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Details: Created: 12 February 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn University women's basketball returned to Lee Arena Thursday for only the third time over its past 10 games and took full advantage of the opportunity, draining a season-high 13 3-pointers on the way to an 85-70 MIAA win over Arkansas-Fort Smith.

Washburn senior Payton Sterk scored a game-high 23 points in Thursday's 85-70 MIAA win over Arkansas-Fort Smith. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Washburn senior Aniah Wayne (24) is congratulated by her teammates after draining one of her six 3-pointers in Thursday's 85-70 MIAA win over Arkansas-Fort Smith. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

The underdog Lions stayed within striking distance for most of the night before Washburn stretched out its lead down the stretch, improving to 16-7 overall and 9-5 in the MIAA while Arkansas-Fort Smith dropped to 4-19, 3-11.

"I know what everybody else saw in their record,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said. "We knew they were a much better team than that and they can score and move and defend. So we had to settle in and wear them out a little bit and I think we stayed consistent enough.

"We turned it over too many times on some unforced things, but I was really proud of our resiliency and then we saw some shots go in.''

After Washburn scored the first six points of the game the next 12 came from the Lions.

Washburn answered right back, scoring 10 in a row after senior Aniah Wayne knocked down a fast break 3-pointer. It was the first of four 3-pointers for Wayne inside the final five minutes of the quarter as she helped the Ichabods build a 25-21 advantage.

AniahWayne2026FS 2 Senior Aniah Wayne hit six of nine 3-pointers Thursday in Washburn's 85-70 MIAA win over Arkansas-Fort Smith. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]

Wayne, who tied her career-high with 19 points while hitting 6 of 9 shots from 3-point range, said she had an inkling before the game that Thursday was going to be a good night.

"I think I felt it during warmups,'' Wayne said. "I have a consistent little shot routine before games, so getting shots up and seeing them go in helped me build my confidence going into the game.''

Despite fighting foul trouble, the Ichabods continued to churn offensively, shooting 46.2 percent in the second quarter with three more connections from deep.

Arkansas-Fort Smith kept pace, staying within four before going in front 38-36 with 1:45 remaining in the half, using a 6-0 run.

Washburn scored the final six points on triples from Wayne and senior Payton Sterk to lead 42-38 going into halftime.

Both teams continued to trade baskets out of the break, but Wayne provided some breathing room for the Ichabods, pushing the lead to four with 4:55 left in the third when she hit another 3-pointer.

The Ichabods then got stingy on the defensive end, holding the Lions without a basket for the final 4:44 of the third quarter. Washburn finished the stanza on a 6-0 run to lead 58-49.

Senior Gabi Giovannetti scored the first five points of the fourth quarter for Washburn, pushing the lead into double figures.

The Ichabod offense kept the lead there, shooting 68.8 percent for the quarter to score 27 points in the frame. The Ichabods led by as many as 18 points after Kellyn Hunter scored with 2:34 left as the Ichabods eased into the 15-point win.

Both teams shot an even 50.0 percent from the field in the game, but the Ichabods took 18 more shots than Arkansas-Fort Smith while also going 13-25 from 3-point range to create their advantage.

Washburn had a narrow 31-28 lead on the glass but won the turnover battle 22-15, leading to 27 points off turnovers while the Lions had just 11. Paint scoring also went in favor of the Ichabods, 34-24.

Sterk led the way with 23 points on 7-15 shooting, turning in her second straight big night against the Lions after burning Arkansas-Fort Smith for 33 points last season.

"That's crazy,'' Sterk said. "I don't know what it is. I must just play good against them.

"I think us guards had been struggling a little bit shooting-wise in past games, so that was a good part of today and Aniah killed it. She was just hot, but it was all good.''

Details: Created: 11 February 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Cair Paravel Latin boys basketball completed a wire to wire 10-0 run to the Flint Hills League regular-season championship on Tuesday night, posting a 61-41 home win over Council Grove.

