By KYLE MANTHE
The Washburn Review
A pair of ranked teams on the Centennial League girls side faced off on Tuesday evening, with Washburn Rural, No. 3 in 6A, playing host to Seaman, No. 8 in 5A.
It was the Junior Blues who came out on top as defense powered them to a second win in as many nights, a 42-20 victory over the Vikings.
“Defensively, there were very few times that we didn’t understand where their players were … I thought we were pretty zeroed in probably from about the two-minute point of the first quarter on especially,” Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said.
Jada Ingram
Emma Krueger
Washburn Rural suffered its lone loss back on Jan. 4 to Topeka High, who the Junior Blues will take on in their next game.
“That’s one thing we try to preach is that we got to take care of the here and now. That will be there, we got to do this right here. And I thought we did a really good job of walking into that,” Bordewick said.
The win moved the Junior Blues to 15-1 on the year while Seaman fell to 10-5 after winning its previous three.
“I thought we lacked energy tonight, we just didn’t seem to have the liveliness that we needed,” said Seaman coach Matt Tinsley.
The Washburn Rural defense controlled the pace of play from the jump, forcing Seaman into possessions running more than a minute of clock.
All four points of the first quarter for the Vikings would come on post-ups inside, with two each from freshmen Ava Esser and Maegan Mills. On the other end, five Junior Blues scored in a balanced and efficient offensive attack to take a 12-4 lead after a quarter.
Turnovers hurt Seaman early in the second quarter, leading to easy baskets for Washburn Rural. A steal and breakaway layup by senior Emma Krueger, who had a game-high seven in the first half, gave the Junior Blues an eight-point lead.
“That was all five of our kids kind of working in sync with each other,” Bordewick said. “I thought defensively we were really active on the perimeter.”
Krueger's layup started an 8-0 run for Washburn Rural whidh would go into halftime leading, 22-10.
The pace picked up to begin the third quarter, although both sides struggled to convert on opportunities and knock down shots.
“I thought we guarded them well in the halfcourt,” Tinsley said. “I feel like their best offense was us just gifting them points … we just can’t gift a team those easy possessions, especially one like Washburn Rural.”
The Junior Blues were able to get to the line, knocking down five of eight free throws with three coming from senior Campbell Bagshaw. The strong defensive performance continued, leading to a 33-15 advantage after three quarters of play.
Sophomore Taylin Stallbaumer was finally able to break free for the Vikings to start the fourth quarter, knocking down a three, but that would be all the offense they would muster the first six minutes.
In the midst of six straight points for Washburn Rural sophomore Jada Ingram, the deficit in the game grew to over 20 points. That is where it stayed until the final horn sounded with the Junior Blues claiming a 22-point win.
“I thought our intensity was pretty solid through all four quarters on both ends. There were times we didn’t finish plays but it wasn’t for lack of effort,” Bordewick said.
Ingram led all scorers with 11 points while Krueger added nine for Washburn Rural. Junior Brooklyn DeLeye finished with seven.
Mills was the high-scorer for Seaman with six points, Stallbaumer had the only 3-pointer of the night for the Vikings to finish with five.
“I have a lot of freshman and sophomores playing and this is a good learning experience for us and we are going to take the lessons from this and get better,” Tinsley said.
The game moved the Junior Blues to 11-1 in league play while Seaman dropped to 8-4 in the league.
Next up for the Vikings is a road matchup with Hayden on Friday. Washburn Rural will be on the road the same day as they will face No. 2 ranked and undefeated Topeka High.
WASHBURN RURAL GIRLS 42, SEAMAN 20
Washburn Rural 12 10 13 7 -- 42
Seaman 4 6 5 5 -- 20
Washburn Rural (15-1, 11-1) – Bagshaw 0-1 3-4 3, Whitmore 0-0 0-0 0, Lutz 2-8 0-0 4, Krueger 4-10 1-1 9, Carlgren 2-5 0-1 4, Canfield 2-6 0-0 4, Brogan 0-1 0-0 0, Ingram 4-7 3-4 11, Schuler 0-0 0-0 0, DeLeye 2-7 2-4 7. Totals 16-45 9-14 42.
Seaman (10-5, 8-4) – Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Schumann 0-6 0-0 0, J. Stallbaumer 1-2 0-1 2, T. Stallbaumer 1-4 2-2 5, Becker 1-10 2-2 4, Wilhelm 0-0 0-0 0, Gormley 0-2 0-0 0, Mills 3-4 0-0 6, Esser 1-4 1-2 3. Totals 7-33 5-7 20.
3-point goals – Washburn Rural 1 (DeLeye), Seaman 1 (T. Stallbaumer). Total fouls – Washburn Rural 12, Seaman 11. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.
