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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Senior Juan'Tario Roberts scored with five seconds left to give Highland Park's boys a 62-60 Centennial League road win at Hayden Friday night.
Roberts' game-winning hoop capped a game that saw notable individual performances by players on both teams.
Juan'Tario Roberts
Junior Tre Richardson tied for game-high scoring honors with 19 points for Highland Park while junior Ketraleus Aldridge added 15 points, junior Jahmir Kingcannon 13 points with three 3-pointers and Roberts with 12 points.
Hayden had four players with at least nine points, led by junior Joe Otting, who tied Richardson for game-high honors with 19 points. Senior Trent Duffey scored 16 points with a pair of 3-pointers for the Wildcats while senior Peyton Bartlett added 11 points with three 3-pointers and junior Jake Muller nine points.
Highland Park doubled up Hayden 20-10 in the opening quarter and still led by a 37-29 margin at halftime but Hayden got within 46-45 at the end of the third quarter with a 16-9 third quarter and the game went down to the wire.
ROSSVILLE GIRLS 49, NEK SAINTS 34 -- Sophomores Kinsey Perine and Emma Mitchell combined for 29 points as Rossville took a 49-34 win over the NEK Saints Friday night in the Jefferson County North Invitational.
Kinsey Perine
Emma Mitchell
Perine paced the Bulldawgs with 17 points while Mitchell added 12 points as Rossville advanced to Saturday's 3 p.m. championship game to face Jefferson County North.
NEK built an 11-5 first-quarter lead over the Bulldawgs and led 24-23 at halftime before Rossville outscored the Saints 26-10 in the second half, including a 16-5 fourth quarter.
CAIR PARAVEL LATIN BOYS 74, MARANATHA CHRISTIAN ACADEMY 63 -- Senior Noah Hastert scored 26 points and grabbed 24 rebounds and senior Zach Clark added 21 points and 11 rebounds as the Cair Paravel Latin boys posted a 74-63 road win over Maranatha Academy Friday night.
Noah Hastert
Zach Clark
Maranatha came out firing, scoring all 15 of their first-quarter points on five 3-pointers, and finished with 11 treys on the night.
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Class 6A No. 6-ranked Washburn Rural's girls collected their biggest win of the year against No. 3-ranked Derby Friday in shockingly blowout fashion.
Derby had not lost a regular-season game since Feb. 9 of last year, but the Junior Blues took control early in Friday's Lady Firebirds Winter Classic semifinal at Free State en route to a 54-37 rout.
Friday night’s contest between two of the best teams in Class 6A was all about physicality.
Derby, which has one of the biggest starting fives in the state, was matched up well with an aggressive Washburn team.
The aggressiveness began with Junior Blues senior Emma Krueger, who locked up with Derby’s most physical player, Maryn Archer, and Rural fed off of Krueger’s energy and defensive toughness from the start.
“There was a tone set by (Krueger) early,” Lady Blues coach Kevin Bordewick said. “She’s a defensive stopper that every team wishes they could have. She was a key figure in not allowing (Derby) to do what they wanted to do more.”
“In physical games like those, the referees aren’t going to give you many calls,” Washburn Rural junior Brooklyn DeLeye said. “You have to be tough and fight through it, and do whatever it takes to control the ball.”
Rural's starters had their way against Derby from the tipoff.
MaRyah Lutz and Zoe Canfield knocked down two 3-pointers apiece before the halftime break, while DeLeye and Jada Ingram combined for 19 points, all in the paint.
The second half continued the Junior Blues' momentum, with Rural able to extend their lead.
MaRyah Lutz scored 14 points and hit three 3-pointers in Friday's 54-37 semifinal win over Derby in the Lady Firebirds Winter Classic. [File photo/TSN]
Washburn Rural junior Brooklyn DeLeye scored 14 points in the Junior Blues' 54-37 semifinal win over Derby on Friday in the Lady Firebirds' Winter Classic. [File photo/TSN]
Lutz and DeLeye would go on to lead the Lady Blues in points with 14 points each.
“I feel more confident with my shot,” Lutz said after converting three 3-point shots. “Tonight was big for my game.''
The red-hot Lady Blues won't have much time to savor Friday's win for long, with Rural taking on No.1-ranked Shawnee Mission West in Saturday's tournament championship game.
“I’m going to enjoy this win for about five minutes before thinking about Shawnee Mission West,” Bordewick said.
WEST GIRLS FALL TO LEAVENWORTH, 51-34
Topeka West held a 22-21 advantaing going into the halftime break, but Leavenworth used to a 22-5 third quarter to take control on the way to a 51-34 in Friday's tournament consolation game.
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By KYLE MANTHE
The Washburn Review
Seaman and Topeka West's boys basketball teams faced off on Friday night in a rematch of the Dec. 7 game which saw the Vikings hand the Chargers their only loss of the season.
Topeka West senior star Elijah Brooks was not going to let that happen again as he followed up his 43-point effort earlier in the week with 33 more, breaking the all-time career scoring record at Topeka West.
“They just told us before the game, but whatever happened happened,'' Brooks said. " I wasn’t hunting for it, but it’s good to have it. Every time I would have went over there out of bounds they (the fans) would have told me I broke it and I was like I just wanted to finish the game really cause I was tired.”
