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Kingcannon's 35 points power Hi Park to 80-43 Meadowlark win over Hawks
By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
Highland Park boys basketball hosted Kansas City-Harmon in a Meadowlark Conference matchup Friday on Winter Royalty night, with the Scots snapping a three-game losing streak with an 80-43 rout over the Hawks.
Highland Park junior JoJo Kingcannon scored a career-high 35 points in Friday's 80-43 Meadowlark Conference win over KC-Harmon. [File photo/TSN]
The Scots would get off to a hot start, with junior JoJo Kingcannon going on a 9-0 run to start the game and scoring 12 of the team’s first 15 point’s in the contest.
The Scots would start the game with a 20-0 run before Harmon would find the basket with a free throw to make it 20-1.
Highland Park would end the first quarter with a 23-8 lead.
“JoJo's been scoring very well for us,'' Highland Park coach Nate Wallace said. "He's close to around 20 a game, if not a little more at this point. I never worry about JoJo. JoJo's locked in, JoJo's bought in, JoJo's a leader. He's a captain and when he brings that type of energy to the game, it makes it easier for the other guys.”
“(I'm) just feeling my shot, being confident in myself,'' Kingcannon said. "Sometimes I get down on myself, but I just know I can't do it as a leader of this team. So it's just the confidence part. I've just got to keep myself motivated and once I'm motivated, I just know that would get the team motivated.”
Harmon would start the second quarter with a 3-pointer before the Scots would go on a 12-2 run to go up 35-12.
The Scots would go into halftime up 44-24, with Kingcannon having 25 points on 10-11 shooting from the field at halftime and finishing with a career-high 35 points.
The second half would be much like the first as the Scots would out-score the Hawks 28-10 in the third, forcing a running clock in the fourth quarter.
“This win was good because we did take a bad loss to Shawnee Heights (Thursday), but just to get another win and going into next week with more confidence with each other (is big). And we're just going to keep it moving.” Kingcannon said.
Lady Vikes drop second straight UKC tilt, falling 52-46 to Leavenworth
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Seaman girls basketball put together a strong comeback Friday night after falling behind by 11 points in the first half.
But for the second straight game, it wasn't enough, with the Vikings dropping their second United Kansas Conference decision in three days, a 52-46 home loss to Leavenworth.
Seaman senior Maddie Gragg (32) scored 16 points in Friday's 52-46 UKC loss to Leavenworth. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Seaman, which lost 52-38 to De Soto on Wednesday at home, spotted the Pioneers a 27-16 halftime advantage before rallying to get as close as two points with 1:07 remaining, but the Pioneers outscored the Vikings 5-1 down the stretch to hold on for the win.
The Vikings, now 6-4 overall and 6-3 in the UKC, have dropped back-to-back games for the first time since the 2020-2021 season.
"We came out flat and all three games this week we've come out flat,'' said Seaman coach Matt Tinsley, whose Vikings opened the week with a 49-26 conference road win at Topeka West on Tuesday. "You can't dig yourself a hole and then that's just too much energy to come back.
"They'd get a rebound that we have a chance to get and they'd hit a 3 or we'd have a turnover in a critical moment. We're still learning that every possession is so important, especially in a tight game like that. We had no energy in the first half at all. We showed what we can do in the second half, but unfortunately the game is two halves.''
Senior Maddie Gragg led the Vikings with 16 points, 11 in the second half, while junior Cara Beaton added 14 points, including a pair of 3-pointers.
No. 3-ranked Vikings improve to 8-1 with 72-50 romp over Pioneers
By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After avenging its only loss of the season in an emotional five-point United Kansas Conference road win over No. 2-ranked Topeka West on Tuesday, the No. 3 Seaman boys returned to action Friday against a Leavenworth team that entered the night in the throes of a six-game losing streak.
Senior KaeVon Bonner scored 24 points as No. 3-ranked Seaman rolled to a 72-50 UKC win over Leavenworth Friday night. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But the Vikings didn't slack off, stretching their winning streak to six games with a 72-50 home UKC romp past the Pioneers.
"It's no disrespect to Leavenworth, but all our guys see is their record and don't know anything about what they're going to bring to the table,'' Seaman coach Craig Cox said. "So coming off of a big win, that human nature letdown is scary.
"So for us to hold it together enough to get the job done and separate ourselves in the second half was good.''
Now 8-1 overall and 7-1 in the UKC, the Vikings led 16-13 at the end of the opening quarter and 30-22 at halftime before turning the game into a rout with a 22-10 third quarter to open up a commanding 52-32 advantage and cruised the rest of the way.
Leavenworth used a box-and-one defense on Seaman senior KaeVon Bonner, but the Viking star still finished with a game-high 24 points while hitting nine of 10 shots from the floor.
"Give Leavenworth a lot of credit for their defensive game plan,'' Cox said. "They came out and showed us that box and one, which we really haven't seen much. We've done some preparation, but until you actually see somebody else do it, it's not the same.
"It gave us an opportunity to see what would work and what wouldn't and I thought we found some stuff there in the third and early fourth quarter that worked.''
Senior Landon Wiltz scored 18 points in Seaman's 72-50 UKC home win over Leavenworth. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Senior Landon Wiltz also had a big night for the Vikings, scoring 18 points while going a perfect five of five from the free throw line.
