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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls basketball team bounced back from its first loss of the season with an impressive performance 24 hours later, rolling to a 72-32 Centennial League victory Friday night at Junction City.
The Junior Blues, who dropped a tough 4-point decision at unbeaten Topeka High Thursday night, led by just a 17-14 margin at the end of the first quarter, but used a 24-4 second quarter to take control, leading 41-18 at the half.
Brooklyn DeLeye
Rural, 6-1 overall and in the league, outscored the Blue Jays 31-14 in the second half, forcing a running clock in the fourth quarter.
Sophomore Brooklyn DeLeye scored a game-high 27 points to lead the Junior Blues while freshman Zoe Canfield added 14 points with 3 3-pointers and junior Emma Krueger had 12 points.
Mellana Davis led Junction City (2-6, 1-5) with 12 points.
WASHBURN RURAL BOYS 61, JUNCTION CITY 42
Senior Joe Berry scored a season- and game-high 29 points, 21 in the first half, and sophomore Jack Bachelor added 11 points and 3 3rd-quarter 3-pointers, as Washburn Rural pulled away in the second half for a 61-42 Centennial League victory at Junction City.
Joe Berry
The Junior Blues, 5-1 overall and in the Centennial League, led by only a 30-25 margin at halftime despite Berry's huge half, but Bachelor helped Rural put the Blue Jays away with a 21-10 third quarter and the visitors outscored Junction City 10-7 in the fourth.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Saturday was a much different Centennial League boys wrestling tournament than in past seasons, with only five teams competing and other schools missing regulars due to COVID-19.
But the main objective was still to win, something Washburn Rural did in impressive fashion, with the Junior Blues having eight wrestlers crowned league champions as Rural won its second straight team championship by a 230-159 margin over Manhattan at Hayden.
"Like I just told our guys, all the heavy-hitters were still here,'' Washburn Rural coach Damon Parker said. "If you look at that trophy over there, the teams that have historically dominated this thing for the past 30 years were all in the building today and our kids did exactly what we asked of them.
"We told them all week we strive for perfection but we'll accept excellence, and they were excellent today.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural coach Damon Parker knows that his Junior Blues still have postseason battles to come this season in Rural's budding girls wrestling rivalry with Emporia.
But after dropping a 1-point decision to the Spartans in last year’s Centennial League meet and a dual loss to Emporia days earlier, Parker wanted to enjoy Friday’s Centennial League championship.
“I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t important to me,’’ Parker said. “I think it’s probably more important to me than it was to the girls because, quite frankly, I don’t like losing. I’m not very good at it, I’m as competitive as they come.’’
Rural’s wrestlers also showed their competitiveness, pulling out a 169-164 win over the Spartans in a battle that was close all day while crowning five league champions.
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By ANDREW GILL
TopSports.news
While Shawnee Heights boys basketball coach Ken Darting was confident going into Friday night's United Kansas Conference matchup with Kansas City-Turner, his focus was on pushing his team to keep getting better.
"We were pretty sure we’d win handily, but I told the guys I want to do things right,'' Darting said. "I want to play against us, not against Turner so that we improve. I think for the most part we did that.''
The scoreboard provided evidence, with the T-Birds rolling to a 66-18 victory as senior Harvey Davis led the way with a game-high 14 points and 8 rebounds.
Darting was especially pleased with his team’s defensive showing. The T-Birds forced 27 turnovers, 15 in the first half. They were able to capitalize on most of them, going into halftime with a 40-7 lead.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Highland Park boys basketball coach Michael Williams isn't quite ready to say his Scots are all the way back after an inconsistent start to the 2020-21 season, but Williams knows that Friday night's 57-54 home overtime win over previously-unbeaten Topeka West was a big step in the right direction.
"Obviously we want wins, we don't want losses, but the biggest thing we want more than anything is to just play Highland Park basketball and just to be ourselves, just to look like ourselves out there on both sides of the ball,'' said Williams, whose Scots improved to 3-3 overall and in the Centennial League.
"I feel like it's coming and all we're looking for is fight.''
CJ Powell
