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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls basketball team, ranked No. 2 in Class 6A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association, remained unbeaten with a 56-28 rout over Centennial League rival Hayden Tuesday night at Hayden.
Washburn Rural’s impressive night wouldn’t have happened without pinpoint-accurate shooting, with the Junior Blues collecting eight 3-point shots on 11 attempts.
“It’s always nice when your shots go in the way they did for us tonight,” Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said.
The red-hot offense boosted Rural, 4-0 overall and in the league, earned the Junior Blues a 16-3 first-quarter advantage.
“I thought we were getting good looks. We were driving it well, kicking it well, and we spotted up well early,” Bordewick said.
Brooklyn DeLeye
Zoe Canfield
Washburn Rural hit four 3-point shots in the second quarter, outscoring the Wildcats 20-5 to take a commanding 36-8 advantage.
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Junior Ketraleus Aldridge hit a follow shot with two seconds remaining to give undefeated Highland Park a 71-69 home Centennial League win over Seaman Tuesday night.
With the victory Highland Park improved to 4-0 on the season while Seaman fell to 2-2.
Ketraleus Aldridge scored the game-winning basket with two seconds remaining in Highland Park's 71-69 win at Seaman. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman trailed by 18 points before getting within 10 in the third quarter. Seaman cut its deficit to nine at the 5:20 mark of the fourth and pulled within two on a Ty Henry dunk with three minutes remaining.
Seaman took the lead with 2:40 left after a Dreighton Griess steal and there were ties at 67 and 69 with 31 seconds remaining.
After a Juan'Tario Roberts basket tied the game for the final time, Seaman held for the last shot and had two chances, but came up empty.
Highland Park pushed the ball downcourt and after Tre Richardson missed a contested layup, Aldridge, who had 17 points, converted the stickback for the game-winner.
Roberts led Highland Park with 22 points while Henry scored 23 points to lead Seaman.
Highland Park led 19-14 at the end of the first quarter and was in command 43-27 at the half and 60-43 at the start of the fourth quarter.
Highland Park will close out the 2021 portion of its schedule at Topeka High Friday night in a girls/boys Centennial League doubleheader while Seaman will host Washburn Rural in a twinbill.
SEAMAN GIRLS 65, HIGHLAND PARK 30 -- Freshman Anna Becker scored 17 points and Maegan Mills had 12 points off the bench as Seaman improved to 3-1 with a 65-30 romp past winless Highland Park.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Battling sickness, Topeka West senior Zander Putthoff wasn't really much of a factor in Tuesday night's game against Shawnee Heights for about 31 minutes, 58 seconds.
But Putthoff arrived at the party just in time to give the Chargers a 57-55 non-league win over the T-Birds at Heights.
Putthoff grabbed a rebound off a West miss and was fouled with 1.7 seconds remaining and canned both free throws to push the Chargers past his former team.
"He wasn't at school (Monday), he was at home with a 102-degree temperature and he didn't come to school until 11 o'clock today, but he wanted to play this game,'' Topeka West coach Rick Bloomquist said of Putthoff. "He didn't play well, but he shot two good free throws, so I'll forgive him.''
Topeka West senior Zander Putthoff (24) hit two free throws with 1.7 seconds remaining, lifting the Chargers to a 57-55 win at Shawnee Heights. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Topeka West led by 11 points late in the opening quarter but 3-1 Shawnee Heights rallied to within a point (32-31) at the half and the T-Birds used a 17-8 third quarter to take a 48-40 lead into the fourth quarter.
This time it was Topeka West's turn to battle back, however, with the Chargers outscoring the T-Birds 17-7 in the fourth quarter to pull out the win and improve to 3-1 on the year.
West senior standout Elijah Brooks scored the first seven points of the fourth quarter before junior Sincere Austin scored to give the Chargers a 49-48 lead with 4:25 remaining.
After a pair of lead changes there were three ties before Shawnee Heights opened the door for West with a pair of missed free throws with 1:05 left.
After running the clock down, West missed its final shot but Putthoff was able to grab the rebound, was fouled, and swished both free throws.
![Topeka West senior Elijah Brooks (4) tries to drive past Shawnee Heights' Jeremyah Hendricks Tuesday night. Brooks scored 11 fourth-quarter points in West's 57-55 win. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]](/images/2024/08/Brooks.jpg)
Topeka West senior Elijah Brooks (4) tries to drive past Shawnee Heights' Jeremyah Hendricks Tuesday night. Brooks scored 11 fourth-quarter points in West's 57-55 win. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
After a slow start, Brooks scored 11 of his 18 points in the fourth quarter to lead the Chargers, taking West on his back in the late going.
"A player like that is supposed to take a team on his back,'' Bloomquist said.
