By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural girls basketball coach Kevin Bordewick knew that his No. 6-ranked Junior Blues were going to face a tough task to knock off No. 9 Olathe North Monday night.
Freshman Brynn Anderson scored 14 first-half points with three 3-pointers in Washburn Rural's 50-35 loss to Olathe North Monday night. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
And that task became a lot tougher after 6-foot freshman Brynn Anderson, who scored 14 first-half points with three 3-pointers, missed the second half for precautionary reasons after Anderson hit her head on the court after drawing a charging foul.
Olathe North, now 6-1 on the season, took advantage of Anderson's absence while also forcing 23 turnovers en route to a 50-35 road win.
"(Brynn) was shooting it well, she was in a great rhythm,'' Bordewick said. "(Losing her) took the wind out of our sails a little bit, but we're not going to make excuses. We've got other people that can play, other people on that floor.
"And it's not that you have to do what Brynn does, but we have to do what we can do as a team to do a little better than what we did.''
Anderson hit all three of her 3-pointers in the first quarter to help Rural (4-2) go up 14-7 and opened the second stanza with an old-fasioned 3-point play to give the Junior Blues a 17-7 advantage at the 6:48 mark of the second quarter.
But Olathe North used a 13-0 run to take a 20-17 advantage before Anderson scored her final points of the night with 22 seconds remaining to cut Rural's halftime deficit to a point at 20-19.
The Eagles took control with an 18-6 third quarter to build a 38-25 advantage and the Junior Blues got no closer than nine the rest of the way.
Senior Hallie Walker scored 9 points and grabbed five rebounds in Washburn Rural's 50-35 loss to Olathe North Monday night. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSNl
Anderson was the lone Washburn Rural player to crack double figures while senior Hallie Walker added 9 points and senior Ella Hirschi 7 with a pair of 3-pointers.
Senior Asia Lee led Olathe North with a game-high 19 points while sophomore Lailah Boyd recorded a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.
Washburn Rural will be back in action Tuesday, traveling to Junction City for its Centennial League opener.
"We have to learn from (Monday's loss) and move on,'' Bordewick said. "Whether we win or lose we have to learn something and get better at something for the next day.
"We travel to Junction and we've got an opportunity in a game situation to correct a lot of the things that we didn't do well tonight.''
The Junior Blues will close out a busy week with a Friday home league game against Hayden.
OLATHE NORTH GIRLS 50, WASHBURN RURAL 35
Olathe North 7 13 18 12 -- 50
Washburn Rural 14 5 6 10 -- 35
Olathe North (6-1) – Copeland 2-6 0-0 6, Williams 4-10 0-0 9, Lee 6-17 4-4 19, Boyd 4-9 2-2 10, Opuko-Ahene 1-3 0-0 2, Allen 0-0 1-2 1, Bilal 0-0 0-0 0, Anderson 0-1 0-0 0, Burgert 1-2 1-1 3. Totals 18-48 8-9 50.
Washburn Rural (4-2) – Hirschi 2-7 1-2 7, Walker 3-6 3-5 9, Rutherford 0-4 1-2 1, Anderson 5-10 1-1 14, Carlgren 1-7 0-0 2, Petersen 1-3 0-0 2, Hinck 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 12-37 6-19 35.
3-point goals – Olathe North 6 (Lee 3, Copeland 2, Williams), Washburn Rural 5 (Anderson 3, Hirschi 2). Total fouls – Olathe North 12, Washburn Rural 10. Fouled out – none. Technical foul -- Olathe North bench.
Firebirds hand Chargers first loss, 53-49
After five straight victories to open the season, Topeka West suffered its first loss on Monday in Lawrence, with Free State taking a 53-49 non-league decision.
Free State, which improved to 4-3, trailed 13-11 after the opening quarter, but the Firebiards outscored the Chargers 33-25 over the next two quarters to take a 44-38 advantage into the final period and were able to hold on for the win despite being outscored 11-9 over the final eight minutes.
Senior Keimani Paul led Topeka West with 19 points, including four 3-pointers, while senior Malakyah Duncan added 12 points.
Topeka West will be back on the road Tuesday, traveling to Leavenworth for a United Kansas Conference matchup.
