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No. 3-ranked Centralia girls top Cair Paravel, 58-22
By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
The Cair Paravel girls faced another tough test Tuesday when the Centralia Panthers – ranked third in Class 1A Div. I – came to Topeka. The Lions hung tough for a half but fell off the pace and lost 58-22.
The Lions have been tested by some of the best small school programs in the state, including Wabaunsee, which sits one spot ahead of Centralia in the 1A-I rankings. On Tuesday, Centralia applied a stifling press to the Lions to add its twelfth victory against just two losses on the season. Junior Josie Haverkamp led the Panthers with 22 points on 9-16 shooting.
“It’s always fun (playing Centralia). It’s always a good challenge,” said Cair Paravel coach Jaley Barkley. “It’s tough playing teams that press the whole game. We’ve seen Wabaunsee do a run-and-gun trap against us. Osage City kind of presses. So, we’ve seen it a lot. But I think it’s good for the girls to learn how to adapt. There will be turnovers that come with it, but it helps them learn and grow a lot.”
Barkley hopes that the experience of playing top-ranked teams will pay dividends later in the season.
“There are games on the schedule that I think will be good matchups for us,” Barkley said. “So, I think the hard teams that we’ve faced has allowed us to learn some lessons that will hopefully allow us to be victorious.”
The Lions fell to 5-9 with the loss Tuesday. Their top offensive threat, London Backman, had trouble getting free for shot attempts against the Panthers. She finished with just three points. Junior Becca Gateley led the Lions with eight points.
CENTRALIA GIRLS 58, CAIR PARAVEL 22
Centralia 13 15 22 8 -- 58
Cair Paravel 4 10 4 4 -- 22
Centralia (12-2) – Kramer 4-15 1-2 10, Thompson 2-3 1-2 5, Rempe 1-5 0-0 3, Gibbs 1-8 2-2 4, Haverkamp 9-16 4-6 22, Becker 5-7 4-10 14, Tanking 0-0 0-0 0, Heinen 0-1 0-0 0, Niehaus 0-0 0-0 0, Franklin 0-1 0-0 0, McKee 0-0 0-0 0, Osterhaus 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 22-57 12-22 58.
Cair Paravel (5-9) – Hastert 3-7 0-0 6, Donaldson 0-4 0-2 0, Gateley 3-5 1-1 8, Chada 0-3 0-0 0, Backman 1-8 0-0 3, Wehlshans 2-4 0-0 4, Rosenow 0-0 1-2 1. Totals 9-31 2-5 22.
3-point goals – Centralia 2 (Kramer, Rempe), Cair Paravel 2 (Gateley, Backman). Total fouls – Centralia 7, Cair Paravel 18. Fouled out – Backman. Technical fouls – None.
No. 7-ranked Cair Paravel boys rally past Panthers, 50-42
By TODD FERTIG
TopSports.news
Late in the second period Tuesday, the Cair Paravel boys looked up at a 21-7 deficit on the scoreboard. But as a ranked team for the first time in the program’s history, the Lions believe they are capable of overcoming adversity.
Chase Hastert, Cair Paravel [Photo by Barry Benteman/Special to TSN]
Cair Paravel entered the contest with Centralia ranked seventh in Class 2A by the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association. They didn’t play like it for the first 14 minutes Tuesday, but the Lions found their footing in the second half and turned that 14-point deficit into the team’s ninth win in a row, 50-42.
Cair Paravel outscored the visiting Panthers 18-12 in the third period, then ran away with a 19-6 advantage in the fourth period.
“First half we were selfish and soft. Second half looked night and day different,” said Cair Paravel coach Chip Kueffer. “(The Panthers) were hitting some tough shots, too. Not all of them were easy looks. But they got hot and then it can be tough to battle back when you’re down double digits.”
Sophomore Chase Hastert, who led the Lions with 14 points, echoed and added to his coach’s criticism of the first half.
“We were not going after loose balls, letting them go after it, not attacking the boards and playing selfish. We were taking first-side shots, not getting it inside. We had like four paint touches in the first half,” Hastert said. “In the second half, coach was like, ‘We can’t shoot any bad shots.’ We went on a run and we were just playing a lot harder, not just moping around.”
Kueffer credited his seniors for leading the turnaround.
“Our leaders do a great job,” Kueffer said. “We have three senior captains -- Drew Fay, Caleb Cleverdon and Lucas Marichal. They’re kind of our quarterbacks out on the court. Those floor generals can kind of rally each other and huddle everyone up to get it going.
“But the way (you stage a comeback) is one stop at a time. You can’t get 10 in a row. You can’t look at it that way. It’s just one good possession at a time, one good guard, one good rebound at a time. When you don’t get stops it’s hard to run in transition. Once we did get stops, we finished possessions. We were able to pitch ahead and score in transition.”
Fay scored 13 points for Cair Paravel and Marichal added 11. After going scoreless in the first half, sophomore Blaine Durbin turned in nine second-half points. The Lions outscored the visitors 13-3 over the final 4:41.
Rayton's 33 points power Topeka High girls to 71-33 non-league win over Atchison
By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Before the Capital City Classic tips off later this week, Topeka High hosted the Atchison Phoenix in the Dungeon Monday night and rolled to a 71-33 win.
Topeka High junior Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton scored 33 points in Monday's 71-33 win over Atchison. [File photo/TSN]
Atchison kept themselves in the hunt in the first quarter, trailing by just five at 19-14.
Junior Ahsieryrhuajh Rayton, who scored a game-high 33 points, scored the first five points for the Trojans followed by a couple of 3-pointers from senior Keimara Marshall while sophomore Hailey Caryl added one, too. Caryl finished with 16 and Marshall ended with 10.
“I wasn’t very happy after that first quarter,” Trojan coach Ron Slaymaker said. “I said in the timeout I called, I didn’t think that they would get that many points in the whole game and they had that in the first quarter… but after that we played pretty good.”
Atchison only had six players and Slaymaker told his team sometimes those games are hard to play, but credits the Phoenix for having the season they’re having despite the low number of players.
Alondra Herrera scored five straight for Atchison putting them up 9-8, forcing Slaymaker into a timeout, but then Topeka High turned it up a notch. Herrera led Atichson with 12 points.
In the second quarter, the Trojans began the quarter on a 14-0 run, leading 33-14 and finished on a 26-5 run, taking a commanding 45-19 lead at the break.
The Trojans were all over the glass, creating second-chance opportunities and creating turnovers on the defensive side leading to points. That’s something Slaymaker stressed before the season began on how important that would be for their success.
Rayton was scoring at will all game, helping the Trojans to a 11-0 run to begin the second half and after a Caryl two-point bucket that would start the running clock with five minutes left in the third quarter and lead 67-26 heading into the fourth.
