By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural's girls basketball team knew it was in for a tough challenge Tuesday night.
After all, No. 5-ranked (Class 6A) Rural had pulled out a one-point win over No. 4 Topeka High in the first meeting between the Junior Blues and Trojans early last month and Rural was without junior Zoe Canfield for Tuesday's rematch afer losing the standout point guard to a season-ending knee injury.
Senior Brooklyn DeLeye (32), being guarded by Topeka High's Jo'Mhara Benning,had a double-double with 20 points and 18 rebounds in Tuesday's 55-42 Centennial League win over Topeka High. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Chloe Carlgren (13), being defended by Topeka High's Adisyn Caryl, scored 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in Washburn Rural's 55-42 Centennial League win over Topeka High. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Junior Blues were up to the task, never trailing after taking a one-point lead at the end of the opening quarter and pulling away in the fourth quarter for a 55-42 Centennial League win over the Trojans at Rural as seniors Brooklyn DeLeye and Chloe Carlgren recorded double-double performances.
"It's very big, especially since we only beat them by one the last time,'' DeLeye said. "It was definitely good to get ahead of them and then getting them where they had to foul us at the enf of the game. That was really nice taking control the whole time instead of always having to work from behind. We kind of put the majority of the pressure on them.''
Washburn Rural, which improved to 13-4 overall and a perfect 8-0 in the league race, clinched a least a share of the league championship while earning a regular-season sweep over Topeka High after entering 2022-2023 with a seven-game losing skid against the Trojans.
The Junior Blues, the defending 6A state champion, also helped their seeding for the upcoming state playoffs, moving into the No. 3 seed in the West with three regular-season games remaining.
Topeka High (13-5, 4-4) jumped out to 5-0 and 7-2 leads early in the game, but Rural rallied to take a 10-9 lead at the end of the quarter on a Carlgren hoop.
Rural led by as many as eight points twice in the second quarter on the way to a 26-20 halftime advantage, but the Trojans fought back to force ties at 28 and 30 before the Junior Blues went ahead to stay on a Tenly Bunck 3-pointer midway through the quarter and took a 37-34 lead into the fourth period.
The Junior Blues took control at that point, scoring the first 12 points of the fourth quarter to go up 49-34 on two Carlgren free throws with 2:45 remaining and Rural led by as many as 16 points down the stretch.
DeLeye finished with game-high totals of 20 points and 18 rebounds while Carlgren added 17 points and grabbed 10 rebounds.
While DeLeye has been one of Rural's major offensive weapons throughout her career, Carlgren has assumed more of her team's offensive load this season and particularly since Canfield's injury.
"Obviously I like scoring, it's a lot of fun, but I've definitely had to step that up this season and do it for my team,'' Carlgren said.
Washburn Rural shot just under 50 percent from the field on the night (17 of 39) ahd hit 17 of 23 free throw opportunities while limiting the Trojans to 33.3 percent shooting (17 of 51).
"Obviously we put a staple on our defense at Washburn Rural and we know you can't win a game by just having an offense,'' DeLeye said. "You have to do it on the defenive end as well.''
Carlgren drew the primary defensive duty of guarding Topeka High senior star Kiki Smith, who was held to seven points before fouling out late in the game.
"I tried to keep her from getting the ball and if she did, just lock her down and keep my hand up so she didn't hit those 3s and then stay balanced and be low so she didn't drive on me,'' Carlgren said.
Freshman Keimara Marshall led Topeka High with 11 points while Smith and junior Ladaysha Baird added seven apiece. Senior Adisyn Caryl grabbed 12 rebounds.
Washburn Rural will travel to Manhattan on Friday while Topeka High will host Hayden.
WASHBURN RURAL GIRLS 55, TOPEKA HIGH 42
Topeka High 9 11 14 8 -- 42
Washburn Rural 10 16 11 18 -- 55
Topeka High (13-5, 4-4) -- Leesman 1-9 3-3 5, Baird 3-10 0-0 7, Marshall 4-8 3-3 11, Caryl 2-2 0-0 4, Shields 2-4 0-0 4, Smith 3-16 0-0 7, Sharpe 0-0 0-0 0, Benning 2-2 0-2 4 . Totals 17-51 6-8 42.
Washburn Rural (13-4, 8-0) -- Lutz 3-6 0-0 8, Hinck 1-4 1-2 3, C. Carlgren 4-11 9-10 17, Bunck 1-2 0-0 3, DeLeye 7-13 6-9 20, Schroeder 0-0 1-2 1, Hirschi 0-0 0-0 0, Ochs 1-3 0-0 3, J. Carlgren 0-0 0-0 0, Walker 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 17-39 17-23 55.
3-point goals -- Topeka High 2 (Baird, Smith), Washburn Rural 4 (Lutz 2, Ochs, Bunck), Total fouls -- Topeka High 20, Washburn Rural 8, Fouled out – Smith, Shields. Technical fouls -- none.
