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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
On Thursday, Washburn University women's basketball needed a last-second shot from senior Aubree Dewey to escape with a two-point win over two-win Central Oklahoma.
Playing another two-win team on Saturday, Lora Westling's Ichabods rode a 28-point third quarter to pull away for an 84-58 MIAA win over Newman in Lee Arena.
"We have a lot of respect for them,'' Westling said. "That's a young team and it wasn't a fluke that they beat Emporia. When young kids get confident on the right night they're dangerous so we just wanted to make sure we kept their confidence low and made some good adjustments.
"I thought our players did a great job of that after halftime and then we did a much better job of coming out ready to play in the third.''
Washburn improved to 10-3 overall and 5-2 in the MIAA, with the Ichabods now within a win of equaling last season's win total, with WU not posting win No. 10 until Feb. 14 a year ago.
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By CHARLES SPURLOCK
TopSports.news
Topeka West returned from its winter break to face the No. 4-ranked (Class 5A) and United Kansas Conference-leading DeSoto, with the Chargers falling to 4-3 overall and 4-2 in the UKC with the 76-30 loss.
The first quarter was very competitive, with both teams shooting very well from the field. De Soto was 5-8 from the field, including 4-6 from 3-point range and Topeka West shot 5-10 from the field. The quarter ended with DeSoto leading, 17-12.
The Wildcats continued their hot shooting into the second quarter going 10-15 from the field and 3-4 from long distance. The Chargers trailed 24-18 midway through the quarter, but DeSoto ended the first half on a 16-1 run and led 40-19 at halftime.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Despite snow swirling outside the gym, senior Brennon Dodge came out of the holiday break red hot, scoring Shawnee Heights’ first 12 points. Dodge and the T-Birds ran away from Lansing 76-51 to start the new year with a home victory to improve to 4-2.
Dodge staked Shawnee Heights to a 12-3 lead and the T-Birds led 23-8 at the close of the first period. He tallied 19 points in the first half.
“Having him is a great luxury,” Shawnee Heights coach Ken Darting said of Dodge. “If you ask me who we need to be great, it’s (Brennon). But sometimes I don’t give him credit because I take him for granted. I’m not saying ‘(Brennon) had a great game,’ because he had it the time before, and the time before that. Sometimes I don’t give him his just due.”
“It was just a great feeling helping my team,” said Dodge, who led all scorers with 25. “I’ve been practicing getting my shot down, staying consistent, and keeping mentally prepared.”
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
Shawnee Heights girls basketball picked up where it left off at the end of 2023, starting the new year with a 54-26 United Kansas Conference blowout of visiting Lansing Friday.
The T-Birds won four in a row prior to the holidays. Things were going so well, in fact, coach Bob Wells regretted taking a break.
“The kids were really locked in and really working in practice with a common goal in mind,” Wells said. “You could see that they were really playing well, and things were just starting to happen. So, it felt sort of unfortunate that we had to have a break. But that’s just how it is.”
The T-Birds needed eight minutes to shake off the rust. They scuffled to an 8-5 lead after one period. But then the home team reeled off 18 straight points to stretch the lead to 26-5. The T-Birds went to the half up 31-8 and forced a running clock for the fourth period.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural boys basketball Alex Hutchins felt like despite six straight losses to open the 2023-2024 season, his Junior Blues had been knocking at the door for a victory.
The Junior Blues knocked that door down Friday night, rolling to a dominating 62-29 Centennial League win over Hayden at the Bueltel Activity Center.
"We've kind of said from the start that we did not feel like a team that had lost all our games thus far,'' Hutchins said. "Our schedule was very good, but all of our games were competitive all the way until the final horn and this was the first night we've had all our pieces.
"We've had at least one guy who's in the rotation out every game until tonight. It was fun to see the puzzle all the way together.''
Washburn Rural, which improved to 1-6 overall and 1-1 in the league, went wire to wire after scoring the first five points of the game.