yBy TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
The Topeka High girls shook off a sluggish start Friday to defeat Emporia 58-40 and remain in the Centennial League race with two games remaining in the regular season.
Junior Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton led Topeka High with 20 points in Friday's 58-40 Centennial League win over Emporia. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Emporia, with just one league win to its credit, led the Trojans three minutes into the second period, 15-14. Topeka High responded with a 10-0 run and went to the locker room leading 27-21 at the half. But when the Trojans returned for the second half, their faces showed the effect of a Ron Slaymaker halftime lecture.
“I get pretty fired up. I try to be positive, but I wasn’t real positive about halftime. And they deserved it,” Slaymaker said. “But we played really well for seven games in a row. And hey, somewhere down the line in sports, you take a little dip. You know you don’t want to. Don’t plan on it. But you do. And we did.
“They got gnawed on a little bit a halftime. As a coach, you can’t do that very often. And I hope I don’t have to again.”
Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton, the city’s leading scorer at about 23 points per game, scored just three points in the first half. But the junior went to work, racking up 14 points in the third period. The Trojans blitzed the Spartans 22-9 in the third quarter and ran away with their eighth straight win.
Topeka High senior Trish Short scored 13 points Friday, helping the Trojans take a 58-40 Centennial League win over Emporia. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
“I feel like we started out slow because we didn’t know Emporia would run as much as they did,” senior Trish Short said. “The first game we played against them (a 63-38 win at Emporia), they weren’t running as much. In the past few games, we’ve been winning. So, this game we’re thinking ‘Ok, we’re gonna go in, win easily.’ But no, Emporia came out with a good fight. We had to really step it up in the second half.”
Rayton finished with 20 points, followed by Short’s 13 and Sasha Gotru’s 11.
The Trojans improved to 13-8, 7-2 in the Centennial League, keeping pace with Hayden, Manhattan and Washburn Rural.
“I was aware that we’re knocking on the door. I hadn’t mentioned anything about it until (recently). But our win streak put us in the position as well as others,” Slaymaker said. “It’s not going to be a solo championship. But at least we put ourselves in position. That’s all you ever want, to put yourself in position. You go late into the season to do something big. It’s fun to get to that point of the season where it matters.
“We dug that big hole by starting (the season) 0-4. We have climbed out of that and put ourselves in the race. We’ve got to start thinking about positioning in sub-state.”
“We want another shot at state,” Short said. “Last year we got knocked out in sub-state by Wichita Heights. We put up a good fight though. So that loss just made us stronger. We have five seniors who really want to play as hard as we can. We really want this bad.”
TOPEKA HIGH GIRLS 58, EMPORIA 40
Emporia 11 10 9 10 -- 40
Topeka High 11 16 22 9 -- 58
Emporia (7-14, 1-7) – Aguirre 0-4 1-2 1, Hines 0-4 0-0 0, Wiltz 1-2 0-0 2, DeWitt 4-17 2-2 10, Davis 10-18 4-6 24, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Hess 0-0 0-0 0, Kline 0-0 0-0 0, Cunningham 1-1 0-2 3. Totals 16-46 7-12 40.
Topeka High (13-8, 7-2) – Short 4-7 4-5 13, Marshall 2-10 2-2 8, Rayton 7-19 3-3 20, Caryl 2-9 2-2 6, Gotru 5-11 1-2 11, Triplett 0-1 0-0 0, Whayne 0-0 0-0 0, Brown 0-2 0-0 0, Conley 0-1 0-0 0, Martin 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 20-60 12-14 58.
3-point goals – Emporia 1 (Cunningham), Topeka High 6 (Rayton 3, Marshall 2, Short). Total fouls – Emporia 13, Topeka High 14. Fouled out – none. Technical fouls – none.