Topeka West star Elijah Brooks scored 30 or more points for the fifth straight game in Friday's 74-58 win over Seaman, becoming the career scoring leader in West history. [File photo/TSN]
The previous record of 1,235 was held by Luke Dwyer and had stood since 2000, but after Brooks' 33 points he leaped up to 1,250 in his career.
“It’s definitely great because I spent all my four years here, I worked hard for it,'' Brooks said. "And just, every year they told me I could be a special player, so just seeing the proof is in the pudding, that’s really the great thing about it.''
The 74-58 win moved the second-ranked Chargers to 12-1 on the season overall and 8-1 in the Centennial League while the Vikings fell to 7-5, 5-3.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Topeka High girls basketball coach Hannah Alexander is always quick to point out that defense is a big focus and a big key for her Trojans.
And Alexander was just as quick to point out that without that defense in the second half Friday night the Trojans probably wouldn't be headed to Saturday's 2:30 p.m. Capital City Classic championship game.
The undefeated and fourth-ranked Trojans trailed underdog Shawnee Mission East 25-23 at halftime and the Lancers held a 31-28 advantage with 5:30 left in the third quarter before Topeka High, forcing a rash of East turnovers, used a 10-0 run to take a seven-point lead on an Adisyn Caryl hoop with 1:14 left in the quarter.
East was still within 38-33 at the start of the fourth quarter, but the Trojans, who forced 25 Lancer turnovers on the night, scored the first seven points of the final quarter and the final five to hold on for the 52-43 win.
"It didn't go as well as planned in the first half and they had some girls really step up for them, but (defense) is the thing that we've got to live or die by and I think we tightened things up at the end of the third and the fourth quarter,'' Alexander said. "That was huge for us.''
And although Friday wasn't necessarily one of the 11-0 Trojans' best performances, Alexander knows that there are going to be nights like that and that the key was finding a way to win.
"We did not play our best but that's just something we've got to bounce back from and understand that and drive and penetrate a little bit more,'' Alexander said. "But that was a solid team and they really brought everything that they had.''
Topeka High, now 11-0, will face Wichita Heights, a 50-28 winner over Seaman in the second semifinal, for the championship while Shawnee Mission East will play Seaman in the 1 p.m. third-place game.
Topeka High junior Kiki Smith scored a team-high 13 points as the Trojans remained unbeaten with a 52-43 win over Shawnee Mission East Friday night. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Trojans were led by junior Kiki Smith with 13 points and senior Tae Thomas with 11 while sophomore Ayana Leesman added nine points.
Shawnee Mission East got a game-high 25 points and five 3-pointers from sophomore Abigail Long while senior Tess Roman added 14 points and nine rebounds.
WICHITA HEIGHTS 50, SEAMAN 28 -- Seaman was within eight points at halftime and within six early in the third quarter before Wichita Heights (9-2) took control behind Louisville recruit Zyanna Walker.
Seaman's Brooklyn Gormley scored the first basket of the second half to cut Wichita Heights' lead to 19-13, but the Falcons answered with a 14-2 run and led by 20 late in the quarter before Seaman freshman Kinley Wilhelm hit a 3-pointer to end the quarter (38-21).
Heights went on to lead by 24 points twice over the final eight minutes.
Walker, a 5-10 senior, led all scorers with 22 points, including 15 in the second half.
Senior Cayanna Stanley added 13 points for Wichita Heights, with three 3-pointers.
Sophomore Taylin Stallbaumer led Seaman (7-4) with nine points, the only Viking with more than five points.
HIGHLAND PARK 50, SHAWNEE MISSION NORTH 47 -- Highland Park rallied from an 11-point halftime deficit to pick up its second win of the season, taking a 50-47 win over Shawnee Mission North in a Capital City Classic consolation game.
The Scots trailed 18-4 at the end of the opening quarter and 26-15 at the half, but cut their deficit to 32-27 at the start of the fourth quarter and outscored the Bison 23-15 over the final eight minutes.
Aisya Taylor
Senior Aisya Taylor scored 22 points with three 3-pointers to lead Highland Park while sophomore Victoria Reed added 13 points and freshman Amelia Ramsey 12 points and 20 rebounds.
With Friday's win, Highland Park advanced to Saturday's fifth-place game at 2:30 p.m. to face Maize.
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By RICK PETERSON 
TopSports.news
The Dan Key Farmers Insurance agency is teaming up with TopSports.News to spotlight outstanding performances by male and female Shawnee County High School student-athletes.
Beginning Thursday, Feb. 3, The Dan Key Farmers Insurance “Athlete of the Week” will be featured on the TopsSports.News website.
Key, who opened the Dan Key Insurance Agency in 2013, has been involved in Shawnee County high school athletics for more than 35 years, as an umpire and basketball and football official as well as a multi-time state-champion high school coach.
“We are excited to be able to highlight the athletes in our community that are making a difference -- not just in athletics, but in other areas as well,'' Key said. "Getting to connect with the athletes in our community is very important to us. As I start to approach the end of my refereeing and umpiring career, I am excited to have found a way to still be involved in the high school athletics community.
"I came up with the idea because there are so many athletes that I have seen over the years that needed to be recognized. I’ve spent years working in athletics and there are just so many student- athletes I see that deserve to be recognized. Having a different male and different female athlete each week allows more kids to be honored.''
The Athlete of the Week feature will run until the end of May and then become a regular feature each week of the 22-23 school year.
The Dan Key Farmers Insurance Agency is located at 5942 SW 29th Suite A in Topeka.
