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By JUSTIN BURKHARDT

TopSports.news

WICHITA -- The Topeka High Lady Trojans were experiencing the state tournament for the first time since 2022 Tuesday, but they certainly didn’t look like a team new to the stage.

Junior Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton led Topeka High with 17 points in Tuesday's 61-58 state tournament loss to Derby. [Photo by Selena Rivas Favela/Special to TSN]

Topeka High gave No. 2 Derby a battle to the very end in the Class 6A quarterfinal at Koch Arena, dropping a 61-58 heartbreaker to finish its season 17-8.

The Trojans lost to Derby (22-3) for the second time on the season after dropping a 65-57 decision to the Panthers in the Capital City Classic back in January.

Both teams came out of the gate Tuesday struggling to find the basket.

Derby opened the scoring with a free throw to make it 1-0, but that would be the only point scored for nearly two minutes.

Topeka High coach Ron Slaymaker called a 30-second timeout and the Trojans responded immediately.

Sophomore Hailey Caryl scored 15 points in Tuesday's 61-58 Topeka High state tournament loss to Derby. [Photo by Selena Rivas Favela/Special to TSN]

Hailey Caryl scored inside, drew the foul, and completed the three-point play to give High an early 3-1 lead.

The teams traded baskets through the rest of the quarter. Derby tied the game at 10-10 with a shot at the rim before Caryl answered with another basket.

Topeka High’s leading scorer, Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton, had been held scoreless for most of the opening period, but with 43 seconds left she knocked down a shot to give the Trojans a 16-12 lead.

At the end of the first quarter, Topeka High held a narrow 16-15 advantage.

Derby opened the second quarter with three quick points to take the lead, but Rayton responded with a 3-pointer to tie the game at 19-19.

Late in the quarter, with the Trojans trailing 30-26, Topeka High went on a run.

Sasha Gotru scored inside, Rayton added a basket and Caryl knocked down two free throws. Gotru then scored again with just 0.3 seconds left before halftime, capping an 8-0 run that gave the Trojans a 34-30 lead at the break.

Derby came out of the locker room on fire, opening the third quarter with a 6-0 run to reclaim the lead at 36-34.

Senior Keimara Marshall had a double-double with 11 points and 11 rebounds in Tuesday's 61-58 Topeka High state tournament loss to Derby. [Photo by Selena Rivas Favela/Special to TSN]

High's Keimara Marshall answered with a basket in the paint to tie the game. The Trojans then responded with a 7-0 run to push their lead to 41-36.

Derby star Macayla Askew went to work, scoring five quick points to cut into the deficit.

Topeka High held on to a slim 48-46 lead heading into the fourth quarter.

Derby opened the final period with five straight points to take a 51-48 lead.

The Trojans tied the game at 51-51 before Askew hit a 3-pointer to give the Panthers another advantage.

With 43.5 seconds remaining, Caryl attacked the rim and was fouled. She calmly sank both free throws to cut the deficit to 59-58.

Topeka High was forced to foul, and Derby knocked down both free throws to extend the lead to three, 61-58.

The Trojans still had one last chance. Marshall brought the ball up the floor but didn’t have a clean look and passed to Trisha Short.

Short swung the ball to Rayton, who appeared ready to launch a potential game-tying three.

However, the buzzer sounded just before she could get the shot off, ending the Trojans’ season as Derby advanced to Thursday's semifinals.

Topeka High relied heavily on its starters throughout the game. Marshall and Caryl each played all 32 minutes, while Rayton and Short played 30 minutes apiece. Despite the heavy workload, they still had energy in the final moments.

“We have asked a lot of those five all year,” Slaymaker said. “They’ve had to play major minutes in every game because we are not deep.

"I'm very, very proud of their effort. I’ve been proud of them for 11 games in a row. We damn near got this one.”

Slaymaker reflected on the team’s journey throughout the season.

“We dug a hole early. We were 0-4 to begin the season, and Caryl had a pretty bad ankle sprain,” Slaymaker said. “A lot of teams start 0-4 and end up 0-8, thinking their season is over. But we didn’t think that way.

"After our tournament in January we had a meeting -- not a chewing type meeting -- just telling them we could still do this. And then we went on that 11-game run against some pretty good competition.''

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By JUSTIN BURKHARDT

TopSports.news

KANSAS CITY, Kan. -- Class 5A No. 3 girls seed Shawnee Heights faced No. 6 seed Basehor-Linwood for the third time this season Wednesday at Kansas City Kansas Community College, but this time the stakes were much higher, with the United Kansas Conference rivals squaring off in the state tournament.

Junior KK Emmot led Shawnee Heights with 18 points in Wednesday's 61-47 Class 5A quarterfinal win over Basehor-Linwood. [File photo/TSN] 

Shawnee Heights, making its first state appearance since 2011, faced adversity almost immediately, but overcame the loss of a key player to advance to Friday's 5A semifinal with a 61-47 quarterfinal win over the Bobcats.

Just 49 seconds into the game, junior starter Pearmella Carter drove to the basket, was fouled, and went down hard. Carter had to be helped off the court by trainers and did not return to the game.

Losing their top rebounder and second-leading scorer forced the T-Birds to quickly adjust.

