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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Even without key senior standouts Bo Aldridge and Quentin Adams for undisclosed reasons, top-ranked (Class 5A) Highland Park performed at an extremely high level in an 80-51 Meadowlark Conference romp past No. 1 (4A) Atchison Tuesday night at Hi Park.
Atchison has lost just twice on the season, with both losses coming at the hands of Highland Park, which defeated the Phoenix 66-47 earlier in the year.
Highland Park senior Tre Richardson scored a game-high 25 points as the Scots remained unbeaten with an 80-51 win over Atchison Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
Similar to Highland Park, Atchison has consistently rolled over opponents in the 2023 campaign and Scots coach Mike Williams admitted that Tuesday's victory was one of the most fulfilling victories he has had in his tenure at Highland Park due to how his team played a high-quality opponent without some of its key pieces.
“Initially, if you’re down two starters, people will think that we are down, but our guys aren’t thinking that at all,” Williams said. “Everyone probably came in here thinking that we won’t be as good, but our guys’ mindset didn’t change. That’s the special thing about this group; we have kids that can do a wide variety of things on the basketball court.”
Tuesday night wasn’t the first time Highland Park had to make additions and subtractions within its lineup this season. Players have been out occasionally with injuries, school activities, travel basketball and more.
During the off-season Williams said it was a point of emphasis for Highland Park to play a technically sound brand of basketball regardless of who the Scots did or didn’t have suited up to hit the court.
“We were able to pull from those experiences when we were missing guys this evening,” Williams said. “Since it wasn’t the first time we played under-manned, it was easy for us to go back and talk about those experiences and types of games. We play a certain style, and tonight we didn’t do that as much. We played a lot of zone tonight, but it worked. Not only did it work, but it also gave us some flexibility to do a lot of different things.”
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Despite Atchison's second-half comeback, the Highland Park girls locked in and earned their eighth Meadowlark Conference victory on Tuesday night with a 65-51 home win.
Highland Park had a stable 28-18 lead to end the first half but had to keep its foot on the gas to outpace Atchison in the second half.
Sophomore Amelia Ramsey scored 23 points and grabbed 19 rebounds in Highland Park's 65-51 Meadowlark Conference win over Atchison Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
The Scots outscored the pesky Phoenix 37-33 in the third and fourth quarters.
Although Highland Park is brand new to the Meadowlark Conference, Tuesday night's contest felt like a pure rivalry. A back-and-forth contest played with a significant amount of intensity made the victory much sweeter for the Scots'.
"I think it has built up to be a bit of a rivalry," Highland Park coach Rob Brown said. "With Atchison and us, I think it started during the football season with our boys doing what they've been doing. And I keep telling our girls that (Atchison) keeps getting better and better since we've played them. So we are going to get everyone's best shot from here on out."
Highland Park's 6-foot standout sophomore Amelia Ramsey was a thorn in Atchison's side for the duration of the four-quarter contest, scoring a game-high 23 points. Along with Ramsey's 23-point night, the post collected 19 rebounds, five blocks and three steals.
"I feel like as a team, we are learning how to pass the ball better and move more which is helping me in my game," Ramsey said. "Angelique (Gowan-Britt) had some great assists to everyone, which helped me and the team move and get better shots off. I think I can carry my momentum by keeping my confidence up. I have to keep coming in and work hard every day."
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Centennial League-leading Washburn Rural boys were a little slow getting out of the gate Tuesday night, trailing underdog Topeka High 10-8 at end of the opening quarter.
But Alex Hutchins' Junior Blues got better and better as the night wore on, rolling to a 61-35 Senior Night decision over the Trojans at Washburn Rural.
