News - Top Sports News - The top sports news from Topeka & Shawnee County.

Details: Created: 06 January 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Things got a little sloppy at times for Hayden girls basketball Tuesday night, but the Wildcats achieved their most important objective, snapping a brief two-game losing streak with a 53-37 home win over Emporia.

Sophomore Hailey Schmidtlein scored a game-high 14 points in Tuesday's 53-37 Hayden win over Emporia. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]

Now 7-2 on the season, Hayden begin defense of its Centennial League championship with Tuesday's win, going wire to wire for the Wildcats' second win of the season over the 4-5 Spartans.

"We played with good effort tonight,'' Hayden coach Carvel Reynoldson said. "We defnitely need to clean some stuff up and become a better team, but the effort was there.''

The Wildcats didn't have a great shooting night -- 37.9 percent from the field and 4 of 13 from the free throw line -- and turned the ball over 19 times.

But Hayden pestered the Spartans into 31.7 percent shooting and 24 turnovers.

Hayden, which was coming off a 38-36 heartbreaker at Shawnee Heights last Friday, scored the first four points and went up 8-2 and 10-3 before ending the opening quarter with a 10-5 lead.

The Wildcats outscored the Spartans 13-6 in the second quarter and led by as many as 14 before taking a 23-11 advantage to the locker room at halftime.

Hayden continued to pull away in the third quarter, opening up a 39-21 cushion, and cruised over the final eight minutes.

Sophomore Hailey Schmidtlein scored a game-high 14 points to lead the Wildcats while sophomore Blakely Walter came off the bench to add 10 points as nine Hayden players cracked the scoring column.

Junior Kaylee DeWitt led Emporia with 13 points while sophomore Maycee Davis added 9 points.

Hayden will continue Centennial League play on Friday, going on the road to face Washburn Rural.

HAYDEN GIRLS 53, EMPORIA 37

Emporia 5 6 10 16 -- 37

Hayden 10 13 16 14 -- 53

Emporia (4-5, 0-1) – Aguirre 2-9 0-2 4, Hines 1-2 0-0 3, Wiltz 2-11 2-7 6, DeWitt 5-12 2-2 13, Davis 2-6 5-10 9, Smith 0-0 0-0 0, Hess 1-1 0-0 2, B'Hymer 0-0 0-0 0, Scobee 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 13-41 9-19 37.

Hayden (7-2, 1-0) – Schmidtlein 6-20 1-2 14, Foster 1-1 1-2 4, Huscher 0-1 1-2 1, Borjon 2-8 0-0 5, Watts 3-5 0-0 6, Walter 4-10 0-2 10, Wichman 1-4 0-0 2, Mitchell 3-6 0-3 6, Wrench 0-0 0-0 0, Connell 2-3 1-2 5, Slyter 0-0 0-0 0. Totals 22-58 4-13 53.

3-point goals – Emporia 2 (Hines, DeWitt), Hayden 5 (Walter 2, Schmidtlein, Foster, Borjon). Total fouls – Emporia 15, Hayden 16. Fouled out – none. Technical foul -- none.

Details: Created: 07 January 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Top-ranked Washburn University men's basketball, one of just five remaining undefeated teams in NCAA Division II, will begin a four-game MIAA road trip on Wednesday at Missouri Western (7:30 p.m. start).

Washburn junior Jeremiah Jones scored 20 points with four 3-pointers, 4 assists and 4 steals in last Saturday's 91-66 win over Emporia State. [File photo/TSN]

The Ichabods will continue their road trip at Northwest Missouri on Saturday. Washburn will then face Emporia State for the second time in 12 days and then travel to Wichita to take on Newman before returning to Lee Arena on Jan. 21, facing Northwest Missouri.

And while Washburn coach Brett Ballard knows the upcoming road stretch will be tough, he thinks the Ichabods are ready to embrace the challenge.

"I think the silver lining is we've played really well on the road so far this year for whatever reason,'' Ballard said. "I don't have all the answers for that other than we've got good players, but we've played really well on the road, so I think our guys can take some confidence from that, hopefully.''

Ichabod sophomore Marcus Glock, who has been a key contributor off the bench after transferring from Northwest Missouri, said he feels like WU will approach the upcoming stretch as business as usual.

