By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After graduating a stellar senior class and returning only three seniors, perennial Class 6A girls basketball power Washburn Rural is off and running again.
Washburn Rural senior Zoe Canfield (15) scored a game-high 18 points in Saturday's 52-26 win over Kapaun Mt. Carmel. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Washburn Rural freshman Maddie Vickery scored 16 points in Saturday's 52-26 win over Kapaun Mt. Carmel. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Kevin Bordewick's Junior Blues wrapped up the 2023 portion of their schedule with a 52-26 non-league romp past Kapaun Mt. Carmel in Saturday's Rural home-opener, improving to 4-1 on the season.
"I thought today we saw vast improvements, even since Tuesday, and Kapaun's not that bad of a team,'' Bordewick said. "I thought we moved the ball well, I thought we had a better understanding of defense and how we're defending people.
"I thought rebounding was a little bit better, even though we've still got to get better, and people that don't score a lot, like Tenly (Bunck) and Kate (Hinck), they do a really good job for us on defense, just kind of disrupting things. And those two kind of set the tone for our defense a lot of times.''
Washburn Rural, which has won three straight games, jumped out to a 16-5 first-quarter advantage over the Crusaders and led 29-17 at the half before putting the game out of reach with an 11-3 third quarter.
Rural, No. 7-ranked in 6A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association, finished off the decisive win with a 12-6 scoring edge over the final eight minutes as the Junior Blues used 12 players, with eight cracking the scoring column.
Rural senior Zoe Canfield led all scorers with 18 points, including three 3-pointers, while freshman Maddie Vickery added 16 points.
Kapaun Mt. Carmel did not have a player score more than six points.
Washburn Rural will return to action on Jan. 2, opening Centennial League play at Junction City, and Bordewick said the Junior Blues will use their practice time over the holiday break to get even sharper entering the league race.
"If we work hard and kind of do what we're working on in practice, the wins and losses will take care of themselves,'' Bordewick said. "We're just going to work on it over Christmas break and just get better.''
WASHBURN RURAL 52, KAPAUN MT. CARMEL 26
Kapaun Mt. Carmel 5 12 3 6 -- 26
Washburn Rural 16 13 11 12 -- 52
Kapaun Mt. Carmel -- Sanders 2 0-0 4, Romer 2 0-0 6, Spiers 1 0-0 2, Palace 0-0 0-0 0, Laufer 0 0-0 0, Orr 0 2-2 2, Milleson 1 0-2 2, Kempf 1 0-0 3, Kice 2 0-0 4, Hocker 0 0-0 0, Fury 1 0-0 2, Rudy 0 1-2 1. Totals 10 3-6 26.
Washburn Rural (4-1) -- Vickery 6 4-4 16, Hinck 2 0-0 5, Ochs 1 0-6 2, Canfield 5 5-6 18, Bunck 0 0-0 0, Moore 0-0 0-0 0, Hayes 0 0-0 0, Rutherford 1 0-0 2, Hirschi 0 0-0 0, Walker 2 0-0 4, Lemke 1 1-2 3, Carlgren 0 2-2 2. Totals 18 12-20 52.
3-point goals -- Kapaun Mt. Carmel 3 (Romer 2, Kempf), Washburn Rural 4 (Canfield 3, Hinck). Total fouls -- Kapaun Mt. Carmel 20, Washburn Rural 10. Fouled out – none.
Junior Kaden Ballard (2) scored a team-high 15 points for Washburn Rural in Saturday's 67-45 loss to Kapaun Mt. Carmel. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
KAPAUN MT. CARMEL BOYS 67, WASHBURN RURAL 45
Washburn Rural rallied to within a point in the third quarter but Kapaun Mt. Carmel pulled away down the stretch for a 67-45 non-league win Saturday at Rural.
Rural, which fell to 0-5 on the season, trailed 14-9 at the end of the first quarter and 25-19 at the half but made a third-quarter run at the Crusaders before Kapaun ended the quarter with a 45-34 lead.
The Crusaders ended the game with a 22-11 fourth quarter to open up its biggest lead of the game.
Kapaun, ranked No. 2 in 5A by the KBCA, got 22 points from junior Corbin Johnson, 16 from senior William Thengvall and 15 from senior Teagan Charles.
Junior Kaden Ballard led Washburn Rural with 15 points, including three 3-pointers, while senior Griffin Durst added 12 points.
Rural will return to action Jan. 2 at Junction City.
KAPAUN MT. CARMEL BOYS 67, WASHBURN RURAL 45
Kapaun Mt. Carmel 14 11 20 22 -- 67
Washburn Rural 9 10 15 11 -- 45
Kapaun Mt. Carmel -- Thengvall 3 9-12 16, Keller 2 1-3 5, Johnson 7 4-7 22, Charles 7 0-4 15, Powers 1 0-0 3, Porter 0 0-0 0, Daniels 1 2-2 4, Herlocker 1 0-0 2, Dalian 0 0-0 0. Totals 22 16-28 67.
Washburn Rural (0-5) -- Leonard 2 0-0 5, Ballard 4 4-6 15, Hoytal 3 2-2 8, Durst 5 0-0 12, Heim 1 0-0 2, Thompson 0 0-0 0, Shriver 0 0-0 0, Chooncharoen 0 3-4 3. Totals 15 9-12 45.
3-point goals -- Kapaun Mt. Carmel 7 (Johnson 4, Thengvall, Charles, Powers), Washburn Rural 6 (Ballard 3, Durst 2, Leonard). Total fouls -- Kapaun Mt. Carmel 16, Washburn Rural 21. Fouled out -- Hoytal.