Topeka High's Jayden Norman (5) and Washburn Rural's Jack Bachelor (12) try to corral a loose ball in the Junior Blues' 61-35 win Tuesday night at Rural. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn Rural junior JC Heim (25) grabs one of his nine rebounds in Tuesday's 61-35 Centennial League win over Topeka High at Rural. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"I thought we were impatient early, we settled,'' Hutchins said. "I think we're a good shooting team and we like to get outside looks but I think that's all we were doing and weren't putting enough pressure on the rim and getting into the paint enough, but I do think our defense was pretty consistent throughout and kind of kept us in it early when we were being impatient on offense.''
It didn't take long for Washburn Rural (14-4 overall, 7-1 league) to turn its two-point deficit into a double-digit advantage, with the Junior Blues outscoring the Trojans (3-15, 0-8) by a 35-11 margin over the middle two quarters to take control.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls basketball team knew it was in for a tough challenge Tuesday night.
After all, No. 5-ranked (Class 6A) Rural had pulled out a one-point win over No. 4 Topeka High in the first meeting between the Junior Blues and Trojans early last month and Rural was without junior Zoe Canfield for Tuesday's rematch afer losing the standout point guard to a season-ending knee injury.
Senior Brooklyn DeLeye (32), being guarded by Topeka High's Jo'Mhara Benning,had a double-double with 20 points and 18 rebounds in Tuesday's 55-42 Centennial League win over Topeka High. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Chloe Carlgren (13), being defended by Topeka High's Adisyn Caryl, scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in Washburn Rural's 55-42 Centennial League win over Topeka High. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Junior Blues were up to the task, never trailing after taking a one-point lead at the end of the opening quarter and pulling away in the fourth quarter for a 55-42 Centennial League win over the Trojans at Rural as seniors Brooklyn DeLeye and Chloe Carlgren recorded double-double performances.
"It's very big, especially since we only beat them by one the last time,'' DeLeye said. "It was definitely good to get ahead of them and then getting them where they had to foul us at the enf of the game. That was really nice taking control the whole time instead of always having to work from behind. We kind of put the majority of the pressure on them.''
Washburn Rural, which improved to 13-4 overall and a perfect 8-0 in the league race, clinched a least a share of the league championship while earning a regular-season sweep over Topeka High after entering 2022-2023 with a seven-game losing skid against the Trojans.
The Junior Blues, the defending 6A state champion, also helped their seeding for the upcoming state playoffs, moving into the No. 3 seed in the West with three regular-season games remaining.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka High sophomore Jaxon Cowdin has never been afraid to try new things, particularly in the athletic realm.
And that attitude has paid, and continues to pay, big dividends for the standout one-meter diver and the Trojans.
Topeka High sophomore Jaxon Cowdin will begin his quest for a Class 5A state diving medal in Thursday's 11:30 a.m. preliminary competition in Shawnee Mission. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Cowdin also runs cross county and participates in track and field for Topeka High and has also taken part in ballet and other similar activities, which led him to try diving last year for Topeka High swim coach Ken Bennett, who also coachess Cowdin in cross country.
"Last year was my first year doing it, freshman year,'' said Cowdin, who will make his second straight appearance in the Class 6A state diving event this weekend at the Shawnee Mission School District Aquatic Center. "I didn't really think I was going to make the basketball team and I had a little bit of a history of doing like some flips and everything.
"My sister Maisie, she had had Bennett's class and she had told him that I had done this type of stuff, so he convinved me to go out for dive after running cross country for him.''
Cowdin experienced almost immediate success, winning the city title and advancing to the top 16 in the state meet as a freshman while also setting a school record in the six-dive discipline.
His early success caught even Cowdin by surprise.
"Definitely, you don't expect it at all when you're going in and I definitely wouldn't have expected it for myself, but I'm really happy with how a lot of this has turned out.,'' Cowdin said.
His sophomore season has been even better, with Cowdin winning a second straight city crown and capturing his first Centennial League title last week in decisive fashion.
"I'm always looking for the bigger fish to go after, so this one was defiinitely a goal,'' he said. "It feels really cool to accomplish that one for the first time, so I'm really happy.''
