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By KYLE MANTHE
Special to TopSports.news
You only get one chance to make a first impression and the No. 2 ranked Highland Park boys (3-0, 1-0) certainly made one in a 95-42 win over Wyandotte (1-5, 1-2) in the Scots' first Meadowlark Conference matchup ever.
“We are on a mission man, we got a group of guys that are determined … there was a message that we wanted to send to the Meadowlark league,” Highland Park coach Michael Williams said.
Highland Park seniors Tre Richarson (left) and Bo Aldridge combined for 36 points in Highland Park's Meadowlark Conference 95-42 win over KC-Wyandotte. [Photo by Isaac Deer/TSN]
Williams wants his team to win every December game, but also wants to have the team prepared for games months in the future, even if it means changing things up sometimes.
“We can press and trap the whole game and probably get anything we want,” Williams said. “But for a group that has postseason aspirations … there’s things that we got to manufacture and work on in the half-court.”
For Williams, the half-court emphasis started on the defensive end. There was a slow start, with the Bulldogs, led by junior Kamari Murray’s 12 opening-quarter points, jumping out to a 16-11 lead.
“We didn’t want to trap, we didn’t want to double team or whatever, we wanted to stick in the defensive principles in the halfcourt and you could see the score kind of open up a bit,” Williams said. “We are restricting you a little bit, but there is a part of the game that we got to grow at and be better.”
The improvements showed up soon after, with the Scots closing the quarter on an 11-0 run to lead 22-16 after one.
Highland Park didn’t look back, outscoring the Bulldogs 30-11 in the second quarter, with a 20-3 run in the middle part.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
It was Seaman that got to hang a championship banner Friday night, but De Soto did gain a measure of revenge in Friday night's rematch of last season's Class 5A state championship game.
Seaman, which beat the Wildcats 66-47 in the 2022 title game, led for most of the night before De Soto took control in the fourth quarter to take a 57-48 United Kansas Conference victory at Seaman.
Seaman senior Aron Davis, who is coming off a summer knee injury, scored 14 points and grabbed five rebounds in Friday's 57-48 UKC loss to De Soto. [Photo by Brent Maycock/KSHSAA Covered]
Freshman KaeVon Bonner scored 14 points with four 3-pointers in Seaman's 57-48 UKC loss to De Soto Friday night at Seaman. [Photo by Brent Maycock/KSHSAA Covered]
"To their credit, they fought back and did what they had to do in terms of hitting some big shots late and they made the plays they needed to to win,'' Seaman coach Craig Cox said.
Seaman roared out to a 13-3 first-quarter advantage over the No. 4-ranked Wildcats, but De Soto (5-1 overall, 3-0 in the UKC) answered with a 23-13 second quarter to knot the game at halftime, 25-25.
Seaman, 1-3, 1-3, built its lead back to 40-36 at the start of the fourth quarter but De Soto scored the first six points of the final period to take its first lead since early in the first quarter at 42-40 with 5:33 remaining.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Overall, Friday wasn't a stellar night on the offensive end for the undefeated Seaman girls basketball team, which shot just 32.5 from the field and managed just one 3-pointer after hitting 10 treys in its previous game.
But the Vikings were good enough on the defensive end that their offensive struggles were little more than an annoyance as Seaman, No. 2-ranked in Class 5A, never trailed on the way to a 47-36 United Kansas Conference win over No. 6 De Soto at Seaman.
Junior Brooklyn Gormley, splitting two De Soto defenders, led Seaman with 12 points in the Vikings' 47-36 UKC win Friday night at Seaman. [Photo by Brent Maycock/KSHSAA Cove
"We played our tails off defensively,'' said Seaman coach Matt Tinsley, whose Vikings improved to 5-0 overall and 4-0 in the UKC. "De Soto's a good team and we knew it was going to be a battle. We knew we were going to have to play hard defensively and I told the girls in practice yesterday, 'I'm going to ask you in the second half, when was the last time they ran their offense?'
"That was our emphasis. They can shoot and we had to guard the 3 line and we did that tonight. It was a tough defensive effort. I told the girls that we wanted to keep them from doing what they practice every day and I thought we did that.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's men's basketball team will be back in action Saturday, hosting Missouri Western in a 3 p.m MIAA game at Lee Arena.
The Ichabods are 3-6 and 0-3 in the MIAA after falling 88-81 at Rogers State last Saturday while the Griffons are 5-2 and 2-0 in the MIAA and have not played since a 79-65 win at Missouri Southern on Dec. 3.
Washburn sophomore Andrew Orr is averaging a team-high 15.1 points for the Ichabods while also grabbing 6.3 rebounds per game. [File photo/TSN]
Western postponed games with Nebraska-Kearney and Fort Hays State due to COVID-19 protocols.
The Ichabods lead the all-time series with Missouri Western 59-42 and have won the last four overall.
Sophomore Andrew Orr leads the Ichabods in scoring at 15.1 points per game and is averaging 21.7 points in three MIAA contests. He has reached double figures in eight of nine games this season and is second on the team in rebounds at 6.3 per game.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's women's basketball team, coming off its first MIAA win, will host Missouri Western on Saturday in a 1 p.m. conference contest at Lee Arena.
The Ichabods earned their first MIAA victory of the young season with a 55-45 decision at Rogers State last Saturday.
Junior point guard Aubree Dewey leads Washburn with 10.3 points and 3.4 assists per game entering Saturday's 1 p.m. MIAA game against Missouri Western at Lee Arena. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
With the Rogers State win, Washburn improved to 4-4 overall and 1-2 in the MIAA.
Junior point guard Aubree Dewey has started all eight games and leads Washburn in scoring with a 10.3 average and is 11th in the league in assists with 3.4 per game.
Freshman Natalia Figueroa is the only other Ichabod who has started every game and is averaging 9.1 points with 17 3-pointers on the year.
Senior Emma Chapman started her second consecutive game last Saturday and scored a career-high 13 points against the Hillcats, with 11 of those coming in the second half.
Chapman is averaging 7.8 points and 5.8 rebounds, with 22 of her 46 rebounds coming on the offensive end.
