By KYLE MANTHE
The Washburn Review
Although the two teams' seasons as a whole are much different, going into Tuesday night's contest both Topeka West and Washburn Rural’s girls basketball teams were on one game-winning streaks.
The Junior Blues kept their streak alive as they streaked to a 66-24 win over the Chargers to kick off a busy week with three games.
“We got a big one tomorrow at Shawnee Mission Northwest, who is the defending champs and then Emporia who is really, really good on Friday,'' Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick said. "So we are trying to keep fresh legs, it’s kind of like a state tournament atmosphere almost.''
Senior Chloe Carlgren (13) led a balanced Washburn Rural attack with 11 points in the Junior Blues' 66-24 win over Topeka West Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
The 66 points were the most this season for Washburn Rural, which moved to 7-1 with the win, while Topeka West fell to 1-9 with the loss.
The first quarter was dictated by the defense of the Junior Blues forcing turnovers and the all-around play of standout junior Brooklyn DeLeye, who had seven of the team's 19 points in the period, matching the Chargers' total.
Washburn Rural played its bench for much of the second quarter and the offense did not miss a beat.
Senior Campbell Bagshaw and junior Chloe Carlgren led the charge with a combined nine points on 4-4 shooting in the frame.
“I thought they brought just as much energy (as the starters), and we don’t drop off a whole lot (going to the bench), but the kids that came in did a really nice job,” Bordewick said.
Offensively Topeka West was quiet for most of the quarter, although two steals in the final 90 seconds resulted in two layups, the last coming from sophomore Zoe Clark, who led the Chargers with six at the half.
Even with the late burst from Topeka West the Junior Blues still led 41-16 at halftime.
“Rebounding especially I thought we did a good job of that in the first half … I think we had a lot of energy and it showed in a lot of aspects of our play,” Bordewick said.
Washburn Rural came out of the second half hot, scoring seven points on the first three possessions, including the third 3-pointer of the game from sophomore Zoe Canfield.
“I think we were just finding each other well, we made good passes and people hit shots and that’s just what we did,” said senior Emma Krueger.
Clark and sophomore Siani Sanchez got to the free throw line but the Chargers only managed one field goal in the third quarter, which came from junior Jazmyn Ford.
“They (Clark and Sanchez) really set the tempo for the rest of us defensively especially. Siani just lays her body on the line and gives us everything she’s got,” Topeka West coach Jeff Skar said.
The clock ran continuously in the fourth quarter, but not fast enough that Krueger couldn’t score back-to-back layups in the first two minutes before the starters were taken out.
Sanchez and Ford each scored a basket for Topeka West before the game to an end with a final score of 66-24.
With multiple games getting postponed, leading to the busy week, the Junior Blues sit at 7-1 overall and in league play.
“Every time we step on the court we know weird things happen, it could be our last time so we try to just leave it all out there every time we go out and always be ready,” Krueger said.
After building momentum with the first win of the season earlier in the week Skar was disappointed with the result.
“Not really,” Skar said about seeing progress between the two matchups of the two teams this season. “They are such a hard team to guard, they play with such great tempo and great pace and that’s something that we are still trying to learn.”
Topeka West will be at home to take on Seaman Friday while Washburn Rural continues its busy week Wednesday at Shawnee Mission Northwest.
WASHBURN RURAL GIRLS 66, TOPEKA WEST 24
Topeka West 7 9 4 4 -- 24
Washburn Rural 19 22 14 11 -- 66
Topeka West (1-9, 1-8) – Hopper 0-0 0-0 0, Valenzuela 0-0 0-0 0, Sanchez 2-12 2-6 6, Duncan 1-3 0-0 2, Benson 0-2 0-0 0, Clark 2-2 3-6 7, Ford 3-3 1-2 7, Bearman 1-2 0-0 2. Totals 9-24 7-14 24.
Washburn Rural (7-1, 7-1) – Bagshaw 2-4 0-0 5, Whitmore 2-3 0-0 5, Lutz 2-5 1-2 5, Krueger 4-7 1-3 9, Carlgren 5-6 1-2 11, Ochs 0-3 0-0 0, Canfield 3-8 0-0 9, Brogan 2-3 2-2 6, Bunck 0-0 0-0 0, Ingram 3-5 1-2 7, Schuler 0-1 0-0 0, DeLeye 2-5 4-4 9. Totals 25-50 11-15 66.
3-point goals – Washburn Rural 6 (Canfield 3, DeLeye, Bagshaw, Whitmore). Total fouls – Topeka West 9, Washburn Rural 13. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.
