By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
A scheduling quirk resulted in Topeka High's girls playing two straight games against USD 501 rival Highland Park.
And after ending the 2025 portion of their schedule with a 30-point win over the Scots at Topeka High, Ron Slaymaker's Trojans were even more dominant Friday at Highland Park, rolling to an 87-31 victory to improve to 2-4 on the season.
Sophomore Hailey Caryl scored a game-high 26 points in Friday's 87-31 Topeka High win at Highland Park. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Junior Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton scored 21 points for Topeka High in Friday's 87-31 victory over Highland Park. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Senior Keimara Marshall scored 18 points Friday in Topeka High's 87-31 win over Highland Park. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Topeka High sophomore Hailey Caryl led all scorers with 26 points while junior Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton added 21 points and senior Keimara Marshall scored 18 to lead the way in the Trojan rout.
Veteran Topeka High coach Ron Slaymaker said Friday was important to continue to making strides after an 0-4 start while playing its first four games without Caryl.
"Highland Park's a little short-handed, but sometimes they can make you look bad,'' Slaymaker said. "I just wanted us to be solid and get our running game going, which we did.
"We got out 23-0 and 25-1 and we starterd subbing and it gets a little frantic there. But the start of the second half it was the same thing and we played really well.''
Topeka High took control in the opening eight minutes, outscoring the Scots 25-1.
High was still in front by 24 points (44-20) at the half before hitting the Scots with a 35-3 lick in the third quarter to force a running clock in the fourth quarter with a 79-23 advantage.
"Our practices have been high and low, really good, really bad,'' Slaymaker said. "So I was pleased to see them come out and play well because our schedule's pretty tough from here on out. Game, game, game, game, so there's not much time for practice and there's still a lot of things we need to clean up.''
Junior Zayah Kincaid led Highland Park with 11 points, including a pair of 3-pointers, while senior Koralee Jones added 8 points as the Scots fell to 1-4 on the season.
TOPEKA HIGH GIRLS 87, HIGHLAND PARK 31
Topeka High 25 19 35 8 -- 87
Highland Park 1 19 3 8 -- 31
Topeka High (2-4) – Short 2-4 2-4 6, Marshall 8-11 2-2 18, Rayton 9-15 1-2 21, Caryl 10-16 6-7 26, Gotru 1-5 0-1 2, Triplett 1-2 0-0 2, Conley 0-0 0-0 0, Whayne 2-2 0-0 4, Mathews 0-2 0-0 0, Martin 3-7 0-0 8, Brown 0-4 0-2 0. Totals 36-68 11-18 81.
Highland Park (1-4) – Cosey 2-7 0-0 6, Kincaid 3-9 3-4 11, Jones 4-10 0-0 8, Williams Sanders 0-0 0-0 0, Barnett 0-1 0-0 0, Grace 0-4 0-0 0, Atkins 0-1 0-0 0, Cameron 0-0 0-0 0, Hooper 2-6 0-0 6, Inyard 0-2 0-0 0, Mitchell 0-0 0-0 0, Watson 0 0-0 0. Totals 11-40 3-4 31.
3-point goals – Topeka High 4 (Rayton 2, Martin 2), Highland Park 6 (Cosey 2, Kincaid 2, Hooper 2). Total fouls – Topeka High 13, Highland Park 15. Fouled out – none.
