- 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.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 2-ranked Washburn University Ichabods return to MIAA play on Saturday, wrapping up 2024 against Central Missouri at 3 p.m. in Warrensburg.
Sophomore Brayden Shorter averages a team-high 17.3 points for 11-0 Washburn, which returns to MIAA action on Saturday at Central Missouri. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods are 11-0 overall and 2-0 in the MIAA after going 2-0 at the River City Classic in San Antonio, Texas. Washburn topped St. Edward's 87-67 and Texas Permian Basin, 76-62.
The Mules are 6-5 and 1-1 in the MIAA after splitting two games in San Antonio, falling to Texas Permian Basin 83-60 before rebounding in their final game to top No. 9-ranked North Georgia, 53-52.
The Ichabods were ranked No. 2 in the latest NABC Top 25 coaches poll and third in the latest D2CIDA poll released on Dec. 17. The ranking is the highest by an Ichabod team since earning a No. 2 ranking on Dec. 18, 2012.
The last time the Ichabods were in the top 10 for four consecutive weeks was from Nov. 27, 2012 to Jan. 8, 2013 when the Ichabods were ranked second for four straight weeks and were tabbed No. 8 in week five.
The Ichabods are off to their best start to begin a season since starting the 2003-04 season 16-0 en route to the MIAA regular-season championship.
WU senior Andrew Orr now has 1,035 career points, moving into 21st all time. Next on the chart is Travis Robbins, who scored 1,050 points in two seasons.
Senior Michael Keegan has 866 career points in 107 career games as an Ichabod and he has moved into sixth all-time at Washburn in career blocks with 86. Keegan has also moved into the top 10 on the all-time steal chart with 121.
Sophomore Brayden Shorter is fifth in the nation in 3-pointers per game at 3.82 and he's ranked third in total 3-pointers made with 42.
Shorter leads a balanced Ichabod offense with a 17.3 scoring average, followed by senior Jacob Hanna at 14.7 points per game, Orr at 13.5, sophomore Jack Bachelor at 12.6 and Keegan at 9.4.
Junior Brady Christiansen leads WU with a 6.5 rebounding average, followed by Hanna at 6.4 boards per game.
Bachelor leads the Ichabods with 55 assists while Keegan has a team-high 28 steals.
DeAirius Barker leads Central Missouri in scoring at 12.8 points per game while Tim Jordan Jr. is also averaging double figures at 10.0 points per gam. Four UCM players are averaging at least 8.0 points.
Saturday's meeting will be the 113th between the two teams, with Washburn leading the series 59-53. Washburn lost its last trip to Warrensburg, falling 82-71 on Jan. 10, 2024.
The Ichabods have won 17 of the last 25 meetings, including 10 of the last 12.
The Ichabods will return after the holiday break with a road contest at Emporia State on Jan. 4 before finally returning home for games against Missouri Western on Jan. 8 and Northwest Missouri on Jan. 11.
- Details
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After two games 2,268 miles from home, Washburn University women's basketball stays on the road Saturday, but travels just 116 miles east to Warrensburg to face Central Missouri at 1 p.m.
Junior Yibari Nwidadah leads Washburn with 17.4 points and 7.3 rebounds a game entering Saturday's MIAA contest at Central Missouri. [File photo/TSN]
Entering its final game of 2024, Washburn is 6-6 on the year and 0-2 in the MIAA after finishing out the Puerto Rico Clasico with a 100-43 win over Ana G Mendez on Tuesday.
Central Missouri moved to 8-5 after an 89-56 non-conference win over Lincoln. The Jennies are 0-2 in the MIAA.
Saturday's meeting with Central Missouri will be the 73rd all-time meeting between the two teams. Washburn leads the all-time series with Central Missouri 43-29. The Jennies have won each of the last four meetings in the series, including 69-56 and 84-71 victories last year.
Yibari Nwidadah is averaging team-highs of 17.4 points, 7.3 rebounds and 72.2 percent shooting from the field for Washburn.
The junior has started all 10 games she has played in, has shot over 50.0 percent in every game this season and has two double-doubles. The Olathe North product has the best field goal percentage in the nation while ranking third in the MIAA in scoring and eighth in rebounds.
Junior Payton Sterk is averaging 16.1 points for the Ichabods while starting all 12 contests and playing a team-high 29.2 minutes per game. She is shooting 45.3 percent from the floor and a team-high 41.8 percent from 3-point range while dishing out 2.7 assists per game.
The Colorado Springs native has drilled a team-high 28 3-pointers and she has 15-plus points in seven games this year. Sterk is second in the MIAA in total points, third in 3-pointers and 4th in 3-point percentage.
Gabi Giovannetti averages 11.7 points while shooting 42.3 percent from the floor. The junior Bishop Miege product has started all 12 games and averages 2.4 assists and a team-best 1.6 steals.
