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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Silver Lake boys basketball team stormed back from a third-period deficit to get by visitor Perry Lecompton Friday night, 59-52.
When Perry Lecompton’s Marius Carlsen and Eli Dean buried back-to-back 3-pointers to give the Kaws a 48-42 lead with a minute remaining in the third quarter, all the momentum shifted away from the Eagles.
Senior Jared Johnson (33) sparked a second-half Silver Lake rally in Friday's 59-52 win over Perry-Lecompton. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But senior Jared Johnson grabbed the momentum right back by canning a three of his own. Johnson sparked a 12-0 run that swung the game. The Eagles locked down on defense, holding Perry Lecompton to just four points over the final nine minutes of the game.
“I wasn’t really shooting the ball that well and I just felt like I wasn’t getting my shot,” Johnson said. “But one of my teammates said, ‘Just let the thing fly.’ And I thought, 'I can’t let my team down. They need me to shoot.’ So, I did, and it turned from there.”
Perry Lecompton had to adjust with their leading scorer, Ronnie Baker, relegated to the bench with foul trouble. After missing much of the first half, the junior reeled off eight points in the first 2:30 of the third period. But two more fouls ended his evening.
Carlsen, a senior exchange student from Norway, introduced himself with 22 points for the Kaws, including four 3-pointers.
“That’s a good team over there,” Silver Lake coach Shannon Kruger said. “We had a lot of respect for them coming in, and they were as advertised. They made a few plays and hit a couple of shots.”
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
There were plenty of questions surrounding this year’s version of the Silver Lake girls basketball team. At least some of those questions were answered Friday night when the defending Class 3A state champs steamrolled Perry Lecompton, 78-23.
Junior guard Kailyn Hanni scored 12 points as Silver Lake opened its season with a 78-23 romp past Perry-Lecompton. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Silver Lake lost five seniors – four of them starters – from the team that stormed to a title last March. A lot of experience, and a lot of offensive production, must be replaced. The early results were positive.
“I wanted us to play free, I wanted us to play aggressive, and I wanted us to play confident. We did that,” said Silver Lake coach Kyle Porter. “So now the goal is to play a little more under control. To understand time and score and how the officials are calling the game, and just grow from the experience. I always think that if you start aggressive and confident, you can always rein that in a little bit.”
The new-look Eagles exploded out of the gate, ripping off 16 points before the visiting Kaws could get on the board. They rolled on from there, holding the opponents to fewer than eight points in each period.
“We played through mistakes. I think that was the biggest thing,” Porter said. “First game, you’re always going to have things happen. I think we were getting over those mistakes pretty well.”
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Over the last 27 minutes of Friday's season-opener against Blue Valley Northwest, Washburn Rural's girls led for 1.5 seconds.
But thanks to Junior Blue junior Josie Carlgren, that was enough for Rural to take a 44-43 come-from-behind non-league win over the Huskies at Rural.
Washburn Rural junior Josie Carlgren launches her game-winning 3-pointer in Friday's 44-43 win over Blue Valley Northwest. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural trailed by 12 points with a minute and a half left in the third quarter and was down by seven with two minutes left before mounting its late charge.
The Huskies, who were just seven of 16 at the free throw line, went in front 43-41 on a free throw by Rylie Edwards with 12.9 remaining but Washburn Rural got the ball to Carlgren in the corner and she swished the game-winning 3-pointer, her only basket of the night, as time ran down.
Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick and the Junior Blues' bench react to Josie Carlgren's game-winning 3-pointer Friday night. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
"Jo just felt her moment and she said, 'I just knew it was going in. The minute I shot it, I said it's in,' '' Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. "That's the confidence that we're kind of telling them that they need.
"And you're talking about a kid that's kind of bided her time and she stepped up in a pretty big moment right there.''
After Carlgren's clutch hoop 1.5 seconds was put back on the clock, but Rural senior Kate Hinck intercepted the Northwest inbounds pass to clinch the win.
