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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Forty-three. 43. XLIII.
No matter how you put it, scoring 43 points in a high school basketball game is a monster number, and senior Elijah Brooks and his Topeka West Chargers needed every last one of those 43 points to pull out a 67-66 overtime Centennial League victory over a talented Junction City team Tuesday night at West.
Brooks who scored 30 or more points for the fourth straight game, hit 15 of 20 shots from the field, including a 3-pointer, and connected on 12 of 16 free throws as No. 2-ranked Topeka West battled back from 12-point deficit early in the third quarter to improve to 11-1 overall and remain tied for the Centennial League lead at 7-1.
"I'm just glad to get out of here with a win,'' Brooks said. "Coming off the (Topeka Invitational) and playing tonight, it was kind of hard. We played alright, but the intensity was down and the energy was low.
We were all sluggish and stuff, but we got it done and we'll go on.''
Topeka West senior Elijah Brooks (4) scored a career-high 43 points as the Chargers outlasted Junction City in overtime, 67-66, Tuesday night at West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Tuesday's game included nine ties and 11 lead changes, including seven lead changes and three ties in the fourth quarter, before the game went to overtime tied at 61.
West, which was coming off its first Topeka Invitational Tournament title since 2004, went up 61-59 on a Brooks dunk with 3:34 left in regulation before Blue Jay senior David Rowell tied the game up at the 2:49 mark.
Both teams missed opportunities down the stretch, sending the game to the four-minute extra session.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Rossville's girls basketball snapped a five-game losing streak in Monday's opening round of the Jefferson County North Invitational, with sophomore Emma Mitchell powering the Bulldawgs to a 55-49 win over Perry-Lecompton.
Mitchell led the Bulldawgs with a game-high 25 points as Rossville improved to 5-6 on the season.
Emma Mitchell
Rossville trailed the Kaws 16-12 at the end of the first quarter but the Bulldawgs used a 19-13 second quarter to take a 31-29 halftime advantage.
The Bulldawgs pushed their lead to five points with a 10-7 third quarter and held on for the win, outscoring Perry-Lecompton 14-13 over the final eight minutes.
Mitchell scored 12 points in the first half and 13 after halftime, including 10 in the fourth quarter.
Mitchell went nine of 11 at the free throw line as the Bulldawgs hit 19 of 23 charities as a team.
Sophomore Kinley Porter joined Mitchell in double figures with 10 points while senior Caylee Douglas and sophomore Kinsey Perine added eight points apiece.
The Bulldawgs will play the NEK Saints at 6 p.m. Thursday and will play a place game on Saturday.
The fifth-place game is set for 12 p.m. Saturday, followed by the third-place game at 1:30 and the championship game at 3 o'clock.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
The second of two midseason tournament weeks for Shawnee County prep basketball teams is on tap this week, with eight county girls teams set to compete in five tournaments.
Following is a tournament by tournament look at this week's events involving county teams:
CAPITAL CITY CLASSIC
At Topeka High
Host Topeka High will be joined by city schools Seaman and Highland Park in the Capital City Classic Thursday through Saturday, along with Blue Valley Southwest, Maize, Shawnee Mission East, Wichita Heights and Shawnee Mission North.
Highland Park will open its tournament bid at 6 p.m. Thursday against Wichita Heights in Topeka High's main gym, followed by Topeka High against Blue Valley Southwest at 7:30 p.m. in the main gym.
Seaman will take on Shawnee Mission North in a 7:30 first-round game Thursday in High's auxiliary gym, following a 6 o'clock contest between Maize and Shawnee Mission East.
Junior Kiki Smith (right), who surpassed the 1,000-point scoring milestone last week, will help lead 9-0 Topeka High into this week's Capital City Classic at High. [Submitted]
Topeka High enters the tournament with a perfect 9-0 record after a 59-33 win over Hayden while Seaman is 6-3 and Highland Park 1-10.
Seaman is coming off a 49-18 win over Topeka West while Highland Park dropped a 65-33 decision to Hayden in its most recent game.
The Topeka High-Blue Valley Southwest and Maize-Shawnee Mission East winners will square off in Friday's first semifinal at 6 p.m. while the winners of the Highland Park-Wichita Heights and Seaman-Shawnee Mission North first-round games will clash in the second semifinal at 7:30 p.m. Friday. Both of those games will be played in the main gym.
The place games will be played on Saturday, capped by the championship game at approximately 2:30 p.m.
LADY FIREBIRDS WINTER CLASSIC
At Free State
City schools Topeka West and Washburn Rural will compete in the Lady Firebirds Winter Classic Thursday through Saturday at Lawrence Free State.
Washburn Rural sophomore Zoe Canfield is coming off a 20-point game with six 3-pointers against Emporia heading into this week's Lady Firebirds Winter Classic. [Submitted]
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman captured its first girls wrestling team championship in school history Saturday in Council Grove, one of three Shawnee County girls teams to win team championships on the weekend.
Seaman, in its second season of girls wrestling, won the Council Grove event by a 181.5-81.5 margin over Santa Fe Trail, while Washburn Rural won the Rock Creek Invitational by a 204-121 count over Great Bend while Shawnee Heights took team honors Gerald Sadowski Girls Invitational at Holton by a 153-147 margin over Gardner-Edgerton.
Seaman's girls wrestling team poses for a team picture after winning the first team title in girls program history in the Council Grove tournament. [Twitter]
Seaman produced five champions and two second-place finishers en route to its team championship.
The Vikings got gold-medal performances from Taylie Heston at 109 pounds, Madison Murray at 115, Jenna Best at 120, Rylee Murray at 126 and Koti Best at 132 while Kaidence Heston (138) and Journey Jones (143) posted runner-up finishes.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Nuria Barrientos
NURIA BARRIENTOS, Washburn University
Barrientos, a 5-foot-11 senior from Barcelona, Spain, scored 15 points and grabbed 14 rebounds as Washburn's women's basketball team capped a 2-0 week with a 72-67 MIAA win over rival Emporia State on Saturday at Lee Arena.
Kaeden Bonner
KAEDEN BONNER, Seaman
A 6-1 junior, Bonner connected on eight 3-pointers and scored 24 points for Seaman's boys basketball team in Saturday's 72-68 loss to host McPherson in the third-place game of the McPherson Invitational. Bonner scored 51 points in Seaman's three tournament games.