"We definitely had to create something,'' Brooks said. "We started attacking and coach Bloom told me to just go straight to the rim and that's what I did.''
Junior Xavier Alexander scored 14 points and junior Malachi Berg 11 for West.
"The positive thing about this game is that we won,'' Bloomquist said. "We found a way to win.
"As ugly as the game was, you've got to win those muddy games, you've got to win those ugly game and we won that game, so that's a good thing.''
Alexander scored all of his points in the first half, with four 3-pointers.
Brennon Dodge scored 18 points to tie for game-high scoring honors in Shawnee Heights' 57-55 loss to Topeka West Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Sophomore Brennon Dodge paced Shawnee Heights with 18 points, including three 3-pointers, while senior Carter Olson added 14 points and 11 rebounds and senior Nate Pewe had 10 points.
Shawnee Heights coach Ken Darting said his T-Birds let a win get away Tuesday after playing well for most of the night.
"We let it get it away, there's no ifs ands and buts about it,'' Darting said. "But now we've got to take this and move forward.
"We just weren't ready for this pressure. They played in the state finals last year, we haven't played in anyhing like this with something on the line.''
Tuesday's game ended Shawnee Heights' pre-holiday slate while Topeka West will travel to Manhattan on Friday.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Breezy Canady wasn't expecting to get the ball, and wasn't necessarily supposed to get the ball for Shawnee Heights' last-gasp shot at the end of regulation Tuesday night against Topeka West.
But once the ball ended up in the 5-foot-5 sophomore's hands she did the rest, draining a 3-pointer to force overtime.
The T-Birds, who trailed by 11 points with less than three minutes remaining in regulation, then took full advantage of their second chance, outscoring Topeka West 12-3 in the OT to take a 64-55 win at Shawnee Heights.
"It was a risky shot,'' Canady said of her clutch 3-pointer. "I wasn't set or anything. I was definitely expecting our top person to shoot that and I stepped in and I was waiting to go rebound and she passed it to me so I just threw it up a little bit.''
Shawnee Heights sophomore Breezy Canady (24), who forced overtime with a last-second 3-pointer in Tuesday's 64-55 win over Topeka West, celebrates with T-Bird senior Abby Schulte. {Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN}
"(Canady) was option No. 3 on that inbounds set,'' Heights coach Bob Wells said of the last play. "It was going there or it was going there and if they don't got it you step in and it's all yours.''
Once Shawnee Heights, which improved to 2-1, got to overtime it never looked back, scoring seven straight points to take control.
"They started playing to win instead of playing not to lose,'' Wells said. "I think that was the big thing.''
Canady, who finished with 15 points, scored the first five points of the extra session and had six in the OT while junior Emari Doby had four points in overtime and finished with a game-high 20 points.
"The 3 definitely motivated us,'' Canady said. "It was our spark to the game, definitely. It got us going. My adrenalin was pumping, I couldn't stop it.''
Senior Abby Schulte joined Doby and Canady in double figures with 15 points while senior Zoe Oczko grabbed 12 rebounds.
Defense was also a big key for the T-Birds, who forced 33 turnovers.
Topeka West, which fell to 0-4, led 10-6 at the end of the first quarter and the Chargers took an 18-17 lead at the half and were in front 35-30 at the start of the fourth quarter.
The Chargers went in front 47-36 with 2:56 remaining on a pair of free throws from junior Azaryah Duncan, but Shawnee Heights outscored West 16-5 over the remainder of the fourth quarter to extend the game.
Sophomore Siana Sanchez led Topeka West with 12 points while Whitley Benson, Zoe Clark and Jazmyn Ford scored nine points apiece and Rebecca Bearman had eight points and 12 rebounds.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A whopping seven Shawnee County basketball teams earned spots in the latest Kansas Basketball Coaches Association state rankings, released Tuesday.
Washburn Rural, Topeka High, Hayden and Silver Lake are all ranked on the girls side while Highland Park, Hayden and Cair Paravel earned spots in the boys rankings.
Washburn Rural's girls basketball team remains No. 2-ranked in Class 6A by the KBCA. [File photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn Rural remains No. 2 in the latest Class 6A girls state rankings while Topeka High girls moved up to sixth. Both the Junior Blues and Trojans are 3-0 on the season entering Tuesday night's games.
Hayden, 1-1 on the season, is ranked No. 10 in the 4A girls rankings while Silver Lake is No. 8 in 3A.
Highland Park, 3-0 entering Tuesday night's game, earned its way into the 5A boys rankings at No. 6 while 1-1 Hayden is ranked eighth in 4A and Cair Paravel Latin No. 9 in 1A Division I.
KANSAS BASKETBALL COACHES ASSOCIATION STATE RANKINGS