The Lions also won the Flint Hills League midseason tournament.

Lucas Marichal led the way with 17 points as Cair Paravel wrapped up a perfect Flint Hills League record with Tuesday's 61-41 win over Council Grove. [File photo/TSN]

Now 17-2 overall with 14 straight victories, the Lions took control of Tuesday's game with a 25-9 first quarter.

Cair Paravel led 38-18 at the half and the two teams battled to a 23-23 scoring stalemate over the final two quarters.

Lucas Marichal led Cair Paravel with 17 points while Chase Hastert added 14 points with three 3-pointers and Blaine Durbin had 12 points.

The Lions will host Heritage Christian on Friday.

CPLS girls take 36-31 victory

London Backman led the way with 13 points, including three 3-pointers, as Cair Paravel's girls took a tight 36-31 Flint Hills League decision over Council Grove Tuesday on the Lions' home court.

Cair Paravel led 9-6 at the end of the first quarter and 16-11 at the half before going in front 27-20 through three quarters.

Council Grove held an 11-9 scoring edge over the final eight minutes but Cair Paravel was able to hold on for the win, improving to 9-10 on the season.

Karsyn Hastert added nine points and Avery Rosenow seven points for the Lions.

Rural boys drop 63-54 Centennial League tilt to Manhattan

Washburn Rural dropped its third straight single-digit game on Tuesday, with Manhattan taking a home 63-54 Centennial League decision over the Junior Blues.

Rural fell to 9-8 overall and 2-3 in the league while Manhattan improved to 12-5 overall and 4-1 in the league.

The Junior Blues will be at home Friday to host Junction City in a Centennial League contest.

Manhattan tops Lady Blues, 67-45

Manhattan girls basketball rolled to a 67-45 home Centennial League win over Washburn Rural Tuesday night.

Washburn Rural fell to 11-6 overall and 2-3 in the league.

Scots roll to 26-point Meadowlark Conference win

Highland Park's boys posted their second straight win Tuesday night, taking a 48-22 Meadowlark Conference road decision over Kansas City-Schlagle.

The Scots, now 5-14, have outscored their past two foes by a 116-41 margin.

Highland Park's girls took a 2-0 forfeit win over Schlagle.

Cameron Miller scored 26 points Tuesday in Rossville's 75-43 win over Royal Valley. [File photo/TSN]

Bulldawg boys continue hot streak

Rossville boys basketball has now won six out of its last seven games after a 75-43 Big East League rout Tuesday night at Royal Valley.

The Bulldawgs, now 11-6 overall and 6-4 in the league, took control with a 45-23 first-half onslaught and used a 25-15 third quarter to force a running clock over the final eight minutes.

Senior Cameron Miller paced Rossville with 26 points while Jack Donovan added 21 points and Jakoby McDonnell 11.

Rossville will be at home Friday to host Abilene.

Senior Rylee Dick scored 24 points to pace Rossville to a 63-37 win over Royal Valley Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]

Dick, Burdiek power Rossville past Royal Valley

Senior Rylee Dick scored 24 points and junior Nora Burdiek 21 points as Rossville's girls took a 63-37 Big East League road win at Royal Valley.

Rossville has now won three straight games, improving to 9-8 on the season and 4-6 in the league.

The Bulldawgs will be at home Friday to host Abilene.

Details: Created: 12 February 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn University baseball opens its home schedule with three games Friday through Sunday at the Steve Anson Classic against the University of Sioux Falls and Metropolitan State Denver, starting at 2 p.m. on Friday.

Washburn's home stadium was named Steve Anson Stadium last season and this weekend's event is the first tournament named in the honor of the Ichabods' longtime head coach, who passed away in 2014.

"We've spent a long time trying to get this put together,'' said Washburn coach Harley Douglas, who was an assistant under Anson. "It wasn't going to work out very well to have a tournament where you're playing at a field that wasn't named after him.

