By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
An ice-cold fourth period doomed the Topeka High girls’ first effort of the season Thursday. A five-minute scoreless stretch let the visiting Wamego Lady Raiders get away with a 67-46 opening-night victory.
Junior Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton led Topeka High with 26 points in Thursday's 67-46 season-opening loss to Wamego. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]Caption Text
The Trojans trailed essentially they entire game, but they kept the deficit around five points most of the night. They trailed 41-36 to begin the fourth period. But Wamego reeled off a 16-0 run that was not broken until the 3:00 mark, at which point the game was out of reach for Topeka High.
Having finished 14-8 a year ago and returning a number of key veterans, it was not the start the Trojans hoped for.
“We’re not making excuses,” Trojan coach Ron Slaymaker said about the debut performance. “Wamego was pretty good. They’ve got good depth and they shot really well. So, you’ve got to give them some credit.”
Topeka High senior Keimara Marshall scored 12 points in Thursday's season-opening 67-46 loss to Wamego. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Trojans were led by junior Ahsieryrhuajh Rayton’s 26 and senior Keimara Marshall’s 12. But they struggled to get production beyond the two starting guards.
Sophomore forward Hailey Caryl, a returning starter who is an important rebounder and defender in the paint, spent the game on the sideline wearing a boot.
“Without Hailey in there, we have to put some people in spots where they don’t belong,” Slaymaker said. “We get past one or two people and we get pretty short. For 32 minutes, that catches up with you. But they know that with Hailey being out, that’s only an excuse. In sports, you’ve got to play without somebody sometimes. Everybody else has to pick up their slack. I don’t think we did that.”
Sophomore Kendall Mayer led the Lady Raiders by hitting 11 of 18 shots for 25 points. Senior Lexi Hecht chipped in 14. Wamego hit 24 of 54 attempts from the field and forced the Trojans to commit 26 fouls.
“I was really disappointed in our defense. The fundamental things. The simple things,” Slaymaker said.
WAMEGO GIRLS 67, TOPEKA HIGH 46
Wamego 11 16 14 26 -- 67
Topeka High 9 12 15 10 -- 46
Wamego (1-0) – Meyer 2-9 1-2 5, McIntosh 1-3 3-4 6, Hecht 3-15 6-8 14, Mayer 11-18 2-4 25, Pittinger-Reed 2-4 2-3 6, Panzer 4-4 1-2 9, Frazier-Brown 1-1 0-0 2, Douglass 0-1 0-0 0, Vestal 0-0 0-0 0, Hollenbeck 0-0 0-0 0, Schiel 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 24-54 15-23 67.
Topeka High (0-1) – Short 0-0 0-2 0, Triplett 0-3 1-2 1, Marshall 6-15 0-1 12, Rayton 11-20 4-4 26, Gotru 0-2 0-2 0, Whayne 0-2 0-0 0, Brown 3-3 0-2 6, Martin 0-2 1-2 1, Conley 0-1 0-0 0, Hartz 0-3 0-0 0. Totals: 20-51 6-15 46.
3-point goals – Wamego 4 (Hecht 2, McIntosh 1, Mayer 1) Topeka High 0. Total fouls – Wamego 16, Topeka High 26. Fouled out – Short. Technical fouls – None.
