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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
No. 1-ranked Washburn University men's basketball set a school record for the most consecutive wins to start a season Thursday night, improving to 20-0 and 11-0 in the MIAA with a 74-65 win over Fort Hays State in Lee Arena.
Sophomore Jack Bachelor led the way with 20 points as Washburn won its program-record 20th straight game to open the season Thursday night. [File photo/TSN]
The Ichabods scored the first pair of points on a layup by Michael Keegan, but the Tigers (13-6, 6-4) took the lead back, scoring 7 of the next 9 of the game and would go on to build a lead of as many as 7 in the opening half with 11:26 to play, 17-10.
With the Ichabods down 20-15 with 7:47 to play in the half, Washburn ripped off a 21-4 run to close the half with Jack Bachelor scoring the final nine points of the frame for the Ichabods as Washburn took a 36-24 lead into the break. Washburn was 7 of 9 during the final 7:20 of the first half while the Ichabod defense held the Tigers to 1 of 8 shooting.
In the second half, the Ichabods were holding a 17-point lead at 53-36 with 11:50 to go, but the Tigers used a 10-0 run trimming the Washburn lead to seven with 10:04 left. The Tigers would go on to cut the lead to six with 5:55 to play and for the final time with 5:16 to play before Brayden Shorter hit a 3-pointer to help push Washburn's lead back to 10 at 64-54. The Tigers would not get any closer than eight the rest of the way as Washburn hit 8 of 9 free throws in the final 3:19, securing its 20th straight win in front of a crowd of more than 3,000 in Lee Arena.
Bachelor led the Ichabods with 20 points while adding five assists.
Jacob Hanna scored 15 points and added seven boards and Brady Christiansen recorded a double-double with 12 points and 10 rebounds. Andrew Orr finished with 10 points.
Kyle Grill led the Tigers with 25 points.
Washburn shot 47 percent from the field, hitting 22 of 47 overall, and held the Tigers to 44 percent shooting at 24 of 55. The Ichabods hit 25 of 33 free throws and held a 36 to 24 advantage on the glass.
Washburn committed 14 turnovers leading to 22 points for the Tigers and the Washburn bench outscored the Tiger bench 18 to 6.
WU women fall to No. 8-ranked Tigers
Washburn could not overcome a slow offensive start Thursday as the Ichabods fell 85-47 to No. 8 Fort Hays State in Lee Arena.
The Ichabods (11-10, 5-6) got the first bucket of the game from Yibari Nwidadah 28 seconds in. The next 10 points all went to the Tigers (17-2, 8-2) as they held Washburn to 3-12 shooting in the first quarter. All seven points for the Ichabods in the first frame came from Nwidadah as they trailed 18-7 after 10 minutes.
In the second quarter Washburn cut the lead back to single digits, scoring the first three points of the quarter, making it 18-10 after Payton Sterk got a layup to go at the 8:25 mark. Fort Hays State scored the next four points to push it back to double digits as the visitors offense began to heat up, shooting 8-14 (57.1 percent) in the quarter. The Ichabod offense wasn't able to keep pace in the final five minutes as the visitors went into the half leading 41-17.
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By CHARLES SPURLOCK
Special to TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- The final first-round game in the Glacier’s Edge Tournament was a back-and-forth battle between the Topeka Lady Trojans and the Shawnee Mission South Raiders, with Topeka High dropping a 54-51 decision to the defending Class 6A state champions, currently ranked No. 4 in the state.
Sophomore Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton scored 19 points in Thursday's 54-51 Topeka High loss to SM South Thursday. [File photo/TSN]
The Lady Trojans fell to 6-4 on the season and will take on Wichita Northwest in the consolation semifinals at 3:15 p.m. on Friday afternoon.
The first quarter saw SM South jump out to a 7-point lead, 18-11, thanks to shooting 8-11 from the field -- a whopping 73 percent. Meanwhile, the Lady Trojans shot 36 percent from the field, but only one out of five from the free throw line.
The script was flipped in the second quarter as Topeka High responded by outscoring SM South 18-8 to take a 3-point lead into the half, 29-26. Topeka High shot 8-15 from the field while SM South cooled off, shooting just 3-11 from the field for the quarter.
SM South began the third quarter on a 6-0 run to take a 32-29 lead, causing Topeka High to burn a timeout. The Lady Trojans responded with a 3-pointer by sophomore Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton to tie the score at 32. The remainder of the quarter went back-and-forth and SM South took a 40-38 lead into the final quarter.
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By CHARLES SPURLOCK
Special to TopSports.news
EMPORIA -- The Class 5A top-ranked Seaman Lady Vikings cruised past the Wichita Northwest Grizzlies 56-15 on Thursday in the first round of the Glacier’s Edge Tournament hosted by Emporia High School.
