By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Entering Tuesday night's Centennial League game at Topeka High, Washburn Rural's girls basketball team had dropped seven straight games to the Trojans.
As seniors, Brooklyn DeLeye and MaRyah Lutz had been around for all seven of those defeats, and the duo played a huge role as the fifth-ranked (Class 6A) Junior Blues ended the streak with a nail-biting 47-46 victory over eighth-ranked Topeka High.
Senior Brooklyn DeLeye had game-high totals of 17 points and 11 rebounds as Washburn Rural ended its seven-game losing streak against the Trojans with a 47-46 win Tuesday night at Topeka High. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior MaRyah Lutz (right) scored 11 points and grabbed seven rebounds in Washburn Rural's 47-46 Centennial League win at Topeka High Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
DeLeye and Lutz combined for 28 points and 18 rebounds to lead the way as Rural improved to 6-2 overall and 3-0 in the Centennial League with its fifth straight win.
Washburn Rural held double-digit leads in each of the opening three quarters, but like most every recent meeting in the series, Tuesday's contest went down to the wire before a Topeka High turnover with 1.7 seconds remaining ended up being the difference as Rural picked up its first win over the Trojans since the 2019 Class 6A state championship game.
"It's like a big relief, like the weight just got off your shoulders,'' Lutz said.
"It definitely was a close one and it was a big win for us, but we can't like make it the state championship,'' DeLeye said. "We've got to treat it like a normal game and keep getting better because we still have a lot to improve on, but I'm just glad we finally got it done and especially at their place is a pretty big thing.''
Washburn Rural got of the gate with the game's first six points and went on to open up an 18-5 lead on a Chloe Carlgren stickback with just over a minute left in the first quarter but Topeka High ended the quarter with five straight points, capped by a Kiki Smith 3-pointer to cut its deficit to 18-10.
The Junior Blues built their lead back to 28-15 on a DeLeye 3-pointer with 1:44 left in the first half before High (7-3, 1-2) ended the half with four straight points to get back within single digits (28-19).
Rural led by 12 twice in the third quarter but Topeka High ended the quarter with a 10-2 run to cur Rural's advantage to 37-33 at the start of the fourth.
Topeka High, who never led
in the game, got within a point twice over the first three and a half minutes of the final period but Rural pushed its lead back to six (47-41) with 58 seconds left before some Rural free throw misses and a big 3-pointer from Topeka High senior Faith Shieds cut the lead to the final margin with 18 seconds remaining.
A pair of missed free throws left the door open for Topeka High to pull out the win, but the late turnover allowed the defending 6A state champs to escape with the big road victory.
DeLeye led Rural with a game-high 17 points, including three 3-pointers, and also grabbed a game-high 11 rebounds, while Lutz finished with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Carlgren finished with eight points for Washburn Rural while junior Zoe Canfield had seven points and went five of six from the free throw line.
"I can do a lot better job coaching than what I did tonight and I'll work on that, but the kids also know there's a lot of things they could have done better as well and that's probably been true of all of them, but that's the key with every competitive kid is you've got to find a way,'' Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said.
"Last year except for two games we found a way and in '19, with the exception of two games, we found a way, and this group's going to do that, too.''
Topeka High senior Kiki Smith scored 16 points before fouling out late in the game in Tuesday's 47-46 Trojan loss to Washburn Rural. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Smith led Topeka High with 16 points before fouling out with just over a minute left while junior Ayana Leesman added nine points and freshman Keimara Marshall eight points.
Shields had six points on two 3-pointers over the final 2:18.
WASHBURN RURAL GIRLS 47, TOPEKA HIGH 46
Washburn Rural 18 10 9 10 -- 47
Topeka High 10 9 14 13 -- 46
Washburn Rural (6-2, 3-0) -- Lutz 4-7 3-6 11, Hinck 1-4 0-0 2, Carlgren 3-7 2-4 6, Canfield 1-7 5-6 7, DeLeye 7-14 0-3 17, Ochs 0-2 2-2 2, Bunck 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 16-42 12-21 47.
Topeka High (7-3, 1-2) -- Leesman 4-11 0-0 9, Baird 0-2 0-0 0, Marshall 1-7 6-8 8, Caryl 1-2 1-2 3, Smith 7-18 0-0 16, Shields 2-5 0-0 6, Sharpe 0-0 0-0 0, Benning 1-5 2-4 4 . Totals 16-50 9-15 46.
3-point goals -- Washburn Rural 3 (DeLeye 3), Topeka High 5 (Shields 2, Smith 2, Leesman). Total fouls -- Washburn Rural 14, Topeka High 16. Fouled out – Smith. Technical fouls -- none.
