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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
In a tournament that drew more than 300 competitors representing 32 schools, it was the host Washburn Rural girls wrestling team that stole the show in Saturday's fourth annual Washburn Women's Invitational.
Led by individual champions Molly Spader and Emily Funk, Damon Parker's ninth-ranked (Class 6A-5A) Junior Blues rolled to the team championship by a 426.5-294 margin over Olathe North, with Spring Hill (280), Fort Scott (277.5) and Manhattan (263) rounding out the top five.
And with the Centennial League, regional and state meets coming up, Parker feels like the three-time and defending state-champion Junior Blues are putting themselves in position to challenge for another title next month.
"We've told them since five years ago that the way you win a team championship is to stop worrying about winning the team state championship, just get better every day and they have absolutely done that and they showed it today,'' Parker said.
"Olathe North is ranked higher than us, Great Bend is ranked higher than us, Manhattan's ranked higher than us and we beat them all by more than 100 points so we're not going anywhere.''
Spader, a junior, capped a 5-0 day in the 105-pound division with a win by fall at the 4 minute, 31-second mark of the championship match over Camdyn Post of Great Bend, Spader's third pin of the day as she improved to 23-2 on the season.
"I feel like I've gotten better since the beginning (of the season),'' Spader said. "I'm more confident.''
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By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Highland Park's boys basketball team has only played one home game this entire season and that's not likely to change any time in the immediate future due to recent flooding in the Hi Park gym.
But the Scots continue to roll up victories, with No. 3-ranked (Class 5A) Highland Park bouncing back from its lone loss of the season to post three regular-season wins in four days last week, capped by Friday night's 93-53 non-league road victory over Kansas City, Mo.-East.
Highland Park opened the week with a 66-46 non-league win at Eudora, followed by a 58-19 Meadowlark Conference win at KC-Schlagle on Thursday and the Friday night win over KC-East.
Junior Ja'Corey Robinson scored 30 points and grabbed 11 rebounds against East, followed by junior Mikey Williams with 18 points.
Also cracking double figures for the Scots were senior Amari Taylor with 14 points and freshman Jojo Kingcannon with 11 points.
Junior guard Jamon Wilson dished out 11 assists Friday night.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Washburn Ichabods led for all but 67 seconds at Nebraska-Kearney on Saturday, with five players cracking double figures in an 89-68 win over the Lopers.
After the Lopers (5-13 overall, 2-11 MIAA) led 3-2, Washburn came back with seven straight points to take a 9-3 lead before Nebraska-Kearney tied the score at 10-10 with 13:11 left in the opening half.
The Ichabods responded with a 10-0 run including eight in a row by freshman Brayden Shorter with a pair of 3-pointers, pushing the lead to 11 at 23-12.
UNK would hang around with an 11-point deficit before the Ichabods reeled off 11 straight points to close the half with a 45-27 lead.
Starting the second half, the Ichabods (13-6, 9-4) kept the run going with five more points in the first 57 seconds of the second half, building a lead of 25 points at 52-27 for their largest lead of the game. UNK would not get closer than 17 the rest of the game.
Junior Andrew Orr led the Ichabods with 21 points on 9 of 12 shooting from the field and added 6 rebounds, 2 assists and 2 blocks.
Shorter finished with a career-high 20 points on 7 of 9 shooting while hitting 4 of 5 3-pointers.
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By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
HIAWATHA -- The Hayden Lady Wildcats, ranked No. 2 in Class 3A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association, got a tough test from Lafayett, Mo. in Saturday's Hiawatha Invitational championship game, earning a 55-45 decision to improve to 11-1 on the season.
Hayden got off to a hot start against the Fighting Irish (St.Joseph, Mo.) going up 17-6 to end the first quarter and went into halftime up 27-20.
It would be a back-and-forth battle the rest of the game, with Hayden maintaining a narrow lead all the way to the finish.
“We came out and jumped on them,'' Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson said. "They showed a lot of resilience coming back and they really upped their pressure. At the end we used the extreme pressure against them and we spread the court and were able to drive it and get fouls.”
Hayden was led in scoring by 6-foot junior Brylee Meier, who finished with 17 points, while junior Norma Greco finished with 13 points, and senior Lauren Sandstrom added 10 points.
The Lady Wildcats were led in rebounding by 6-0 junior Amelia Ramsey, who finished with 9 rebounds.
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By CHARLES SPURLOCK
TopSports.news
WINCHESTER — It was championship Saturday at the Jefferson County North Tournament, with the Rossville Lady Dawgs, ranked No. 3 in Class 3A, taking on the host school, the Jefferson North Chargers.The Bulldawgs' domination from the first two rounds of the tournament continued in the title game as Rossville upped its record to 11-1 with an 87-39 win.
Rossville jumped out to an 11-2 lead in the first four minutes of the game and led 26-11 at the end of the first quarter. JCN didn’t score their first field goal until three minutes remained in the quarter.
The Lady Dawgs expanded the lead in the second quarter, outscoring the Chargers 20-13, taking a 46-24 lead into halftime.