"But now that you have a setup where it's named after him and it's there, we got it put together pretty quick. And in the future I want it to be a premier tournament that you're going to see awesome baseball the while entire time, just like coach always wanted to have and he always tried to bring in the right teams to do that. It's huge for us.''

The Ichabods begin the tournament against Sioux Falls at 2 p.m. on Friday before facing No. 23-ranked MSU Denver at 1 p.m. on Saturday and finishing off the tournament against Sioux Falls again at 2 p.m. on Sunday. Emporia State will also take part in this weekend's tournament.

There is no gate fee for games.

Washburn began the season 1-3 on the year after playing four road games in South Florida. The Ichabods finished the trip with a 6-0 loss to to Barry on Monday.

Douglas said he saw some good things in the Ichabods' Florida performance while also seeing plenty of things that need work.

"I thought this last weekend would be kind of a testament of our identity, kind of where we were going to be, what we were going to be like,'' Douglas said. "I thought we did a good job of coming out and competing and if you look at it, every game was tight and where it needed to be besides the last one when we didn't hit well.

"I think we had some good stuff come out of it.''

The Ichabods are coming off a fourth straight winning season in 2025, going 28-25 overall and 18-18 inside the MIAA. Washburn finished seveth in the regular season and won two games in the MIAA Tournament before falling in the semifinal round.

The Ichabods were picked to finish fifth in the MIAA Preseason Coaches Poll for a second straight year.

Washburn is scoring 7.5 runs per game on the year while opponents are scoring 9.0 runs per game.

At the plate the Ichabods are hitting .209 with a .394 on base percentage and a .333 slugging percentage. Washburn has tallied three home runs with 31 total walks, including a program-record 17 against Palm Beach Atlantic.

The WU pitching staff has a 7.99 earned run average with 30 strikeouts across 32.2 innings. The Ichabods have allowed 50 hits and issued 16 walks.

Washburn has a .966 fielding percentage as a team with five errors and has not turned a double play.

On the basepaths the Ichabods have gone 3-6 in stolen base attempts while opponents have gone 5-7.

Washburn returned 19 players from the 2025 roster.

Trenton Barry and Jarrett Herrmann have the highest hitting streak entering the weekend at two games while Levi Risenhoover had the longest hitting streak of the year at three games and he leads the team with two home runs and six RBI.

Owen Laessig, Ian Luce and Chase Littrell have all reached base in all four games this season.

Right-handed hitters are hitting more than .100 points worse than left-handed hitters when facing the Ichabods.

Washburn is outscoring opponents 21-14 over the final two innings of games.

Seaman product Maclane Finley has pitched a team-high 6.0 innings in his one start. He has a 1.50 ERA with a pair of strikeouts and a 1.33 WHIP. He is 10th in the MIAA in ERA.

Kai Bennett has made one appearance this year, throwing 5.0 innings. He has allowed just one run for a 1.80 ERA and has three strikeouts with a WHIP of just .80. He is third in the MIAA in hits allowed per nine innings while ranking seventh in the conference in WHIP.

Seaman product Gavin Wilhelm is 1-0 on the year, throwing a scoreless inning in his only appearance with a strikeout.

Doulas enters his 12th season at the helm of the Washburn baseball program in 2025.

In 11 full seasons, Douglas carries an all-time record of 285-245 with seven appearances in the MIAA Tournament and led the program to its first-ever NCAA Tournament in 2022.

Details: Created: 12 February 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Brenda Holaday's 8-2 Washburn softball team will compete this weekend in Tahlequah, Okla. [File photo/TSN]

Washburn, which went 4-1 last weekend in the Alvy Early Memorial Classic in Arkansas, will face Oklahoma Baptist, East Central, Harding, Southwestern Oklahoma State and Southeastern Oklahoma State this weekend.