"I think a big thing for us is we just go out there and play,'' said Glock, who had 10 points in Saturday's win over ESU. "We don't talk about our No. 1 ranking that much. It's a long season and we know things happen, so we just go out there and play as hard as we can every time out.''

Washburn moved to 14-0 overall and 4-0 in the MIAA after opening 2026 with a 91-66 win over Emporia State on Saturday in Lee Arena.

Junior Jeremiah Jones paced Washburn with a career-high 20 points on 8-of-10 shooting, including 4-of-5 from beyond the arc against Emporia State. He added four assists and four steals.

Sophomore Dillon Claussen scored 16 points with 4 steals and 3 blocks in Saturday's 91-66 win over Emporia State. [File photo/TSN]

Junior Jack Bachelor scored 16 points with four 3-pointers and nine assists in last Saturday's 91-66 win over Emporia State. [File photo/TSN]

Sophomore Dillon Claussen finished with 16 points, four steals and three blocks and junior Jack Bachelor also scored 16 points, hitting four 3-pointers, while dishing out nine assists with just one turnover. Senior Brady Christiansen led the Ichabods with eight rebounds.

Rick Peterson, Top Sports News Writer — Rick Peterson

Details: Created: 06 January 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

TUESDAY'S GAMES

Connor Hanika, Hayden

EMPORIA (8-0, 0-0) at HAYDEN (3-5, 0-0)

Hayden is coming off a 79-60 non-league loss at Shawnee Heights on Friday while Emporia remained undefeated with a 73-38 non-league romp past Circle. Both the Wildcats and Spartans will be opening Centennial League play Tuesday. Senior Connor Hanika led Hayden with 20 points against Shawnee Heights while junior Mason Becker added 17 points.

Cam Ross, Shawnee Heights

DE SOTO (2-3, 0-2) at SHAWNEE HEIGHTS (3-3, 2-2)

Shawnee Heights evened its record at 3-3 with a 79-60 home win over Hayden last Friday while De Soto closed out 2025 with a 56-40 loss to Seaman on Dec. 19. Junior Cam Ross led Shawnee Heights with 28 points and four 3-pointers against Hayden while senior Ja'Veon Alston added 19 points with a pair of 3-pointers.

WABAUNSEE (5-1, 3-0) at CAIR PARAVEL (4-2, 2-0)

Cair Paravel Latin is off to a solid start, including a 60-39 Flint Hills League win over Chase County on Dec. 19, and faces a tough test Tuesday against a Wabaunsee team that is also unbeaten in league play after a 63-56 win over Osage City to close out 2025. Sophomore Chase Hastert leads Cair Paravel with a 16.3 scoring average and also pulls down 7.5 rebounds a game.

Keimani Paul, Topeka West

TOPEKA WEST (5-1, 4-0) at LEAVENWORTH (2-3, 1-2)

Topeka West will be looking to bounce back Tuesday after the No. 2-ranked (Class 5A) Chargers dropped a 53-49 non-league game at 6A Free State Monday night. Senior Keimani Paul led West with 19 points and four 3-pointers against the Firebirds while senior Malakyah Duncan added 12 points. Leavenworth dropped a 66-36 United Kansas Conference decision to Basehor-Linwood last Friday.

WASHBURN RURAL (5-2, 0-0) at JUNCTION CITY (4-2, 0-0)

Washburn Rural stretched its winning streak to four games with a 68-53 non-league win at Olathe West on Saturday while Junction City has won three straight games after a 56-53 win over Shawnee Mission North last time out. Sophomore Brooks Ballard scored 21 points with six 3-pointers in the Junior Blues' win over Olathe West. Tuesday's game is the Centennial League opener for both Rural and Junction City.

Details: Created: 05 January 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

Washburn Rural girls basketball coach Kevin Bordewick knew that his No. 6-ranked Junior Blues were going to face a tough task to knock off No. 9 Olathe North Monday night.

Freshman Brynn Anderson scored 14 first-half points with three 3-pointers in Washburn Rural's 50-35 loss to Olathe North Monday night. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]

And that task became a lot tougher after 6-foot freshman Brynn Anderson, who scored 14 first-half points with three 3-pointers, missed the second half for precautionary reasons after Anderson hit her head on the court after drawing a charging foul.

