By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After scoring the first 19 points in Saturday's 92-34 romp past Junction City, Topeka High's girls basketball team got off to a bit of a slow start Monday night, trailing early at Hayden.
But the Trojans got cranked up over the final three quarters, increasing itheir win streak to 28 games with a 72-33 Centennial League win over the Wildcats.
NiJaree Canady
After trailing 8-5 and 10-8, the Trojans (5-0 overall and in the league) scored the final 4 points of the first quarter to take a 16-12 lead before using a 24-7 second quarter to take control, 40-19.
"I thought (Hayden) did a great job with our press and I think that was the main thing, that we weren't getting anything out of our press and we feed off our press and that's a lot of energy and we use that for offense,'' Topeka High coach Hannah Alexander said of the slow start.
"We weren't hitting our outside shots, but we were continuing to shoot them. I should have switched the defense a little sooner, so that was my fault on that, but I felt like once we did switch our defenses up we started jelling and looking a lot better out there.''
Topeka High outscored the Wildcats 19-9 in the third quarter for a 59-28 advantage, forcing a running clock in the fourth.
NiJaree Canady, a 6-foot junior, led all scorers with 22 points, while 5-8 sophomore Faith Shields came off the bench to add 12 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
"I thought the bench play was awesome and Faith Shields stepped up huge for us tonight,'' Alexander said. "That was something we knew she had but she hadn't fully stepped in her role yet this year.
"Good things happened tonight although there was some ugly, too.''
Junior Carly Stuke scored 18 points and hit four 3-pointers for Hayden, but was the only player with more than 5 points for the Wildcats.
Hayden suffered a big blow in the first quarter when junior starter Macy Smith went down with an injury to her left knee.
Topeka High will return to action Thursday, hosting Washburn Rural in a key Centennial League contest, while Hayden will travel to Emporia on Friday.
TOPEKA HIGH GIRLS 72, HAYDEN 33
Topeka High 16 24 19 13 -- 72
Hayden 12 7 9 5 -- 33
Topeka High (5-0, 5-0) -- L. Smith 4 0-0 9, Thomas 3 2-2 8, K. Smith 3 1-2 8, Hendricks 1 1-2 3, Canady 10 2-2 22, Leesman 0 0-0 0, Baird 0 0-0 0, Zimmerman 0 0-0 0, Caryl 2 0-0 4, Shields 4 2-3 12, Wiley 0 0-0 0, Lyons 3 0-1 6. Totals 30 8-12 73.
Hayden (4-3, 4-3) -- Cruz 1 0-0 2, Calhoon 2 1-3 5, Smith 1 0-0 3, Moore 1 0-0 3, Stuke 5 4-4 18, Grunert 0 0-0 0, Sandstrom 0 0-0 0, Huscher 0 0-0 0, Schmidtlein 0 0-1 0, Anguiano 1 0-0 2, Sims 0 0-0 0. Totals 11 5-8 33.
3-point goals -- Topeka High 4 (Shields 2, L. Smith, K. Smith), Hayden 6 (Stuke 4, Smith, Moore). Total fouls -- Topeka High 13, Hayden 13. Fouled out -- none.
