By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
The Topeka High girls survived a nine-point deficit to race past Wichita Life Prep Academy 50-42 Friday night on the Trojans’ home court.
Sophomore Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton scored 25 points, including her team's final nine points, in Friday's 50-42 Topeka High win over Life Prep. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Sophomore Ahsieryrhuajh Rayton scored 19 of her 25 points in the second half – including the Trojans’ last nine of the game – to fuel the comeback.
Topeka High fell behind 19-10 midway through the second period when it went scoreless for about eight minutes of game action. But coach Ron Slaymaker and the Trojans didn’t fold.
Topeka High coach Ron Slaymaker talks to his team during Friday's 50-42 win over Wichita Life Prep Academy. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
“We just tried to do what we were trying to do from the beginning -- be solid, run our fast break and play good defense,” Slaymaker said. “And that’s exactly what got us back into it.”
Despite giving up height at essentially every position on the court, Topeka High kept revving the accelerator and tormenting the Life Prep ballhandlers.
“We came out nervous, scared of their height,” Rayton said. “I had to tell the girls, 'Don’t worry about the height. Play hard and have fun. It’s just basketball.’ ”
Topeka High steadily made up ground and took the lead early in the fourth period on a jump shot by junior Keimara Marshall, who chipped in 12 points. The Trojans gave up the lead momentarily, but they outscored the Fire 13-4 over the final five minutes of the game.
“I just told (the team in the locker room) that the thing I was most pleased with was the way we made adjustments,” Slaymaker said. “I’m not sure I would have anticipated that. We just haven’t had enough practices. We made very good adjustments. That’s what got us the lead.”
“When we came in at halftime, Keimara and I told the girls that we didn’t have energy, hanging our head after mistakes,” Rayton said. “We came together as a team.”
Rayton hunched over a trashcan during a break late in the game, but with everything on the line, she put the Trojans on her shoulders.
“My stomach started hurting. I wasn’t sick. Just tired,” Rayton said. “I told Coach. He said he didn’t care. Play through it. That’s when the dog comes out.”
“I’ve coached girls for 11 years, and I’ve never had this kind of quickness,” the 88-year-old Slaymaker said specifically about Rayton and Marshall. “I had some really good teams. But this kind of quickness … Basketball is a quickness game. You can’t coach it. You’ve got it or you don’t.”
In his first season at Topeka High, Slaymaker has guided the Trojans to a 3-2 record, which includes two wins at the De Soto Hardwood Classic. He believes the program is headed in the right direction after going 6-15 last year.
“Last year was a hard year. I knew when I took the job that it had been a mess. There was some building to do,” Slaymaker said. “(Life Prep) is a pretty good team. Winning a game like this, your self-confidence goes up. We won two games at the De Soto tournament, but you just can’t package self-confidence.”
TOPEKA HIGH GIRLS 50, WICHITA LIFE PREP ACADEMY 42
Wichita Life Prep Academy 7 18 8 9 -- 42
Topeka High 10 8 12 20 -- 50
Life Prep (5-8) – Ramos 1-4 0-0 3, Torok 1-3 1-2 3, Joshua 5-8 0-0 10, Vidales 3-10 0-3 6, Lazarevic 1-8 0-0 3, Holmes 2-6 2-4 6, Szabo 3-4 0-0 9, Semeniuk 0-1 0-0 0, Koullopi 0-1 0-0 0, Csercsa 1-2 0-0 2. . Totals: 17-47 3-9 42
Topeka High (3-2) – Short 1-1 0-2 2, Marshall 6-10 0-1 12, Rayton 7-16 10-14, Caryl 4-6 1-3 9, Benning 1-1 0-0 2, Gotru 0-2 0-0 0, Triplett 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 19-36 11-21 50 .
3-point goals – Life Prep 5 (Szabo 3, Ramos 1, Lazarevic 1), Topeka High 1 (Rayton 1). Total fouls – Life Prep 17, Topeka High 7. Fouled out – None. Technical fouls – None.
