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Smith leads way with 30 points as High girls roll past Highland Park

Details: Created: Saturday, 18 December 2021 05:45

By ISAAC DEER

TopSports.news

The No. 6-ranked Topeka High girls basketball team keeps on rolling, remaining undefeated on the season with an 86-16 Centennial League romp past Highland Park Friday night at High.

The 5-0 Trojans went into the holiday break with an exclamation point, which is exactly what High coach Hannah Alexander wanted.

“Last game we didn’t really play our best basketball,'' Alexander said. "We didn’t run our offense great and we were very stagnant. Tonight we wanted to get back on track. We wanted to run our offense and our press much better before the break. We have a tough one coming up when we get back (Washburn Rural).”

Topeka High junior Kiki Smith led the way with 30 points as the Trojans improved to 5-0 with an 86-16 Centennial League win over Highland Park Friday night. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

High junior veteran Kiki Smith came up huge for the Trojans on Friday night, scoring 30 points in the 70-point win.

“She’s been phenomenal,'' Alexander said of Smith. "She has grown up with us and has been the perfect leader on and off the floor. How she gets everyone involved is really nice.

"She’s so unselfish out there. Whether it’s assists, steals, rebounds, points, she just does what’s best for the team.''

Viking boys bounce back with wire-to-wire run past Junior Blues

Details: Created: Saturday, 18 December 2021 05:45

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Seaman's boys basketball team bounced back from a tough Tuesday loss to Highland Park with a wire-to-wire run Friday night, ending the 2021 portion of its schedule with a 58-50 Centennial League win over Washburn Rural at Seaman.

Seaman, which lost to Highland Park on a late follow shot after a frantic comeback, took control early against Washburn Rural, opening up a 39-21 halftime advantage and leading 47-26 after three quarters.

Seaman had fallen behind by 18 points on Tuesday against Highland Park but got out of the gate with a bang Friday, leading 6-0 and 15-4 early.

"We talked about being the aggressor and kind of felt like that's what Highland Park had done to us and got us on our heels and it took us a long time to recover,'' Seaman coach Craig Cox said. "Tonight we wanted to take that role ourselves and I thought we did a good job with that, especially defensively.''

Seaman junior Kaeden Bonner (13) paced the Vikings with a game-high 17 points in Friday's 58-50 win over Washburn Rural. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

The Vikings, who improved to 3-2 overall and in the league, rode their balance to Friday's win, with four players scoring 12 or more points in the win.

Junior Kaeden Bonner led the way for Seaman with a game-high 17 points while senior Ty Henry added 14 points and seniors Mateo Hyman and Gavin Wilhelm scored 12 apiece.

Seaman shot a sparking 65.7 percent from the field, with Bonner hitting seven of eight shots, Henry going six of eight and Wilhelm hitting all four of his shots, including three 3-pointers.

Seaman senior Gavin Wilhelm scored 12 points and hit three 3-pointers in the Vikings' 58-50 Centennial League win over Washburn Rural Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

The Vikings led by as many as 25 points (47-22) in the third quarter and by 21 (49-28) early in the fourth before Washburn Rural (2-3, 2-3) ended the game with a 22-9 run as Seaman emptied its bench.

Cox said it was good for his team to end its pre-holiday slate on a positive note.

"Definitely it's good for us and lifts our spirits,'' Cox said. "Our bench is kind of short right now so those guys who are playing a lot of minutes are going to need this break to kind of re-charge their batteries and we'll work some things out.

"We need to improve our consistency and then learn how to finish games when we have a nice lead.''

Senior Quincey Kidd led the Junior Blues with 12 points while junior Jack Bachelor added nine points.