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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls and boys basketball teams were up to the challenge in Saturday's GWAL/Centennial/WAC Challenge at Wichita, with the Junior Blues earning a sweep over Wichita Heights.
Rural's girls set the tone for the day when the Junior Blues rallied from a double-figure deficit to knock off the No. 4 Wichita Heights girls, 49-34, and the Junior Blue boys followed that up with a 39-38 win over the top-ranked Falcon boys, the defending Class 6A state champions.
Junior Zoe Canfield led Washburn Rural with 15 points and four 3-pointers as the Junior Blues rallied for a 49-34 win over No. 4-ranked Wichita Heights Saturday in Wichita. [File photo/TSN]
Senior Jack Bachelor and the Washburn Rural boys knocked off top-ranked and defending Class 6A state champion Wichita Heights, 39-38, Saturday in Wichita. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural's girls, the defending 6A state champs, beat No. 4 Heights on Saturday after beating No. 6-ranked Shawnee Mission Northwest on Tuesday night at Rural.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn Ichabods gave themselves an early Christmas present Saturday afternoon, with the WU men snapping a three-game MIAA losing streak with a 76-51 romp past Missouri Western at Lee Arena.
The Ichabods notched their first conference win and improved to 4-6 overall while leading by as many as 27 points and holding Missouri Western (5-2, 2-1) to a season-low 51 points.
Washburn junior Tyler Nelson scored 19 points with seven rebounds, six assists and six steals in the Ichabods' 76-51 MIAA romp past Missouri Western Saturday at Lee Arena. [Photo by Re
"We were good on both ends and for sure it was our most complete game,'' Washburn coach Brett Ballard said. "I thought our defense was tremendous and offensively we were really good.
"We mixed up paint touches with th 3-ball and getting to the rim in transition. Everything was kind of clicking tonight.''
Washburn used a 36-9 run over a 13-minute stretch to turn the game into a rout.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's women outscored Missouri Western 18-10 in the fourth quarter and cut wht had been a 24-point deficit to eight points, but the Griffons fought off the Ichabods for a 57-44 MIAA win Saturday afternoon at Lee Arena.
Missouri Western (8-4 overall, 3-2 MIAA) led from start to finish as the Griffons, an NCAA Elite Eight team a year ago, scored the first four points of the afternoon and ended the opening quarter on a 5-0 run to go up, 17-9.
Washburn junior point guard Aubree Dewey had 16 points, six rebounds and seven assists in the Ichabods' 57-44 MIAA loss to Missouri Western. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Griffons then ran off 12 straight points in the second quarter and held the Ichabods (4-5, 1-3) scoreless until the 3:04 mark, opening up a commanding 35-18 advantage at the half.
"I thought we had a rough start,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said. "We just struggled to get in rhythm. We ran a couple of things to get some looks and turned those down and that's just lack of confidence.
"I thought we took the first punches and you can't do that against team that good. You've got to come out swinging yourselves''
Missouri Western used an 8-0 run in third quarter to go up 47-23 with 4:51 on the clock before Washburn freshman Gabi Artis hit a 3-pointer with 1:41 remaining to cut the Griffons' lead to 47-26 at tne start of the fourth stanza.
Washburn junior Aubree Dewey hit a jumper with 8:11 on the clock to spark a 7-0 run to make it a 48-33 game.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After back-to-back five-point losses, Topeka West's girls basketball team got over the hump in a big way Friday night, rolling to a 49-11 United Kansas Conference victory over Kansas City Turner at West.
Senior Jazmyn Ford led the way with a game-high 14 points as Topeka West picked up its first win of the season in Friday's 49-11 UKC romp past Kansas City-Turner. [File photo/TSN]
Topeka West, which improved to 1-5 overall and 1-4 in the UKC, scored 15 points in the first quarter, which surpassed the winless Bears' point total for the game.
Senior Jazmyn Ford led Topeka West with a game-high 14 points while junior Zoe Clark added 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers and senior Azaryah Duncan had eight points.
Senior Xavier Alexander (20) led the way with 19 points as Topeka West improved to 5-1 with an 89-43 UKC win over Kansas City-Turner Friday night. [File photo/TSN]
TOPEKA WEST BOYS 89, KC-TURNER 43 -- Topeka West rolled to its fifth straight victory, riding a 34-point first quarter to an 89-43 home United Kansas Conference victory.
Topeka West, ranked No. 8 in Class 5A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association, posted its third straight win, following up a UKC win at Lansing on Tuesday and a four-point non-league win at Junction City on Thursday.
The Chargers, now 5-1 overall and 4-1 in the UKC, opening up a commanding 34-10 lead at the end of the opening quarter and led 53-20 at halftime and 75-26 at the start of the fourth quarter, forcing a running clock the rest of the way.
Senior Xavier Alexander scored a game-high 19 points to pace four double-figure scorers for Topeka West, which also got 15 points from senior Malachi Berg, 14 from senior Sincere Austin and 10 from senior Jacob Reimer.
Eleven Chargers cracked the scoring column for West.
ROSSVILLE BOYS 44, KANSAS CITY CHRISTIAN 37 -- After suffering a heartbreaking one-point loss at Chapman in their previous game, Rossville's boys gave Brandon McDonnell his first win as the Bulldawgs' head coach with a 44-37 come-from-behind win over Kansas City Christian.
Rossville, now 1-4, trailed 7-5 at the end of the first quarter, 19-16 at the half and 31-29 at the start of the fourth quarter before outscoring KCC 15-6 over the final eight minutes.
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Friday night's Mid-East League boys basketball contest between St. Marys and Silver Lake came down to the fourth and final quarter, and with several lead changes throughout the game, there wasn't a clear runaway favorite until the game's last two minutes.
Silver Lake's Troy Heiman led the Eagles to the hard-earned 55-48 rivalry victory, scoring 13 of his 21 points in crunch time in the fourth quarter.
Silver Lake senior Troy Heiman (30) scored 21 points, including 13 in the fourth quarter, in the Eagles' 55-48 Mid-East League win over St. Marys. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Silver Lake sophomore Jared Johnson scored 13 points, with four 3-pointers, in the Eagles' 55-48 win over St. Marys Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Heiman went 5 of 8 from the free throw line and had four 2-point field goals..
Friday night's home win was precisely the momentum Silver Lake needed heading to winter break Heiman said.
"I've struggled on my free throws this year, and hitting those with the game on the line gave me confidence," Heiman said. "My confidence was high tonight. When shots were going down, it just gave me hope. The energy was great in here tonight.
"I have to credit the student section and fans; they brought it. It was packed tonight, and the fans really helped us get that win."
St. Marys forward and Washburn football commit Kellen Hurla didn't make life easy for Silver Lake's players, coaches or fans. The senior dropped 31 points, including 12 in the fourth quarter.
It, indeed, was a marquee matchup between Heiman and Hurla.
"Credit to St. Marys, St. Marys is a dang good team," Silver Lake coach Johnny Roberts said. "They've got great ballplayers. They've been in the state tournament for the last couple of years. We knew it was going to be a dog fight, and it was."