Olathe North, now 6-1 on the season, took advantage of Anderson's absence while also forcing 23 turnovers en route to a 50-35 road win.

"(Brynn) was shooting it well, she was in a great rhythm,'' Bordewick said. "(Losing her) took the wind out of our sails a little bit, but we're not going to make excuses. We've got other people that can play, other people on that floor.

"And it's not that you have to do what Brynn does, but we have to do what we can do as a team to do a little better than what we did.''

Anderson hit all three of her 3-pointers in the first quarter to help Rural (4-2) go up 14-7 and opened the second stanza with an old-fasioned 3-point play to give the Junior Blues a 17-7 advantage at the 6:48 mark of the second quarter.

But Olathe North used a 13-0 run to take a 20-17 advantage before Anderson scored her final points of the night with 22 seconds remaining to cut Rural's halftime deficit to a point at 20-19.

The Eagles took control with an 18-6 third quarter to build a 38-25 advantage and the Junior Blues got no closer than nine the rest of the way.

Senior Hallie Walker scored 9 points and grabbed five rebounds in Washburn Rural's 50-35 loss to Olathe North Monday night. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSNl

Anderson was the lone Washburn Rural player to crack double figures while senior Hallie Walker added 9 points and senior Ella Hirschi 7 with a pair of 3-pointers.

Senior Asia Lee led Olathe North with a game-high 19 points while sophomore Lailah Boyd recorded a double-double with 10 points and 14 rebounds.

Details: Created: 06 January 2026

By RICK PETERSON

TopSports.news

TUESDAY'S GAMES

EMPORIA (4-4, 0-0) at HAYDEN (6-2, 0-0)

The Spartans and Wildcats will open Centennial League play on Tuesday, with Hayden opening defense of the league title it captured last season. The Wildcats dropped a 38-36 non-league decision at Shawnee Heights last Friday, Hayden's second straight loss after six straight wins to start the season. Sophomore Hailey Schmidtlein led Hayden with 16 points against the T-Birds while senior Lauren Borjon added 11 points. Emporia is coming off a 32-25 win over Circle.

KK Emmot, Shawnee Heights

DE SOTO (2-3, 1-1) at SHAWNEE HEIGHTS (4-3, 3-1)

Shawnee Heights climbed above .500 with a 38-36 non-league win over Hayden last Friday at home. T-Bird junior KK Emmot scored 9 of her game-high 18 points in the fourth quarter, including the game-winning free throws with 2.9 seconds remaining. Shawnee Heights has now won three straight games after starting the season 1-3. De Soto dropped a 45-34 United Kansas Conference decision to Seaman to close out its pre-holiday slate.

WABAUNSEE (5-1, 2-1) at CAIR PARAVEL (3-3, 0-2)

Cair Paravel Latin ended its 2025 slate with a tight 40-37 Flint Hills League decision to Chase County while Wabaunsee is also coming off a loss, dropping a 68-37 league game to Osage City. London Backman leads CPLS with a 9.8 scoring average while Karsyn Hastert pulls down 5.7 rebounds per game.

Addaline Hall, Topeka West

TOPEKA WEST (1-5, 0-4) at LEAVENWORTH (3-2, 1-2)

Topeka West will be looking for its first United Kansas Conference victory Tuesday night at Leavenworth. Senior Addaline Hall leads the Chargers with a 10.8 scoring average while junior Sydney VanDyke averages 8.8 points and leads the city of Topeka in rebounding with 14.0 per game and in blocked shots with a 3.8 average.

Brynn Anderson, Washburn Rural

WASHBURN RURAL (4-2, 0-0) at JUNCTION CITY (1-4, 0-0)

Washburn Rural will be playing its second game of 2026 in as many nights, opening Centennial League play against the Blue Jays after dropping a 50-35 non-league decision to Olathe North Monday night. Junior Blue freshman Brynn Anderson scored 14 first-half points with three 3-pointers against Olathe North, but sat out the second half after an injury late in the first half. Senior Hallie Walker had 9 points and 5 rebounds for Rural.

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