Matt Tinsley's Seaman girls basketball team improved to 11-0 Thursday with a 56-15 win over Wichita Northwest. [File photo/TSN]
The Lady Vikes improved to 11-0 on the season and will face the fourth ranked team in Class 6A, the Shawnee Mission South Raiders, in the tournament semifinals at 7:45 p.m Friday.
Nine players scored for Seaman with two scoring in double figures.
The game started with Seaman jumping out to a 7-2 lead in the first four minutes. In the quarter, Seaman assisted on four of their five baskets and led 11-5 after the first eight minutes.
The first three minutes of the second quarter was very sluggish -- several turnovers and missed shots from both teams. A short jump shot from senior Kinley Wilhelm was the only basket until the four-minute mark of the quarter when sophomore Maddie Gragg hit a 3-pointer to extend Seaman’s lead to 16-5. The Lady Grizzlies were held scoreless for the quarter and the Lady Vikes led at the half, 26-5.

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By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
El Dorado -- In the first round of the 32nd annual Lady Cat Classic, the top-seeded and Class 4A No. 1 Hayden Wildcats went up against the host El Dorado, rolling to the tournament semifinals with a 64-15 win Thursday.
Freshman Hailey Schmidtlein scored a game-high 21 points in Hayden's 64-15 win over El Dorado on Thursday. [File photo/TSN]
Hayden started the game on a 13-0 run before El Dorado would answer with a floater to make it 13-2.
The Lady Cats would go on to out-score El Dorado 51-13 over the final three quarters of play to take a 64-15 decision and advance to play in the 7:45 p.m. semifinal Friday against (6-4) Gardner-Edgerton, which beat Goddard, 48-46.
The Wildcats had a near perfect night from there 6-foot freshman, Hailey Schmidtlein, who went 10-12 from the field to lead all scorers with 21 points.
“She went all out tonight, got some points off our defense and did a really nice job finishing,” Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldon said.
“I can’t thank my teammates enough,'' Schmidtlein said. "They were finding me when I was out ahead, seeing me, giving me those great passes. I didn’t do much but run up the court and get the ball and score.”

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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
As has become tradition, Washburn Rural finished first in the Topeka City Boys Swimming Championships Thursday at the Capitol Federal Natatorium.
Andres Morao-Jaspe captured four gold medals to help lead Washburn Rural to the city team title Thursday at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But the gap was narrower than in many previous years, with other city schools claiming higher point totals.
Sophomore Andres Morao-Jaspe had the only perfect day, finishing first in two individual events and helping two Washburn Rural relay teams to firsts as well. Morao-Jaspe won the 200-yard individual medley and the 500 freestyle.
“I feel like a great sense of satisfaction coming out of this with the whole team,” Morao-Jaspe said. “I've been working a lot for this, for these moments.”
Seaman's Peyton Holmes won three gold medals in Thursday's city meet at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman’s Peyton Holmes claimed first in the 50 freestyle and the 100 freestyle events and was part of two relay teams that placed first and second. He did it despite sinus surgery a week ago, having practiced little since the procedure.
“It was hard to come back into it, but I believed I could win both my events,” Holmes said. “Competing in this city meet is really fun because my whole family could come, and just being in Hummer is fun.”
Washburn Rural placed first with 532 points while Topeka High’s 418.5 points edged Seaman and was cause for celebration for the Trojans.
“I’m really proud of my boys and feel like we had a great day,” Trojan coach Ken Bennett said.
He said Topeka High’s strong upper classes are bolstered this year by a group of freshmen who are contributing to varsity success.
“They came in raw, so to speak, and they stepped up,” Bennett said. “The older swimmers are bonding with the freshmen and showing them the way.”
Topeka High senior Jaxon Cowdin won his fourth city diving title on Thursday at the Capitol Federal Natatorium. [File photo/TSN]
Topeka High's Dawson Blankenship helped lead the Trojans to a second-place team finish in Thursday's city swimming championships. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
One of the most impressive performances of the day was turned in by Topeka High senior swimmer/diver Jaxon Cowdin.
Cowdin won the city dive competition for the fourth consecutive year. But he also took fifth in the 50 freestyle and helped two Trojan relay teams to second and third-place finishes.
“Jaxon came in as a freshman and wanted to swim and dive,” Bennett said. “We told him to focus more on diving. As a senior he came out and was like, ‘I’m going to swim.’ It’s rare for someone to be able to do both because you have to practice so much to be a good diver.”
For the second year in a row, Washburn Rural won the city meet behind a first-year head coach. Bob Burdick replaced Janson Garman and had to rebuild the Washburn Rural roster.
“Last year, we lost a whole lot of really fast guys. We took third at state last year and we graduated a whole bunch,” Burdick said. “When I took over, we had about 18 guys.
“We had seven guys who couldn't swim before they got to us, and we made them into swimmers. We had a couple of guys who just popped out of the woodwork and they had a little bit of swim background. They came back and they're just hammering it, and so we're building well. Success breeds success.”
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