- Details
By CHARLES SPURLOCK
Special to TopSports.news
The sixth-ranked Seaman boys faced off against the De Soto Wildcats Friday night in their final game before the winter break, with the Vikings rallying from a 10-point deficit at halftime and from nine down at the start of the fourth quarter to take 59-53 home United Kansas Conference decision.
Junior KaeVon Bonner led Seaman with 17 points in the Vikings' 59-53 come-from-behind win over De Soto. [File photo/TSN]
"De Soto deserves a lot of credit for the way they shot the ball in the first half,'' Seaman coach Craig Cox said. "We made the adjustment at halftime and it was working, but we shot ourselves in the foot by giving up three offensive rebounds and putbacks. After all of the effort in the third quarter and feeling like we were playing better, we were still down nine points going to the fourth quarter.
"To be able to turn it on, outscoring them 25-10 in the quarter and get it done, was pretty amazing."
Both teams came out shooting well from the field and De Soto closed out the first quarter on a 7-2 run to lead 17-13 heading to the second quarter.
Over the first four minutes of the second quarter, De Soto doubled their lead to 27-19. The Wildcats extended their lead to 10 by halftime and led 31-21 at the break.
Seaman began the third quarter on a 7-2 scoring spurt to cut the lead to 33-28 with five minutes left in the quarter.
The Wildcats responded over the next four minutes, rebuilding their lead back to 43-31 with a minute left in the quarter. The Vikings scored the final three points and trailed 43-34 going into the final quarter.
- Details
By CHARLES SPURLOCK
Special to TopSports.news
The top-ranked Seaman Lady Vikings hosted the ninth-ranked De Soto Wildcats to wrap up their schedule before the holiday break, with Seaman holding off the Wildcats for a 53-50 United Kansas Conference win.
The first four minutes of the first quarter was back and forth, but over the last four minutes, Seaman stretched out its lead to 16-9.
Senior Anna Becker led the way with 18 points as Seaman held off De Soto 53-50 Friday night, improving to 5-0. [File photo/TSN]
Seaman extended the lead to 22-11 over the first two minutes of the second quarter, leading to a De Soto timeout. The Lady Vikes held the Wildcats scoreless for over three minutes in the middle of the quarter and their lead grew to 27-11.
However, the Wildcats battled back with a pair of old fashioned 3-point plays by senior Makenzie Farmer and cut the Lady Vikes lead to 30-18 at halftime.
“We had a great first half moving the ball against their zone. I thought we were being hard to guard,'' Seaman coach Matt Tinsley said.
De Soto continued to cut into Seaman’s lead and trailed 34-25 with 3:33 remaining in the third quarter, causing Seaman to call a timeout.
Senior Jaida Stallbaumer hit four straight free throws to close out the quarter and Seaman led 43-33 going to the fourth quarter.
The teams matched baskets for the first five minutes of the final quarter and Seaman called a timeout leading 51-43.
Over the next two minutes, De Soto scored seven straight points to trail only 51-50 with 1:07 remaining.
Senior Ava Esser scored to give Seaman a 3-point lead with just under a minute remaining. De Soto failed to score on their next possession and had to commit three fouls in the final 30 seconds to send Seaman to the line to shoot free throws.
After two misses by Esser, De Soto called a timeout with six seconds remaining and missed a game-tying 3-pointer at the buzzer, sending Seaman to the winter break with the 53-50 victory.
- Details
By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The No. 2-ranked Highland Park boys basketball team celebrated its return to the Scots' home gym with an 88-20 flying circus against Wyandotte.
Ja'Corey Robinson, who had 33 points, finishes off a dunk in Friday's 88-20 Meadowlark Conference win over KC-Wyandotte. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Scots go to the holiday break with a 4-0 record, a trophy from the Shawnee Mission East Championship Showdown, and much bigger goals.
Due to water damage to the Highland Park gym floor in January, the team was unable to use the gym last spring. This year, the schedule did not have the Scots at home until the night before the break. Senior Jacorey Robinson scored 33 points in the return.