Washburn Rural celebrates Friday's 44-43 win over Blue Valley Northwest. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Washburn Rural, which has been to three straight Class 6A championship games, led 7-3 early in the game but Northwest took a 17-13 lead at the end of the quarter and the Junior Blues were fighting from behind the rest of the night.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The No. 3-ranked Washburn University men opened MIAA play with a bang Thursday night, recording the largest margin of victory in the 50-game series with Nebraska-Kearney in an 87-52 road win.
Washburn sophomore Jack Bachelor scored 19 points to lead the way in the Ichabods' 87-52 win at Nebraska-Kearney Thursday night. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods (8-0 overall, 1-0 MIAA) trailed 3-0 after the Lopers (1-6, 0-1) hit a long jumper. Then, after a 3-pointer by WU's Jack Bachelor tied the score, the Lopers took a 5-3 lead, but the Ichabods used a 17-1 run over the next 6:07 of the contest to take a 20-6 lead as Washburn was 7 of 10 during the stretch while the Ichabod defense held the Lopers to 0-7 shooting from the field.
The Lopers used an 8-0 run to cut Washburn's lead to 28-10 with 7:17 to play in the first half before Washburn used another double-digit run, outscoring the Lopers 10-0 to go up 20 before taking a 44-26 lead into the break.
Bachelor hit back-to-back 3-pointers early in the second half to push Washburn's lead to 23.
The Lopers connected on two more jumpers before the Ichabods ripped off another big run of 17-3, going up by 33 with 8:57 left.
After the final media timeout, Bachelor connected on another 3-pointer and Jake Schadegg hit two treys of his own 28 seconds apart, giving Washburn its 11th 3-pointer on the evening as the Ichabods rolled to the 35-point win.
The 35-point win topped the previous series victory margin of 31 in an 89-58 win over the Lopers on Jan. 16, 2019 in Topeka.
Washburn snapped a three-game MIAA-opener losing streak with the win over the Lopers, recording its first win in its league lid-lifter since 2020.
Bachelor's 19 points was a game high as the Washburn Rural product finished 5 of 8 from 3-point range.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Despite a 31-point night from Payton Sherk and a gutsy effort, the short-handed Washburn women's basketball team came up short in its conference opener Thursday evening, falling 66-61 on the road to Nebraska-Kearney.
Washburn junior Payton Sterk scored 31 points and hit five 3-pointers in Thursday's 66-61 MIAA loss at Nebraska-Kearney. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods played without injured starters Yibari Nwidadah and Madelyn Amekporfor, but were still within one possession of the Lopers until the final seconds.
The Lopers (7-2 overall, 1-0 MIAA) scored the first five points of the contest as Washburn (4-5, 0-1) was held scoreless until Emporia Rebecca Snyder got free for a layup at the 7:10 mark of the first quarter.
A pair of 3-pointers, first from Aniah Wayne and then Sterk, put the Ichabods in front 10-7 with 4:03 to play in the quarter.
In the final minutes Nebraska Kearney finished on a 10-2 run to lead 17-12 after one.
The first four points of the second quarter came from Washburn to pull within one.
WU was able to tie the game up at 19 after Snyder connected on a triple.
The Ichabods briefly went up in the final minute before half as Sterk scored two of her 15 first-half points on a jumper. A late bucket from the Lopers tied the game at 31 going into the break.
After Washburn scored the first two points out of the break the next nine went to Nebraska Kearney.
The lead reached as high as nine points as the Lopers shot 8-15 (53.3 percent) in the quarter before Sterk had the final seven points of the quarter for the Ichabods as they trailed 51-43 with 10 minutes to go.
Washburn was scoreless for the first two minutes of the first quarter but quickly went on a 10-2 run and tied the game at 53 after Sterk knocked down a triple with 5:48 to play.
Brooke Gomez connected on a pair of free throws to tie things back up under the five-minute mark but the next five points went to the Lopers.
Defense created opportunities, as UNK shot just 3-13 in the quarter, and Sterk drained two more 3-pointers in the final three minutes to pull within two each time.
Nebraska-Kearney was able to respond each time, as the Lopers held onto the lead, shooting 8-12 at the line in the quarter to take the five-point victory.
