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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
The speculation going into Friday night's United Kansas Conference girls basketball matchup was that the contest between top-ranked (Class 5A) Seaman and Basehor-Linwood would be close due to this season's brief history.
But the result on Friday was the opposite, with Seaman rolling through Basehor-Linwood, 68-34.
Junior Taylin Stallbaumer led Seaman with a game-high 23 points in Friday's 68-34 UKC win over Basehor-Linwood. [File photo/TSN]
Seaman's only loss of the 2022-2023 campaign was to Basehor-Linwood on Jan. 10, with the Bobcats prevailing in double overtime on its home court, 74-71.
"We came into this game a lot more focused," Seaman coach Matt Tinsley said. "The first time we played them, they outplayed us. They outhustled and outcoached us last game, too. I thought we played a focused game this time from the get-go. The unselfish play of our girls, making the extra pass and cranking it up defensively, helped us win."
Despite its overwhelmingly young core, Tinsley and the Vikings have been nothing short of impressive.
In the last two seasons, Seaman has only lost to 5A opponents twice in the regular season.
"I know it sounds cliche, but we are truly focused on one game at a time," Tinsley said. "We realize that there is a lot ahead of us. At this time of the year, you want to play your best. We want to be that team that is hot down the stretch. We are playing good team basketball, but we have more work to do, and that starts in practice."
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By KYLE MANTHE
Special to TopSports.news
For a team without any seniors, Senior Night might lose its importance.
But for the Highland Park girls (14-3 overall, 9-0 league), they spent Friday night celebrating something else -- the Meadowlark Conference title.
Sophomore Amelia Ramsey scored a game-high 22 points as Highland Park wrapped up the Meadowlark Conference title with a 68-38 win over KC-Sumner Friday night. [Photo by Tr
Highland Park coach Rob Brown talks to his Scots during Friday's 68-38 Meadowlark Conference win over KC-Sumner. [Photo by Trevor Falcon/Special to TSN]
The Lady Scots rolled past second-place Kansas City-Sumner Academy 68-38 to take the crown in their inaugural season in the conference.
“It was one of our goals coming into the year to win the league championship, so they did that and they are in the locker room partying and celebrating a little bit, but our main goal is to get to sub-state playing the right way when we get there,” said Highland Park coach Rob Brown.
Highland Park was led by sophomore Amelia Ramsey’s 22 points, but the young team got contributions up and down the lineup en route to an eighth straight victory.
“In that first five everybody was getting each other looks and we did a good job of doing that,” Brown said.
“It’s a good feeling (having a young team). I’m kind of bragging when I say that I have no seniors. I feel like people are surprised,” Brown said. “The future looks bright and we are going to get this thing rolling the right way.”
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Even though his Hayden boys basketball team had already beaten Topeka High twice by a total of 27 points, Wildcat coach Dwayne Paul reminded his players that they couldn't afford to take the Trojans lightly in Hayden vs. High Part III Friday night.
Hayden senior Joe Otting, driving the baseline against Topeka High, had game-high totals of 23 points and 10 rebounds in a 55-44 Centennial League victory. [Photo by Sarah Carson/Special to TSN]
Junior Cooper Colboch came off the bench to hit three 3-pointers in Hayden's 55-44 Centennial League win at Topeka High Friday night. [Photo by Sarah Carson/Special to TSN]
And except for a short stretch in the second half, Paul's Wildcats took that advice to heart, turning in a solid performance in a 55-44 Centennial League win on the Trojans' home court.
"That's a good team,'' Paul said of the Trojans. "I tell people all the time and I told the guys, 'Their record is not indicative of the kind of team they are.' Credit to coach (Geo) Lyons and those boys over there, they keep fighting, there's no quit in them.
"They have all my respect in the world.''
The Wildcats, who improved to 10-8 overall and 4-5 in the league, was locked in a 12-12 tie at the end of the first quarter but hit the Trojans (3-16, 0-9) with a 16-4 second quarter to take a 28-16 advantage into halftime.
