By Rick Peterson
TopSports.news
Things didn't get off to a great start for Shawnee Heights' girls in Tuesday night's United Kansas Conference matchup with city rival Topeka West.
The T-Birds not only trailed 10-9 at the end of the first quarter but lost senior standout Taylor Rottinghaus to an injury midway through the opening stanza.
Senior Emari Doby scored 13 points in Shawnee Heights' 43-26 UKC win over Topeka West Tuesday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Junior Breezy Canady (24) tied for game-high scoring honors with 13 points in Shawnee Heights' 43-26 UKC win over Topeka West. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But things quickly improved for Heights on both fronts, with the T-Birds going on to claim a decisive 43-26 victory over the Chargers at Shawnee Heights.
About four minutes into Tuesday's contest Rottinghaus went down with an ankle injury and didn't not return for the remainder of the first half, while Heights trailed by a point at the start of the second quarter after West senior Jazmyn Ford converted a three-point play to end the first-quarter scoring.
Things turned for the T-Birds in a hurry, however, with Shawnee Heights pitching a 16-0 second-quarter shutout to take a commanding 25-10 halftime advantage and Rottinghaus coming out of the training room to start the second half.
"I had no idea that was the running total in the second half until we got into halftime,'' Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells said of the 16-0 run. "What I told them during that timeout was, 'When you get adversity, people have got to step up,' and I thought some of our kids came off the bench and really did some good things.
"Some of the guards came in and kind of lit a fire and we had some of the bigs come in and did a good job. I thought Kaydence Torrez and Rachel Swift did a good job rebounding and defending their bigs and making it tough on them.''
Shawnee Heights, which improved to 11-5 overall and 9-3 in the UKC, only outscored Topeka West by an 18-16 margin in the second half but the T-Birds led by as many as 18 points in the third quarter and by 20 in the fourth while the Chargers got no closer than 12 after halftime.
Senior Emari Doby and junior Breezy Canady tied for game-high scoring honors with 13 points to lead the T-Birds.
Senior Azarayah Duncan led Topeka West (5-11, 4-8) with 10 points, including three 3-pointers, while junior Zoe Clark added seven points.
Shawnee Heights will be off Friday while Topeka West will be at home to play top-ranked Seaman.
SHAWNEE HEIGHTS GIRLS 43, TOPEKA WEST 26
Topeka West 10 0 8 8 -- 26
Shawnee Heights 9 16 9 9 -- 43
Topeka West (5-11, 4-8) -- Brooks 1-3 0-0 2, Alexander 1-4 0-0 3, Duncan 3-5 1-2 10, Clark 3-7 1-3 7, Ford 0-1 0-0 0, Gonzales 0-0 0-0 0, Bogart 0-0 0-0 0, McGlory 0-2 0-0 0, Hall 0-1 0-0 0, Bearman 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 9-27 4-10 26.
Shawnee Heights (11-5, 9-3) -- Rottinghaus 1-3 0-0 2, Showalter 2-7 1-2 5, Doby 4-14 5-7 13, Canady 6-12 1-2 13, Fleischer 2-3 0-0 4, Hill 0-4 0-1 0, Schulte 0-2 0-0 0, Torrez 2-3 0-0 4, Brees 1-5 0-0 2, Rantz 0-0 0-0 0, Swift 0-1 0-4 0. Totals 18-43 7-16 43.
3-point goals -- Topeka West 4 (Duncan 3, Alexander). Total fouls -- Topeka West 16, Shawnee Heights 11. Fouled out -- none.
