22) scored a game-high 17 points in Shawnee Heights' 63-58 UKC loss to Topeka West Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Freshman Quincy Dixon led Shawnee Heights with a game-high 17 points, including three 3-pointers, while senior JaiMarion Cook had 16 points with four 3-pointers and junior Cam Ross added 10.
And although Friday's loss was Heights' third loss by five or fewer points, Darting was very pleased with his team's effort against a bigger, more physical Topeka West team.
"I feel great,'' Darting said. "Over our first five games I leave this one feeling way better about (his team) than any time this year. This game was the first time we've played Shawnee Heights defense.''
Highland Park girls end busy week with 68-52 Meadowlark loss to Bulldogs
By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
Highland Park girls basketball coach Rob Brown hopes his team uses the holiday break to regroup after three tough games in a four-day stretch sent them into the holiday with a 1-3 record.
Junior Zayah Kincaid led Highland Park with 17 points, including five 3-pointers, in the Scots' 68-52 loss to Wyandotte Friday night. [File photo/TSN]
The Scots lost a home 68-52 home Meadowlark Conference contest versus Wyandotte Friday that saw the Scots commit 28 fouls and send the Bulldogs to the foul stripe 48 times. Wyandotte sped the game up with a fullcourt press and attacked the basket with abandon on the offensive end.
Highland Park was in the fight after one period, trailing just 20-17. Senior sharpshooter Zayah Kincaid connected on threet 3-pointers in the period to keep the Scots close. But Wyandotte nudged the margin to nine points at halftime, then outscored the Scots 20-10 in the third period to open up the lead to 56-37.
The Scots went 12 days without playing a game, then found themselves in a tough stretch right before the break. They got their first win in a hard-fought 42-40 victory over Shawnee Mission West on Tuesday. But they fell to Topeka High on Thursday before hosting Wyandotte Friday.
“It’s been a long week,” Highland Park coach Rob Brown said. “So hopefully they can go into our break, clear their heads, get in the gym on their own, and hopefully find some heart and try to get back to it.”
The Scots showed some firepower Friday in Kincaid, who hit five from behind the arc to finish with 17 points, and sophomore Kaia Hooper, who added three 3-pointers and tallied 11 total points. Senior Koralee Jones had nine points, and Miluv Cosey added seven.
“This is a new group, so we’re trying to figure each other out, trying to figure their new roles out,” Brown said. “It’s still early so hopefully we can get things figured out.”