Hayden boosted its lead to 15 points (35-20) on two Joe Otting free throws with 3:45 left in the third quarter, but Topeka High ended the stanza with a 14-4 run to cut its deficit to 39-34 at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Trojans continued to surge at the start of the final period, eventually getting within two points at 41-39 on two Mason Gomez free throws with 4:14 left.
Hayden righted its ship at that point, however, with senior Jake Muller scoring four straight points and junior Cooper Colboch draining his third 3-pointer of the night to push the Wildcats' lead back to 48-39.
"When you play a good team, a team that shoots the ball like they do, they're bound to make a run,'' Paul said. "You just hope that when they make a run that you can, (No.) 1 be ahead far enough or 2, weather the storm.
"We got back to playing great defense and making them make tough shots and, with the exception of probably that three and a half, four-minute spurt, I thought we played really good basketball.'' .
Muller, who scored all eight of his points over the final four minutes, went six of six from the free throw line over the last 3:31, including two charities with 25.4 seconds left to push Hayden's lead back to 13 points.
Otting was a force inside throughout the game, hitting 10 of 13 shots from the field and three of five free throws to finish with a game-high 23 points. The Notre Dame football signee also grabbed a game-high 10 rebounds.
Topeka High junior Isaiah Lyons (1) scored 18 points in the Trojans' 55-44 Centennial League loss to Hayden Friday at High. [Photo by Sarah Carson/Special to TSN]
Junior Isaiah Lyons led Topeka High with 18 points and junior Bryson Thrasher added 11 points but Hayden did a good job of keeping the Trojans' 3-point shooters in check, with High hitting just one trey on the night.
HAYDEN BOYS 55, TOPEKA HIGH 44
Hayden 12 16 11 16 -- 55
Topeka High 12 4 18 10 -- 44
Hayden (10-8, 4-5) -- Padilla 2-7 2-2 7, Muller 1-8 6-6 8, Cameron 1-2 1-2 3, Ham 1-1 1-4 3, Otting 10-13 3-5 23, Colboch 3-6 0-0 9, McGibboney 1-1 0-0 2, Deister 0-0 0-0 0, Charvat 0-0 0-0 0, Ridley 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 19-39 13-19 55.
Topeka High (3-16, 0-9) -- Lyons 6-14 5-6 18, Thrasher 5-8 1-2 11, Hales 3-3 0-0 6, Gomez 0-4 3-4 3, Votaw 1-3 2-2 4, Norman 1-3 0-0 2, Villegas 0-0 0-0 0, Mosqueda 0-3 0-0 0. Totals 16-38 11-14 44.
3-point goals -- Hayden 4 (Colboch 3, Padilla), Topeka High 1 (Lyons). Total fouls -- Hayden 15, Topeka High 16. Fouled out – Cameron. Technical fouls -- none.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After watching probably her team's most disappointing performance of the season in a 13-point loss at Washburn Rural Tuesday night, Topeka High girls basketball coach Brittney Redmond could have been forgiven for putting her Trojans through some arduous practice sessions in the wake of that setback.
Senior star Kiki Smith scored 28 points, including 14 in the first quarter, as Topeka High rolled to a 60-37 Centennial League win over Hayden Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Topeka High senior Kiki Smith (center) congratulates her teammates during Friday's 60-37 Centennial League win over Hayden. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Instead, Redmond went completely the other way, a tactic that paid immediate dividends for her No. 4-ranked (Class 6A) Trojans in Friday's 60-37 home Centennial League romp past No. 10 (4A) Hayden.
"We didn't practice the two days leading up to this, and I won't say I was expecting this, but this is what I had hoped for taking those two days off,'' Redmond said. "We just took days off. We needed them and we had to regroup and get our minds right.
"I know this is the type of team that we can do that and come back stronger.''