“It was real fun to have the home crowd, everybody being loud with the crowd on our side,” Robinson said. “Not being able to play here for a year was bad.”
“Last year was so unique,” coach Mike Williams said. “We practiced in the (Highland Park) South Gym or at Washburn University. We played our home games at Topeka High and Topeka West. We’re thankful that our district was able to provide the opportunity for us to still maintain our season. But it wasn’t like playing at home. But that’s the resiliency of our group. These guys don’t care where we play.”
The Scots’ full-court pressure was too much for the Bulldogs. Robinson soared to seven dunks – several of the alley oop variety – in the first period as Highland Park ran out to a 26-4. The Scots didn’t let up, outscoring Wyandotte 32-9 in the second period and 25-6 in the third.
Williams said the Scots are able to make improvements even in a game that gets quickly out of hand.
“We’ve got to remember that the way we play, and who we are, is way more important than who we’re playing against,” Williams said. “So even if we’re playing against a team that we can beat by 70 or 80 points, we’ve still got to do it right. I’ve still got to coach you hard. Because we’re still working for something. And what we’re working toward isn’t on December 20th.”
- Details
By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Veteran Shawnee Heights boys basketball coach Ken Darting has no doubt that the United Kansas Conference race, which includes four state-ranked Class 5A schools, will go down to the wire.
But Darting's No. 3-ranked T-Birds made a statement Friday night that they will be a major player in the race for the UKC championship as well as 5A supremacy with a 74-45 wire-to-wire road romp at No. 8 Topeka West.
Senior Jaret Sanchez (3) scored a game-high 25 points in Shawnee Heights' 74-45 UKC road win at Topeka West. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"It was a really good performance,'' Darting said. "It's too early to say vital, but every win against each other is big because six of the nine teams can beat anyone of us on a given night.
"We've just got to stay the course and play it out.''
Now 3-1 overall and in the UKC, Shawnee Heights set the tone for the night when it jumped out to an 8-0 lead to open the game and West (2-2, 2-2) got no closer than four points over the remainder of the first half and no closer than nine after the T-Birds took a 14-point lead (33-19) to the locker room at the half.
A key point in the game came with 4:50 left in the third quarter when Heights star Jaret Sanchez picked up his fourth foul and West hit two free throws to cut its deficit to single-digits at 37-28.
But after just a minute on the bench Darting put Sanchez back in the game and the 6-foot-6 senior played a major role as Shawnee Heights turned the game into a rout, including a 3-pointer early in the fourth quarter that put Heights up 65-34 and forced a running clock the rest of the way.
"(Darting) didn't really say anything,'' Sanchez said. "He trusted me to go in there and play smart and continue to play and continue to keep the energy going without fouling.''
Darting agreed.
"He's real smart and I've got trust in him,'' Darting said. "Jaret can play with four. We're going to ride it along and if he fouls out, he fouls out.''
- Details
By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights' girls had both good and not so good stretches in Friday's United Kansas Conference game at Topeka West.
But the T-Birds ended the 2024 portion of their schedule on a high note, riding a big first half to a 57-40 win over the Chargers.
Sophomore KK Emmot (1) led Shawnee Heights with 23 points in the T-Birds' 57-40 UKC win at Topeka West Friday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"To come in on the night of Christmas break I didn't know if we would have any focus of if they would have any focus and exactly how this game was going to roll,'' Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells said. "I'm just glad that we got rolling in the first half.
"I was a little disappointed in our second half, but we just need to work on the mental part of that and not get caught up in some of the stuff that we let affect us.''
Shawnee Heights, now 3-1 overall and in the UKC, ended the first quarter with a 7-2 run to take a 15-7 advantage and outscored West 17-6 in the second quarter to take a commanding 32-13 into the locker room at the half.
Topeka West, 0-4, 0-4, came to life in the second half, however, holding Heights without a field goal in the third quarter and outscoring the T-Birds 11-5 in the stanza to get as close as 11 before trailing 37-24 at the start of the final quarter.