“For us to overcome adversity that happens 49 seconds into the game with Mella going out — and she’s been our top rebounder and our second-leading scorer all year long — for the girls to come through that was huge,” Shawnee Heights coach Bob Wells said. “That’s what we told them. We led for most of the first half, and they just had to believe in themselves and believe they could do it.

"Everybody just kind of pulled together and got the job done.”

Senior Reianna Vega scored 16 points and grabbed nine rebounds in Wednesday's 61-47 Shawnee Heights win over Basehor-Linwood. [File photo/TSN]

Senior Reianna Vega said the team leaned on each other after the early injury.

“Coach kept telling us to play together as a team,” Vega said. “We’ve been through adversity a lot of times, and we’ve gotten this far. We can’t give up now, so we had to keep fighting.”

Late in the first quarter, Shawnee Heights knocked down a 3-pointer with 1:34 remaining to take a 15-12 lead.

Basehor-Linwood responded by drawing a foul at the buzzer and hitting both free throws to trim the lead to 15-14 after one quarter.

Scoring slowed early in the second quarter, but senior Imani McGlory eventually broke through with her first basket to make it 17-14.

The T-Birds followed with a 6-0 run while Basehor-Linwood struggled to finish at the rim.

However, the Bobcats answered by closing the half on a 7-0 run to take a 25-21 lead into the locker room at the half Shawnee Heights shot just 3 of 16 from the field in the quarter.

Vega came alive in the second half, scoring all 16 of her points after halftime.

Shawnee Heights repeatedly tried to regain the lead, but Basehor-Linwood continued to answer.

With 2:10 left in the third quarter, junior KK Emmot scored to tie the game at 36.

Emmot then knocked down a 3-pointer to give the T-Birds a brief lead, but Basehor-Linwood finished the quarter on a 5-0 run to go up 41-39 heading into the fourth.

The fourth quarter belonged to Shawnee Heights.

The T-Birds opened the period on a 7–0 run. Vega tied the game at 41 with a basket, Emmot followed with a 3-pointer, and Vega scored again to make it 46-41.

Emmot and Vega added four more points before McGlory scored five straight to extend the lead to 57-45 with 1:05 remaining.

Freshman Bijoy Schmidt sealed the victory with two free throws with 37 seconds left as Shawnee Heights secured the 14-point win and advanced to the state semifinals on Friday at Wichita's Koch Arena.

The T-Birds shot 7 of 9 from the field in the fourth quarter and outscored Basehor-Linwood 22-6 in the final period.

“We tried to get things slowed down a little bit offensively so we could run some sets and be more under control,” Wells said about the fourth-quarter turnaround.

“Then we started getting shots that we’re capable of hitting instead of trying to run so much and taking shots that weren’t our best looks.”

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By VINCE LOVERGINE

TopSports.news

SALINA -- Silver Lake boys basketball coach Shannnn Kruger said a couple of times after Tuesday's game that the Eagles' performance was not a pretty one by any stretch and described it as a grind it out type of game.

 

And the Eagles did just that, knocking off Holcomb 47-37 at the Tony's Pizza Event Center to advance to the Class 3A semifinal.

Silver Lake senior Dayne Johnson scored a game-high 16 points in Tuesday's 47-37 win over Holcomb. [File photo/TSN]

“I prefer the ball to go into the basket,” Kruger said with a smile. “What we can control is our defensive effort and attention to detail and we talk about let’s not hope they miss, let's try to make a miss.

 

"Obviously I'd love to see great defense for us and us play a little more fluid offensively, but a game like that it was sure it was ugly, but we're okay with that.''

“I don’t think we played our best offensive game by far, but we always make our main focus defense and I thought we worked our butts off on defense, on the boards,'' said Silver Lake senior standout Dayne Johnson, who led all scorers with 16 points. "That means when you have a bad offensive game you still stay in the game and win.”

The Longhorns began the game on a quick 5-0 run but Silver Lake went on its own 10-2 run thanks to senior Drew Womack converted two and-one opportunities as the Eagles led by three (10-7).

After Silver Lake went up five (12-7), Holcomb called a timeout with 1:27 left in the quarter. The Longhorns then scored five straight and ended the quarter tied, 12-12.

The second quarter featured both teams struggling to get baskets, combining for just 10 points.

Johnson was quiet in the first half, scoring six points, four in the second quarter and Womack had eight and ended with that total.

Silver Lake took the lead at the half in the low scoring affair, 18-16.

The third quarter was much the same as the first half.

Johnson, who sank 8-10 free throws, helped the Eagles to a 20-19 lead and then Johnson ended an eight-minute field goal drought for Silver Lake with 3:42 left in the third quarter, putting the Eagles up, 22-19.

The Eagles took a seven point lead (29-22) heading into the fourth quarter, thanks to a Camden Kruger buzzer beating jumper in the paint.

Silver Lake scored seven straight to go up 12 (36-24) looking to be in the driver seat until the Longhorns went on a 7-2 run, and Silver Lake called a timeout with 4:02 left in the game.

After that, the Eagles went on another field goal drought but their clutch free throws kept them ahead and took home the victory. Silver Lake went 20-26 from the charity stripe in the game. 

“(Free throws) and rebounding were huge for sure,” Shannon Kruger said.

 

“We always attack the bucket,'' Johnson said. "We’re not afraid of contact and when they call the calls we get to the line and knock them down.''

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