By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights entered Friday's Capital City Classic semifinal against Topeka West having already taken 17 and 28-point wins over the Chargers this season.
Sophomore KK Emmot scored a game-high 25 points as Shawnee Heights advanced to the Capital City Classic title game with a 65-32 semifinal win over Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But T-Bird coach Bob Wells wanted to make sure his team took nothing for granted against West, which was coming off a big overtime win over Highland Park in the opening round.
"That's what I told them, that this needed to be all business,'' Wells said. "There couldn't be any messing around, we had to be focused and we had to have good energy and we needed to get right after it from the beginning and do a good job of taking care of the ball, no unforced errors and things like that and just work on improving.''
Heights then went out and heeded Wells' message, rolling to Saturday's 11:30 a.m. championship game with a 65-32 win.
The 8-4 T-Birds put the 2-9 Chargers away with a 19-4 start and were in control by 20 points (37-17) at the halftime break.
Heights then hit West with a 24-7 lick in the third quarter, forcing a running clock throughout the fourth quarter.
Senior Haley Bowers scored 13 points in Shawnee Heights' 65-32 semifinal win over Topeka West Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Kaydence Torrez (20) had 10 points and 11 rebounds in Shawnee Heights' 65-32 win over Topeka West on Friday. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN[]
Sophomore standout KK Emmot powered the T-Birds with a game-high 25 points while senior Haley Bowers added 13 points and Kaydence Torrez and Reianna Vega 10 apiece. Torrez also grabbed 11 rebounds.
Junior Imani McGlory led Topeka West with 12 points.
With the win the T-Birds earned a shot at city rival Washburn Rural in Saturday's title game, with the Junior Blues advancing with a 75-48 semifinal win over Lawrence.
Topeka West will take on Lawrence in the 10 a.m. third-place game.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS 65, TOPEKA WEST 32
Shawnee Heights 19 18 24 4 -- 65
Topeka West 4 13 7 8 -- 32
Shawnee Heights (8-4) – Emmot 7-11 8-10 25, T. Brees 0-2 0-0 0, Bowers 5-12 1-2 13, Torrez 5-7 0-1 10, Vega 4-9 1-1 10, Hanshaw 1-7 0-0 3, Akins 0-0 0-0 0, L. Brees 0-3 0-0 0, Scherer 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 23-54 12-16 65.
Topeka West (2-9) – I. McGlory 4-12 2-2 12, VanDyke 2-7 0-4 4, Keeling 0-1 0-0 0, Hall 2-9 2-4 6, Gonzales 1-9 1-2 3, A. McGlory 2-6 0-0 5, Allen 0-3 0-0 0, Kutina 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 12-48 5-12 32.
3-point goals – Shawnee Heights 7 (Emmot 3, Bowers 2, Hanshaw, Vega), Topeka West 3 (I. McGlory 2, A. McGlory). Total fouls – Shawnee Heights 7, Topeka West 15. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
Sophomore Maddie Vickery scored a game-high 33 points in Washburn Rural's 75-48 semifinal win over Lawrence Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Vickery has 33-point night as Rural romps to 75-48 win
Lawrence got No. 5-ranked (Class 6A) Washburn Rural's attention when it took a 30-27 lead with three minutes left in the first half of Friday's second Capital City Classic semifinal.
But the Junior Blues responded wih a 48-point scoring onslaught the rest of the night, rolling to a championship game berth with a 75-48 win over the Lions.
Lawrence rode a barrage of early 3-pointers to its 3-point lead, but Washburn Rural (7-3) ended the first half with a 10-0 run to open up a 37-30 advantage and never looked back.
"I thought we were a lot more focused on both ends of the floor and we were just patient and had good spacing with our offense to kind of make that little break at the break,'' Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. "And then I thought the start of the third quarter we had an intention about getting the ball inside a little bit more and then Madison Lemke stepped up and took two charges and I think it took them out of their rhythm a little bit.''
Rural tacked on six more unanswered points to take a 43-30 lead 49 seconds into the second half, took a 58-42 lead at the end of the quarter and went on to lead by as many as 29 points late in the contest.
Maddie Vickery, a 6-foot-1 sophomore, led all scorers with 33 points, going 15 of 19 at the free throw line as Rural took advantage of a decided height advantage.
