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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
With two league games remaining on the schedule, the Highland Park girls secured their third consecutive Meadowlark Conference title by beating Atchison 50-42 Saturday at Highland Park.
Sophomore Pearmella Carter scored 15 of her 18 points in the second half in Highland Park's 50-42 Meadowlark Conference win over Atchison. [File photo/TSN]
Highland Park improved to 14-4 on the season, 10-0 in the conference.
“For us, the number one goal is always to win the league,” said Highland Park assistant coach Chris Giardina, who has been on the Scots’ staff for four years. “When you can win the league three years in a row, it’s a good building block for the program. But now we need to move past that. With this group, we’re preparing for something bigger.”
Giardina praised several of the teams around the league who he felt were making improvements.
“Now that they’ve seen us a few times, they are really starting to bring their A-game against us. Like we’re the hunted now,” Giardina said. “I like that. I would rather be in those types of games than winning by tons. We don’t get anything out of that.”
Playing for the third time in three days, the Scots were slow out of the gate Saturday, falling behind 10-7 in the first period. That’s when sophomore Zayah Kincade got hot, hitting for eight points in a four-minute stretch to jump-start the Highland Park offense.
Kincade helped make up for low output from sophomore Pearmella Carter, who had to cope with a box-and-one defense designed to shut her down. Carter attempted just one field goal and scored just three points in the first half. She did go to the line seven times in the game, knocking down 10 of 14 free throws. She accounted for 18 points by the game’s end.
“I think we’ve seen a box-and-one three or four times from league teams now,” Highland Park head coach Rob Brown said. “They’re trying to figure out how to beat us.”
Kincade’s 12 points were essential to the win. She said she likes her role coming off the bench to provide defensive energy, shooting and ball handling.
“I seem to work better with certain people than others, so (Coach Brown) puts me in those positions,” Kincade said. “I think I’m very good on defense. My shooting can be kind of 50/50 sometimes, but I like when I can help the team. It feels good that when I went in today, things kind of came up.”
The Scots will host J.C. Harmon on Tuesday, followed by KC-Washington on Friday to close the regular season.
HIGHLAND PARK GIRLS 50, ATCHISON 42
Atchison 10 10 10 12 -- 42
Highland Park 7 16 15 12 -- 50
Atchison (15-5, 5-5) – Housh 1-4 2-2 4, Downing 10-22 1-2 21, Herrera 2-11 1-2 5, Boldridge 0-1 0-0 0, Stoves 1-6 0-0 3, Burge 2-6 1-7 5, Banks 0-1 0-0 0, Tate 2-4 0-2 4. Totals: 18-55 5-15 42.
Highland Park (14-4, 10-0) – Broils 1-6 1-4 3, Hartz 2-8 2-6 5, Jones 1-4 0-0 2, Sanders 1-7 0-2 2, Carter 4-5 10-14 18, Kincaide 4-15 2-4 12, Grace 2-6 1-2 6, Cosey 0-1 0-0 0, Atkins 1-2 0-0 2. Totals: 16-54 15-29 50.
3-point goals – Atchison 1 (Stoves 1), Highland Park 3 (Kincaide 2, Grace 1). Total fouls – Atchison 21, Highland Park 15. Fouled out – Boldridge. Technical fouls – None.
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By Todd Fertig
TopSports.news
If the visiting Atchison Phoenix thought they were in the game after one period at Highland Park on Saturday, they were quickly disabused of that notion.
After sitting out the first quarter senior Ja'Corey Robinson scored 25 points in Highland Park's 63-35 Saturday win over Atchison. [File photo/TSN]
Highland Park coach Mike Williams sent a message to his team by holding regular starters Jacorey Robinson and Isaiah Kelley out for the entire first period. The Scots clung to a 15-12 lead when those seniors entered the game.
Whatever hope Atchison had of winning the game was removed at that point. The Scots went on a 17-0 run. Highland Park held Atchison to just four points in the second period and four more in the third period.
Highland Park pulled away to win 63-35, gaining their 10th win in the Meadowlark Conference against zero defeats, and running their season record to 18-0.
“We just wanted to address some things,” Williams said. “The guys responded really well. I’ve got the boys' trust. They know that when I ruffle some feathers, it’s easy to reel them back in because they know who I am.”
Robinson took over the game, hitting six shots – most of them dunks – in the second period. He finished the game hitting 11-16 shots for 25 points.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural boys basketball wrapped up the Centennial League championship with Friday's 55-42 home win over Hayden, but there was zero celebrating.
Junior Simon Rowley led Washburn Rural with 17 points in Friday's 55-42 Centennial League win over Hayden. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
That will come later.
Washburn Rural, which improved to 14-4 overall and a perfect 8-0 in the league, has Centennial road games at Topeka High on Tuesday and Manhattan on Friday and Junior Blues coach Alex Hutchins wants his team concentrating on that and nothing else.
"We've still got two more league games and we'll talk about it after that,'' Hutchins said of the title. "All we're worried about is the next two league games.''
