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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Silver Lake girls punched their ticket to the Class 3A state tournament Saturday by rolling past St. Marys 62-32 at Riley County.
Senior Makenzie McDaniel scored 22 points, 20 in the second half, as Silver Lake earned its fourth straight Class 3A state berth with a 62-32 sub-state win over St. Marys. [File photo/TSN]
Silver Lake senior McKinley Kruger scored 19 points with four 3-pointers in the Eagles' 62-32 sub-state win over St. Marys on Saturday. [File photo/TSN]
The Eagles will be making their fourth consecutive trip to the state tournament, an accomplishment proudly proclaimed by coach Kyle Porter. Silver Lake finished third at the state tournament in 2022 and fourth in 2023, due in large part to the current group of seniors.
“The special thing about this team is the balance and the fact that you can’t take everybody away,” Porter said. “We’ve had a number of players step up. I think when everybody plays to their role it’s a special thing. That’s what we saw tonight.”
St. Marys’ post Hayden Heim made things difficult for Silver Lake in the first period. The 6-foot-3 junior scored eight points in the opening period while holding Eagles’ post MaKenzie McDaniel to 1-4 shooting at the other end of the floor.
With the Eagles clinging to a 19-14 lead early in the second period, the game changed when Heim picked up her third foul.
When Heim went to the bench with 6:29 still remaining before halftime, the Eagles adjusted their strategy. They began sending guards into the middle of the paint to receive passes from the perimeter. Once there, the ball was kicked out to shooters. The plan ignited a run of eight points on three consecutive possessions.
“All game, one of our goals was to attack the scoring area,” Porter said. “We knew that they don’t play a ton of players, have a limited bench. So, we really wanted to get to the rim and use our inside game. We hit a number of shots outside early, and then with Heim not in there we were able to take advantage inside.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's women rallied from 13 points down in the second half to deliver a 59-58 overtime victory over Emporia State on Senior Day Saturday in Lee Arena.
WU shot just 25 percent from the field in the first half and 34.9 percent on the day, hit just two of 16 attempts from 3-point range and missed some big free throws down the stretch, but the Ichabods found a way to pull out the rivalry win in their regular-season finale.
The Washburn women's basketball team celebrates at the end of Saturday's 59-58 overtime win over Emporia State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"We found a way,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said. "We've been talking a lot about confidence and that's the thing, I think you've got to find ways first and then the confidence comes. That was big for us.
"It was a great team win and everybody contributed.''
The Ichabods finished the regular season as the No. 10 seed in the MIAA and will take on No. 7 Nebraska-Kearney in the opening round of the MIAA Tournament on Wednesday, March 6, at 2:15 p.m. in Kansas City, Mo.
"Any time we beat Emporia it's awesome,'' Washburn standout senior point guard Aubree Dewey said. "It's the last game of the (regular) season and we knew we wanted great momentum going into the tournament. No matter who this game was we wanted it no matter what.''
Washburn (13-15 overall, 8-14 MIAA) jumped out to a 5-0 lead but the Hornets (13-15, 10-12) rallied for a 15-11 first-quarter advantage and held a slim 22-19 advantage at halftime.
The Hornets pushed their lead into double-digits in the third quarter but the Ichabods ended the quarter on a 4-0 run to make it a nine-point game heading into the fourth.
Washburn started the fourth stanza with a 7-0 run, including a 3-point play from Dewey with 8:15 left in regulation.
Emporia State pushed the lead back to six but the Ichabods battled back to tie the game on a Yibari Nwidadah free throw with 42 seconds left. After the Hornets regained the lead Washburn was able to force overtime with Dewey hitting a shot with 19 seconds left.
WU senior Lakyn Schieferecke drew a charge on Emporia State's final offensive possession to set up the overtime.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural will make the familiar trek to Wichita next week for the Class 6A girls state basketball tournament.
Washburn Rural girls basketball celebrates its 47-34 win at Wichita South in Friday's Class 6A sub-state final. [Washburn Rural girls basketball]
Kevin Bordewick's Junior Blues will be making their straight state appearance after avenging a midseason loss to Wichita South with a 47-34 win in Friday's sub-state championship game on the Titans' home floor.
Washburn Rural has advanced to the state championship game the past two seasons, finishing second a year ago after winning the title in 2022, the Junior Blues' second championship since 2019.
Washburn Rural poses for a team picture after winning its third straight Class 6A girls sub-state title Friday night at Wichita South. [Washburn Rural girls basketball]
Rural, now 15-7, dropped a 44-38 overtime decision to South in the championship game of the Girls Capital City Classic on Jan. 27 but pulled away late Friday night for the double-digit victory over the Titans, who finished their season 14-8.
Freshman Maddie Vickery led the Junior Blues with 23 points and 12 rebounds while Zoe Canfield added 10 points and Ella Hirschi nine.
Silver Lake girls improve to 22-0
Undefeated and top-ranked Silver Lake ran its win streak to 22 games Friday night with a 63-34 Class 3A sub-state semifinal win over Minneapolis in the Riley County sub-state.
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By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
HOYT -- Hayden's Lady Wildcats started Friday's Class 3A sub-state semifinal on a roll and never looked back, advancing to Saturday's championship game with a 57-10 romp past Atchison County at Royal Valley.
Hayden's starters cheer for their teammates in Friday's 57-10 Class 3A sub-state semifinal win over Atchison County. [Photo by Kyle Grunert/Special to TSN]
Hayden's bench cheers late in Friday's 57-10 Class 3A sub-state victory over Atchison County. [Photo by Kyle Grunert/Special to TSN]
After going up 13-2 in the first quarter the Wildcats would be in command 28-6 at halftime and played stifling defense in the second half as the Wildcats shut out the Tigers in the third quarter and would allow only four points in the fourth.
“We were engaged,'' Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson said. "We worked hard in practice this week about upping our communication and the more you talk the more engaged you are and that was a point of emphasis this week and it was great to see us come out and do it.”
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Highland Park's boys entered Friday night's Class 5A sub-state final against Bonner Springs as a heavy favorite.
Highland Park juniors Ja'Corey Robinson (right) and Mikey Williams hoist the sub-state championship trophy after Friday night's 80-48 win over Bonner Springs. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
Highland Park celebrates Friday's 80-48 Class 5A sub-state win over Bonner Springs, qualifying for state for the third straight season. [Photo by Kyle Manthe/Special to TSN]
And the Scots played that role to the hilt, rolling to their third straight state tournament berth with an 80-48 win over the Braves at Topeka West as junior Ja'Corey Robinson led the way with a monster 35-point, 12-rebound performance.
"We've been really preaching that we want to play the way we want to play in state before we get there,'' Highland Park coach Mike Williams said. "We want to come out and we want to exert our will and there's things that we want to take away from (opponents).
"We did a really, really good job on prep and scout and it helps when our guys hit shots and believe and they play together.''
With Friday's rout 21-1 Highland Park is set to make the familiar trek to Emporia's White Auditorium, where the Scots will open their state bid with a first-round game on Wednesday.
Bonner Springs (13-9), which had dropped a 90-33 decision to Hi Park in the Scots' season-opener, hit some 3-pointers early to lead 5-4, 7-6 and 10-9 but Highland Park ended the first quarter with a 12-0 run to take a 21-10 lead and was off to the races.