"We were really trying to get paint touches,'' Vickery said. "That's one of the big things we strive for as a team because even in practice when we get a paint touch everything good happens.''
Vickery was the only player in double figures for the Junior Blues, but Rural had nine players crack the scoring column, including seven with five or more points.
Senior Brynnae Johnson led Lawrence (6-5) with 13 points.
Washburn Rural will face city rival Shawnee Heights in Saturday's 11:30 a.m. championship game.
WASHBURN RURAL 75, LAWRENCE 48
Washburn Rural 20 17 21 17 -- 75
Lawrence 18 12 12 6 -- 48
Washburn Rural (7-3) – Hinck 4-8 0-0 8, Rutherford 2-5 0-0 6, Vickery 8-19 15-19 33, Lemke 3-7 2-3 8, Bunck 2-5 1-2 5, Hirschi 0-3 0-0 0, Moore 1-1 2-2 5, Hayes 2-3 0-0 6, Walker 0-1 0-0 0, Simpson 0-0 0-0 0, Carlgren 1-3 0-0 2, Petersen 1-2 0-2 2. Totals 24-57 20-28 75.
Lawrence (6-5) – Glover 0-2 0-0 0, Baars 3-6 0-0 9, Barnes 2-2 0-0 5, Johnson 4-12 4-5 13, Ramos 2-3 0-0 6, Barber 4-9 0-0 9, Juelsgaard 2-9 1-3 6, Urish 0-0 0-0 0, Koehn 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-43 5-8 48.
3-point goals – Washburn Rural 7 (Vickery 2, Hayes 2, Rutherford 2, Moore), Lawrence 9 (Baars 3, Ramos 2, Barnes, Johnson, Juelsgaard). Total fouls – Washburn Rural 13, Lawrence 22. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
Tigers take control early in 56-41 win over Scots
Blue Valley snapped a five-game losing streak Friday while handing Highland Park its second straight loss in a 56-41 consolation game win in the Capital City Classic.
The Tigers, who improved to 4-8, went wire to wire for the win after scoring the first 6 points of the game.
Blue Valley opened up a 19-9 first-quarter advantage and built a 35-20 halftime advantage.
Highland Park (7-3) got no closer than 10 the rest of the way.
Sophomore Pearmella Carter paced the Scots with a game-high 20 points while freshman Ciarra Harts added 10 off the bench.
Highland Park will face Free State in the seventh-place game at 10 a.m. Saturday in West's auxiliary gym.
BLUE VALLEY 56, HIGHLAND PARK 41
Blue Valley 19 16 11 10 -- 56
Highland Park 9 11 12 9 -- 41
Blue Valley (4-8) – Womboldt 2-9 1-2 5, Goldstein 2-4 0-0 5, Splittorff 5-8 1-2 11, Ashley Bergeson 0-1 0-0 0, Barnes 8-16 1-1 18, Lund 4-4 3-4 14, Tenpenny 0-3 0-0 0, Faulkner 0-1 0-0 0, Avery Bergeson 1-1 1-4 3. Totals 22-47 7-13 56.
Highland Park (7-3) – Broils 1-7 0-0 2, Jones 0-1 0-0 0, Austin 3-11 0-1 7, Sanders 1-8 0-0 2, Carter 6-17 8-10 20, Cosey 0-0 0-0 0, Kincade 0-5 0-0 0, Harts 5-10 0-3 10, Atkins 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-59 8-13 41.
3-point goals – Blue Valley 5 (Lund 3, Goldstein, Barnes), Highland Park 1 (Austin). Total fouls – Blue Valley 18, Highland Park 13. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – Austin.
CAPITAL CITY CLASSIC
RESULTS FRIDAY
SM West 32, Free State 31
Blue Valley 56, Highland Park 41
Shawnee Heights 65, Topeka West 32
Washburn Rural 75, Lawrence 48
GAMES SATURDAY
10 a.m. -- Free State vs. Highland Park, auxiliary gym (seventh place).
10 -- Topeka West vs. Lawrence, main gym (third place).
11:30 -- SM West vs. Blue Valley, auxiliary gym (fifth place).
11:30 -- Shawnee Heights vs. Washburn Rural, main gym (championship).