Hayden (10-8, 4-5) scored the first basket of Friday's game, but that was the Wildcats' only lead of the night as the Junior Blues opened up a 16-10 first-quarter advantage and led 32-24 at the half.
The seventh-ranked (Class 4A) Wildcats stayed within striking distance throughout the third stanza, but got no closer than six in the quarter and trailed by nine points (40-31) at the start of the fourth.
Washburn Rural scored the first two buckets of the final quarter, going in front 44-31 on a Kaden Ballard hoop with 6:01 remaining, and put the game away with a Draden Chooncharoen 3-pointer at the 3:07 mark that gave the Junior Blues a 49-35 advantage.
Hayden got no closer than nine the rest of the way while Rural led by 15 late.
Senior Kaden Ballard scored 13 points in Friday's 55-42 Centennial League win over Hayden. [Photo by Doug Walker/Special to TSN]
Junior Simon Rowley led the Junior Blues with a game-high 17 points while Ballard, a senior, added 13 points and junior John Hoytal 10.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball struggled on and off throughout Saturday's home finale against seven-win Rogers State.
Junior Payton Sterk scored a game-high 24 points in Washburn's 64-52 Saturday MIAA win over Rogers State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Freshman Brooke Gomez had eight points, a career-high 11 rebounds and five assists in Saturday's 64-52 Washburn win over Rogers State. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
But in a clear sign of how far the WU program has progressed, the Ichabods were still able to post a double-digit MIAA victory, taking a 64-52 win in Lee Arena.
"It was just one of those days,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said. "We struggled taking care of the ball. We struggled with some things we usually don't and we just kind of struggled to get going, but we got enough done."
With the win Washburn improved to 16-11 overall and 10-7 in the MIAA with their third straight victory while clinching a winning 2024-2025 campaign, picking up a big win in a game WU might not have won a year ago.
"We don't win that game (last season) I don't think,'' Westling said. "We don't win that game three months ago, so this is a group that has everything going in the right direction. You're going to have ugly wins sometimes and we'll take that. You want them all to be pretty, but they're not.''
The Hillcats (7-19, 1-16) jumped out to a quick 5-2 lead, but the next nine points were all scored by Washburn, with the Ichabods going in front 11-5 at the 6:07 mark after junior Gabi Giovannetti got a jumper to fall. The Ichabod offense worked efficiently in the first quarter, shooting 8-15 to lead 20-13 after one.
Washburn pushed the lead into double digits after a free throw by Giovannetti early in the second. Both teams traded baskets the rest of the way as the Ichabod offense cooled off from the first quarter.
Rogers State cut the lead down to just five points at the 3:22 mark and once again with just over a minute left in the half. Freshman Brooke Gomez ended the frame with a driving layup to make it 31-24 WU after 20 minutes.
Two straight baskets by junior Payton Sterk, the second off a steal, began a 6-0 Washburn run that put the Ichabods in front by 14 at the 5:24 mark in the third stanza.
Washburn got to the free throw line, shooting eight free throws in the quarter and making six to keep the lead in double digits into the final two minutes. The Hillcats then went on a 4-0 run in the final 35 seconds of the quarter to pull within eight at 48-40 going into the fourth.
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By CHARLES SPURLOCK
Special to TopSports.news
The Seaman Vikings, ranked eighth in Class 5A, came off a 10-day break due to weather to take on the Basehor-Linwood Bobcats in a United Kansas Conference battle on Friday night.
Junior KaeVon Bonner scored a team-high 15 points in Friday's 67-39 UKC loss to Basehor Linwood. [File photo/TSN]
The Vikings were looking to avenge a 67-62 defeat by the Bobcats back on February 4th, but Basehor-Linwood started off hot from the field and continued throughout the contest. The Bobcats shot 53% from the field, including 10-18 from 3-point range and defeated the Seaman Vikings, 67-39.
Basehor-Linwood jumped out to a 17-5 lead in the first five minutes of the game, hitting 4-5 from the three-point line. They ended the quarter leading 18-7. While the Bobcats were scorching the nets, the Vikings were struggling, going only 2-13 in the quarter.
The second quarter was more of the same for the Bobcats. They connected on three more 3-pointers, shot 7-12 from the field in the quarter and led going to halftime, 37-11. Seaman was just 2-12 from the field in the quarter.
A quick 4-0 run by Seaman over the first 90 seconds of the quarter led to a timeout by Basehor-Linwood. Seaman continued with defensive pressure throughout the quarter, forcing nine turnovers, but was only able to outscore the Bobcats 16-11 and still trailed 48-27 heading to the final quarter.
Basehor-Linwood continued its hot shooting, going 8-11 from the field over the last eight minutes and both benches were emptied as the Bobcats posted the 28-point win.
“We can’t make any excuses,'' Seaman coach Craig Cox said. "We need to own it, learn from it and then forget about it. We must recognize that next week is a big week with Leavenworth and Piper at home and Shawnee Heights on the road.
“We can’t let this performance lead to an entirely bad week. We need to bounce back, keep our heads up and get back to who we think we are and who we want to be.”
