By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
Topeka West girls basketball coach Angie Ketterman found a bright spot in her team’s 63-40 United Kansas Conference home loss to Leavenworth Friday -- the Chargers fought to the end.
Senior Addaline Hall paced Topeka West with 13 points in Friday's UKC loss to Leavenworth. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Despite trailing by double digits from late in the first period on, the Topeka West girls battled and scrapped to the final buzzer. The Chargers’ intensity produced a number of tense exchanges and a bevy of whistles in the fourth period. Ketterman said afterward she appreciated her team’s effort and attitude.
“I feel like we really battled a lot harder than we have in the past,” Ketterman said. “That’s what we’ve been really talking about, especially on defense.”
Topeka West junior Sydney VanDyke scored 10 points in Friday's UKC loss to Leavenworth. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Addaline Hall led Topeka West with 13 points, followed by Sydney VanDyke with 10. But the Chargers struggled at the offensive end, hitting just 13 of 56 shot attempts.
“Tonight, we missed a lot of our free throws,” Ketterman said. “We missed some of those easy things. But I feel like our girls battled. They got very frustrated the last minute and a half. That shows that they really wanted this. They played hard.
“I’m not going to take that away from them. They did play hard. But we missed a lot of free throws and some easy shots.”
Ketterman said that in the Chargers’ three remaining games, she hopes to see similar tenacity and effort, which will serve as a foundation for improvement.
“I hope to see us keep battling like that, to show the younger ones what it takes to get those wins,” Ketterman said.
LEAVENWORTH GIRLS 63, TOPEKA WEST 40
Leavenworth 17 11 16 19 -- 63
Topeka West 9 11 10 10 -- 40
Leavenworth (7-12, 5-7) – Walker 4-12 3-4 14, Huewitt 4-12 6-8 14, Brown 6-11 3-6 16, Allen 1-4 0-0 2, M. McIntyre 4-12 1-2 9, Graham 0-3 0-2 0, P. McIntyre 0-3 2-2 2, McCann 2-3 0-0 6, Noell 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 21-60 15-24 63.
Topeka West (5-14, 2-11) – Allen 1-11 2-2 4, Gonzales 2-5 2-2 7, VanDyke 3-17 4-10 10, Hall 4-16 5-8 13, McGlory 1-5 0-0 2, Kutina 2-2 0-0 4, Ogles 0-0 0-0 0. Totals: 13-56 13-22 40.
3-point goals – Leavenworth 6 (Walker 3, McCann 2, Brown), Topeka West 1 (Gonzales). Total fouls – Leavenworth 21, Topeka West 21. Fouled out – Allen. Technical fouls – VanDyke.
