By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Fresh off last week's championship in the Glaciers Edge Tournament, Washburn Rural girls basketball ran its winning streak to four games Wednesday night, riding a big night from freshman Brynn Anderson to a 55-42 non-league home win over Blue Valley.
Freshman Brynn Anderson scored 25 points with five 3-pointers in Wednesday's 55-42 Washburn Rural win over Blue Valley. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Anderson, named the Most Valuable Player in last week's tournament, scored a game-high 25 points with five 3-pointers and a six of six performance at the free throw line to lead the way as the 10th-ranked (Class 6A) Junior Blues ran their record to 11-4 on the season.
"She's been that way pretty much all year and you see almost every day in practice her development and getting better,'' Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. "We've got some kids that know we've got to get her the ball a little bit and we've got other kids that will step up.
"Brynn on the offensive end has been real consistent for us and it's kind of fun to see her light it up from outside a little bit, too.''
Washburn Rural senior Josie Carlgren had a double-double with 12 points and 13 rebounds in Wednesday's 55-42 win over Blue Valley. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural also got a double-double from senior Josie Carlgren, who scored 12 points and grabbed 13 rebounds while hitting a pair of 3-pointers and going four of four at the free throw line.
Rural only trailed once in the game at 8-7 and there were just two ties (at 5-5 and 13-all), but 8-8 Blue Valley was within single-digits for most of the night before the Junior Blues opened up their biggest lead of the night at 55-41 with 18.3 seconds remaining.
Blue Valley had three players crack double figures, led by senior Lucy Kennedy with 14 points and four 3-pointers. Sophomore Devin Splittorff added 11 points and sophomore Taylor Forgy 10 for the Tigers.
"They're really not a bad team,'' Bordewick said of the Tigers. "They're a better team than maybe what their record indicates and I think a better team tonight than what we saw last week at Emporia even, because they were in that.
"They shot well, I thought they played hard and they gave us obviously quite a run. But I was proud of these guys. I thought we competed and we worked hard on the defensive end to get it going on offense and I thought we did a pretty good job.''
Washburn Rural shot a solid 78.9 percent at the free throw line (15 of 19) while Blue Valley hurt itself with a 3 of 12 shoting at the stripe (25.0 percent).
The Junior Blues will return to Centennial League action on Friday with a road game at Topeka High.
WASHBURN RURAL GIRLS 55, BLUE VALLEY 42
Blue Valley 8 5 9 20 -- 42
Washburn Rural 12 7 10 26 -- 55
Blue Valley (8-8) – Forgy 4-16 1-2 10, Splittorff 4-12 2-5 11, Kennedy 5-6 0-0 14, Peterson 0-1 0-2 0, Faulkner 3-6 0-3 7, Cross 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 16-41 3-12 42.
Washburn Rural (11-4) – Rutherford 1-4 3-6 5, Hirschi 0-6 0-0 0, Walker 2-5 2-3 6, Anderson 7-16 6-6 25, Carlgren 3-10 4-4 12, Smith 2-3 0-0 5, Hinck 0-0 0-0 0, Petersen 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 16-45 15-19 55.
3-point goals – Blue Valley 7 (Kennedy 4, Forgy, Splittorff, Faulkner), Washburn Rural 8 (Anderson 5, Carlgren 2, Smith). Total fouls – Blue Valley 16, Washburn Rural 11. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- none.
