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WICHITA -- Topeka High junior standout NiJaree Canady is a team player and happy to do whatever her team needs.
What the Trojans needed in Friday’s Class 6A state girls semifinal at Koch Arena was a big performance out of their 6-foot post player and Canady delivered, scoring 29 points and grabbing 14 rebounds as High advanced to Saturday’s 6 p.m. state title game with a 54-37 victory over Dodge City.
The 23-1 Trojans will face 22-0 Shawnee Mission Northwest for the state championship, with the Cougars advancing with a 59-45 win over Olathe West.
NiJaree Canady
Topeka High guards Lilly and Kiki Smith and Ja’Neysha Hendricks all got in foul trouble with three first-half personals, but Canady made sure that the Trojan foul problems wouldn’t keep them from playing for the school's first girls state title since 1982.
"At the end of the day, we just wanted to get to that championship game," Canady said after the game. "So whatever I had to do, I was going to do. If I had to play four quarters straight, that's what I was going to do."
Saturday’s title-game appearance will be the Trojans’ second straight in finals that have been played, with High finishing second to Washburn Rural in 2019. Topeka High made it to the semifinals a year ago before the final two rounds of the tournament were canceled due to COVID-19.
Canady led the way as Topeka High opened up a 25-8 advantage early in the second quarter but Dodge City took advantage of the Trojans’ foul trouble to end the half with a 14-3 run to cut its deficit to 28-22 at the half.
Dodge City got within 2 points with a minute left in the third quarter but Canady hit a 3-pointer to allow Topeka High to take a 5-point lead into the fourth.
Canady continued her dominating night early in the final quarter as Topeka High pushed its lead back to 11 points and the 21-2 Red Demons got no closer than 8 the rest of the way.
Junior Tae Thomas put the game away for Topeka High with a 6 of 6 performance at the free throw line over the final 2:44.
Thomas finished with 9 points and Kiki Smith 7 for the Trojans.
Becca Unruhn and Camree Johnson led Dodge City with 9 points each.
TOPEKA HIGH GIRLS 54, DODGE CITY 37
Dodge City 8 14 11 4 -- 37
Topeka High 13 15 10 16 -- 54
Dodge City (21-2) -- B. Unruh 3-6 2-2 9, Johnson 3-8 3-4 9, K. Unruh 2-12 3-4 7, Perez 1-7 0-0 2, Gleason 2-5 2-5 6, Gonzalez 0-1 0-0 0, Solis 2-3 0-0 4, Clark 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-42 10-15 37.
Topeka High (23-1) -- L. Smith 0-5 1-2 1, Thomas 1-6 7-8 9, K. Smith 3-9 0-0 7, Hendricks 1-5 1-2 4, Canady 12-18 4-6 29, Lyons 1-8 2-4 4, A. Caryl 0-1 0-0 0, Shields 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 18-53 15-22 54.
3-point goals -- Dodge City 1-14 (B. Unruh 1-3, Johnson 0-4, K. Unruh 0-3, Perez 0-3, Gleason 0-1), Topeka High 3-14 (K. Smith 1-2, Hendricks 1-2, Canady 1-2, L. Smith 0-4, Thomas 0-2, A. Caryl 0-1, Shields 0-1). Total fouls -- Dodge City 16, Topeka High 16. Fouled out -- High: Lilly Smith.
