By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Even though her Topeka West girls basketball team opened the 2023-2024 season with three straight losses, West coach Angie Ketterman has been pleased with her team's overall effort.
And the Chargers were able to turn their hard work into a positive outcome Tuesday night, with Topeka West rolling to a 54-34 United Kansas Conference win over Lansing at West.
Angie Ketterman (center) picked up her first win as Topeka West's girls basketball coach Tuesday night, a 54-34 UKC romp past Lansing. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
"I'm happy for the girls,'' Ketterman said. "They've been working hard. Our first two games of the season were against top teams (Basehor-Linwood and Seaman) and they played hard.
"Against Shawnee Heights we did not play hard. We kind of went back to our old ways, so our challenge tonight was to stick with the game plan and I felt like they did that tonight. We still had some errors, which that's going to happen. That's part of it, but they stuck with it.''
Topeka West, which had lost its first three games by an average of 32.3 points, trailed just once on the night en route to its first victory as five Chargers scored eight or more points.
West, now 1-3 overall and in the UKC, built a 9-5 advantage at the end of the first quarter and led 21-13 at the half.
The Chargers then put the game out of reach with a 23-9 third quarter, taking a commanding 44-22 lead into the fourth stanza.
Topeka West led by as many as 25 points in the fourth quarter.
Topeka West sophomore Imani McGlory (5) scored a game-high 15 points with three 3-pointers in Tuesday's 54-34 UKC win over Lansing. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Topeka West senior Zoe Clark (35) scored nine points in the Chargers' 54-34 win over Lansing Tuesday night. [Photo by Rick Peterson/TSN]
Sophomore Imani McGlory led Topeka West with a game-high 15 points, including three 3-pointers, while sophomore Teairra Gonzales had 10 points with a pair of 3-pointers, senior Zoe Clark nine points and freshman Aveah McGlory and sophomore Addaline Hall eight apiece. A. McGlory hit a pair of 3s and Hall one trey on the night.
"That's what we've been waiting for,'' Ketterman said of West's balanced scoring. "They all shoot great in practice.''
Tuesday was the start of a busy week for the Chargers, who will host Junction City on Thursday in a non-league game before traveling to Kansas City-Turner for a UKC contest.
TOPEKA WEST 54, LANSING 34
Lansing 5 8 9 12 -- 34
Topeka West 9 12 23 10 -- 54
Lansing -- McNabb 2-13 2-2 7, Koontz 3-8 0-0 6, Malm 0-0 0-2 0, Anderson 2-5 0-0 4, Callaway 3-9 0-0 7, Wilson 2-8 2-2 8, Garza 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 13-44 4-6 34.
Topeka West (1-3, 1-3) -- I. McGlory 6-8 0-0 15, Hall 3-9 1-3 8, A. McGlory 3-4 0-0 8, Clark 3-9 3-6 9, Bearman 2-4 0-0 4, Gonzales 4-8 0-0 10, Kutina 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 21-42 4-9 54.
3-point goals -- Lansing 4 (Wilson 2, McNabb, Callaway), Topeka West 8 (I. McGlory 3, Gonzales 2, A. McGlory 2, Hall). Total fouls -- Lansing 10, Topeka West 17. Fouled out – none.