Topeka High, which improved to 14-5 overall and 5-4 in the league, never trailed against Hayden and there was just one tie at 3-3 before the Trojans took control early behind a 14-point first-quarter barrage from senior star Kiki Smith, including four 3-pointers over the first seven minutes.
The Trojans built a 21-10 lead at the end of the opening quarter and High led by as many as 20 points late in the first half before taking a commanding 37-20 lead to the locker room.
Topeka High made it a 29-point game (55-26) by the end of the third quarter and forced a running clock when sophomore Jo'Mhara Benning hit a free throw with 7:22 remaing to put the Trojans up by 30.
Smith finished with a game-high 28 points, hitting five 3-pointers and going five of five at the free throw line while also grabbing six rebounds.
Benning came off the bench to score nine points and grab eight rebounds for the Trojans while junior Ladaysha Baird added eight points off the bench.
Topeka High girls coach Brittney Redmond talks with senior Kiki Smith during Friday's 60-37 Trojan win over Hayden. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"It was great, I loved it,'' Redmond said of the Trojans' performance. "I think our energy and our intensity was probably the highest I've seen it all season.''
Sophomore Kaliya Fulton led Hayden (11-7, 3-6) with 10 points while sophomore Brylee Meier added eight points and sophomore Norma Greco seven.
TOPEKA HIGH 60, HAYDEN 37
Hayden 10 10 6 11 -- 37
Topeka High 21 16 18 5 -- 60
Hayden (11-7, 3-6) -- Sandstrom 3-10 0-0 6, Fulton 3-12 4-6 10, Huscher 1-2 0-0 3, Meier 3-9 1-2 8, Greco 2-5 3-6 7, Grunert 0-0 0-0 0, Lenherr 0-1 0-0 0, Reid 1-1 1-2 3. Totals 13-40 9-16 37.
Topeka High (14-5, 5-4) -- Leesman 1-4 0-0 2, Marshall 0-2 2-2 2, Caryl 1-2 2-2 4, Shields 2-5 0-0 5, Smith 9-16 5-5 28, Baird 3-6 0-0 8, Sharpe 1-1 0-0 2, Benning 3-5 3-5 9 Verser 0-0 0-0 0, Huggins 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 20-42 12-14 60.
3-point goals -- Hayden 2 (Huscher, Meier), Topeka High 8 (Smith 5, Baird 2, Shields). Total fouls -- Hayden 14, Topeka High 13. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls -- Shields.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn women's basketball led by as many as 28 points and never trailed in Thursday's 75-58 MIAA road victory at Lincoln.
Washburn (11-14 overall, 7-12 MIAA) jumped out to a 6-0 start in the game, with Emma Chapman scoring all six points, and the Ichabods closed out the final 55 seconds of the opening quarter with a pair of free throws and a layup from Macy Doebele to extend the lead to 17-10.
Washburn freshman Gabi Artis tied her career-high with 16 points, including four 3-pointers, in Thursday's 75-58 win at Lincoln. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods carried their momentum into the second quarter and outscored the Blue Tigers 14-4 leading up to the media timeout with just under the five minutes left in the first half.
Lincoln (5-20, 3-16 MIAA) came out of the timeout with a 6-0 scoring run, but WU freshman Gabi Artis put an end to that with a 3-pointer that sparked a run of 10 unanswered points for Washburn to finish out the half in front, 41-20.
The Ichabods shot a blistering 81.8 percent from the field (9-of-11) and made 4-of-5 from 3-point range in the quarter, with Artis making all three of her shot attempts from beyond the arc.
The Blue Tigers put up nine of the first 11 points scored to start the second half and trimmed the deficit to 43-29, but the Ichabods quickly regained control of the game with a 14-0 burst to go up by a game-high 28 points, 57-29, with 2:49 left in the third frame. The Blue Tigers closed out the quarter almost exactly how they started with an 8-2 run to cut the Washburn lead to 59-37 heading to the fourth.