WU's Dalaney Anderson is second in the nation in runs batted in with 17 while Makenzie Sais leads the nation in stolen bases with 19 and she is ranked third in stolen bases per game at 1.90. Sais stole four bases against William Jewell.

As a team the Ichabods are fifth in the nation in stolen bases with 29 and sixth in total runs with 76. Washburn is also seventh in RBI with 68, 10th in doubles with 17, 11th in hits with 94 and 15th in fielding percentage at .980.

A dominant five-run sixth inning propelled Washburn to a 7–5 comeback victory over Truman State on Sunday morning in its final game at the Alvy Early Memorial Classic.

Trailing 5–2 heading into the bottom of the sixth, Washburn's offense erupted.

Erin Boles opened the surge with an RBI single, plating Ashley Gaughan to make it 5–3. Two batters later, Anderson delivered a three-run home run to left field that put the Ichabods ahead, 6–5.

The inning continued with a double from Seaman product Aspen Burgardt, followed by an RBI single from Madi Moore to account for the final margin.

In addition to Anderson's three RBI on her go-ahead home run, Boles, Shawnee Heights product Taylor Brees, Moore and Maddie McGee each contributed an RBI as Washburn totaled 10 hits.

A freshman, Brees had an RBI double in the fourth inning as part of a two-hit performance.

Jenna Sprague was outsanding in relief in the pitching circle to pick up her first win of the season.

Entering in the fourth inning, Sprague tossed 3 2/3 scoreless innings, allowing just three hits.

Details: Created: 12 February 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

After playing seven of their previous nine games on the road, Washburn University women's basketball returns home to Lee Arena Thursday as the Ichabods host Arkansas-Fort Smith in a 5:30 p.m. MIAA contest.

Senior star Yibari Nwidadah and the 15-7 Washburn women will be back in Lee Arena to host Arkansas-Fort Smith Thursday night. [File photo/TSN]

Washburn is 15-7 overall and 8-5 in the MIAA after a 64-58 Saturday loss at Central Missouri State while Arkansas-Fort Smith is 4-18 overall and 3-10 in the MIAA after falling 73-68 at home to No. 8-ranked Fort Hays State.

"We're just happy to be home again,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said. "And this team certainly has our attention and our respect.

"They're much better than their record says. You look at their wins, they beat Drury, they beat Missouri Southern. They almost beat Hays and they beat Kearney, so they're pretty good.''

Ichabod senior star Yibari Nwidadah said the key for Washburn is to be prepared to get back on track Thursday after last Saturday's loss.

"Obviously we know we need to get better and we started on Monday preparing ourselves for another tough game,'' Nwidadah said. "Obviously, in this conference everyone can play with anyone and we know that the way we prepare in the beginning of the week will put us in the best position we can be for Thursday and Saturday.''

Nwidadah averages team-highs of 12.1 points 7.6 rebounds for Washburn while also shooting 55.5 percent from the floor. She has cracked double figures in 13 games with five double-doubles and ranks second in the MIAA in offensive rebounds per game and eighth among conference players in rebounds per game.

With 286 career offensive rebounds Nwidadah ranks third in program history and is fifth in overall rebounds with 783 career boards. Her career field goal percentage of .575 is the third best in program history and she ranks 13th among all Ichabods with 1,247 career points.

Nwidadah is also 11th in program history with 69 career blocked shots.

With the end of her college career on the horizon, Nwidadah said she wants to make sure she ends things with a bang.

"Obviously, it's getting closer and closer each day, but I just want to embrace every moment because I don't want to look back and be like, 'Oh man, I wish I could have done this or could have done that,' '' she said. "I just want to make sure I enjoy the time I have left.''

Senior Payton Sterk averages 11.2 points for the Ichabods and has connected on a team-high 33 3-pointers and has scored 14-plus points in nine games this season. Sterk ranks 13th in the MIAA in 3-pointers.

Sterk's career free throw percentage of 86.3 percent is the best for any Ichabod.

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