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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
After sweeping Tonganoxie on the road Monday, Hayden's girls and boys basketball teams posted their second wins in as many nights on Tuesday, taking a home Centennial League sweep over Junction City.
Hayden sophomore Norma Greco (30) led the way with 14 points in Tuesday's 48-21 Centennial League win over Junction City. [File photo/TSN]
Hayden senior Joe Otting scored 19 points and grabbed 10 rebounds in the Wildcats' 56-45 Centennial League win over Junction City. [File photo/TSN]
Hayden's girls, tied for the No. 10 spot in the Kansas Basketball Coaches Association Class 4A rankings, rolled to a 48-21 win over the Blue Jays while Hayden's boys posted a 56-45 win over Junction City.
Hayden's girls, who improved to 11-6 overall and 3-5 in the Centennial League, got 14 points from sophomore Norma Greco while junior Lauren Sandstrom added 11 points and sophomore Brylee Meier 10.
The Hayden boys, now 9-8 overall and 3-5 in the league, got a double-double from senior Joe Otting, who finished with 19 points and 10 rebounds, while senior Jake Muller added 13 points.
Hayden built a 29-21 lead at the half before pulling away down the stretch.
SEAMAN GIRLS 61, LEAVENWORTH 22 -- Seaman, the top-ranked team in Class 5A for the past four weeks, rolled to its 16th win in 17 starts on the season, taking a 61-22 United Kansas Conference road victory at Leavenworth.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University's women scored 20 points in the fourth quarter and made crucial free throws to avenge its overtime loss at Northwest Missouri from 10 days ago with a 62-59 overtime win over the Bearcats on Tuesday evening in Lee Arena.
Macy Doebele and the Washburn women celebrate Tuesday's 62-59 home overtime MIAA win over Northwest Missouri. [Photo courtesy of Washburn Athletics]
It was back-and-forth scoring to start the game, with neither team leading by more than two points until Washburn freshman Natalia Figueroa buried a 3-pointer at the buzzer to give Washburn (10-14 overall, 6-12 MIAA) an 11-8 advantage at the end of the opening quarter.
The score continued to stay within two or fewer points for the entire second quarter, with ties at every odd number starting at 11 until Ichabod freshman Yibari Nwidadah broke the 17-all score with a free throw with 1:38 left in the half. That would be the final point for either team as the Ichabods held an 18-17 lead at halftime.
Emma Chapman and Aubree Dewey teamed up to score the Ichabods' first nine points of the second half and grew the lead to 27-23 at the 5:59 mark.
Northwest Missouri (13-12, 8-11 MIAA) closed out the quarter strong, going on a 13-3 tear in the final 5:46 to lead 36-30 heading into the fourth.
The Bearcats hit two free throws to start the final stanza to go up by a game-high eight points, but Washburn quickly trimmed the deficit down to one with a pair of jumpers from Dewey and a 3-pointer from Gabi Artis. Northwest Missouri answered with a 3-pointer of its own and led 46-43 when Figueroa hit another big triple to level the score with 3:12 to go in regulation.
With just under three minutes left, the Bearcats went one of two at the free throw line and then 56 seconds later, Chapman was fouled and made both of her shots from the charity stripe to put the Ichabods ahead, 48-47.
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Even without key senior standouts Bo Aldridge and Quentin Adams for undisclosed reasons, top-ranked (Class 5A) Highland Park performed at an extremely high level in an 80-51 Meadowlark Conference romp past No. 1 (4A) Atchison Tuesday night at Hi Park.
Atchison has lost just twice on the season, with both losses coming at the hands of Highland Park, which defeated the Phoenix 66-47 earlier in the year.
Highland Park senior Tre Richardson scored a game-high 25 points as the Scots remained unbeaten with an 80-51 win over Atchison Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
Similar to Highland Park, Atchison has consistently rolled over opponents in the 2023 campaign and Scots coach Mike Williams admitted that Tuesday's victory was one of the most fulfilling victories he has had in his tenure at Highland Park due to how his team played a high-quality opponent without some of its key pieces.
“Initially, if you’re down two starters, people will think that we are down, but our guys aren’t thinking that at all,” Williams said. “Everyone probably came in here thinking that we won’t be as good, but our guys’ mindset didn’t change. That’s the special thing about this group; we have kids that can do a wide variety of things on the basketball court.”
Tuesday night wasn’t the first time Highland Park had to make additions and subtractions within its lineup this season. Players have been out occasionally with injuries, school activities, travel basketball and more.
During the off-season Williams said it was a point of emphasis for Highland Park to play a technically sound brand of basketball regardless of who the Scots did or didn’t have suited up to hit the court.
“We were able to pull from those experiences when we were missing guys this evening,” Williams said. “Since it wasn’t the first time we played under-manned, it was easy for us to go back and talk about those experiences and types of games. We play a certain style, and tonight we didn’t do that as much. We played a lot of zone tonight, but it worked. Not only did it work, but it also gave us some flexibility to do a lot of different things.”
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By ISAAC DEER
TopSports.news
Despite Atchison's second-half comeback, the Highland Park girls locked in and earned their eighth Meadowlark Conference victory on Tuesday night with a 65-51 home win.
Highland Park had a stable 28-18 lead to end the first half but had to keep its foot on the gas to outpace Atchison in the second half.
Sophomore Amelia Ramsey scored 23 points and grabbed 19 rebounds in Highland Park's 65-51 Meadowlark Conference win over Atchison Tuesday night. [File photo/TSN]
The Scots outscored the pesky Phoenix 37-33 in the third and fourth quarters.
Although Highland Park is brand new to the Meadowlark Conference, Tuesday night's contest felt like a pure rivalry. A back-and-forth contest played with a significant amount of intensity made the victory much sweeter for the Scots'.
"I think it has built up to be a bit of a rivalry," Highland Park coach Rob Brown said. "With Atchison and us, I think it started during the football season with our boys doing what they've been doing. And I keep telling our girls that (Atchison) keeps getting better and better since we've played them. So we are going to get everyone's best shot from here on out."
Highland Park's 6-foot standout sophomore Amelia Ramsey was a thorn in Atchison's side for the duration of the four-quarter contest, scoring a game-high 23 points. Along with Ramsey's 23-point night, the post collected 19 rebounds, five blocks and three steals.
"I feel like as a team, we are learning how to pass the ball better and move more which is helping me in my game," Ramsey said. "Angelique (Gowan-Britt) had some great assists to everyone, which helped me and the team move and get better shots off. I think I can carry my momentum by keeping my confidence up. I have to keep coming in and work hard every day."
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
The Centennial League-leading Washburn Rural boys were a little slow getting out of the gate Tuesday night, trailing underdog Topeka High 10-8 at end of the opening quarter.
But Alex Hutchins' Junior Blues got better and better as the night wore on, rolling to a 61-35 Senior Night decision over the Trojans at Washburn Rural.
Topeka High's Jayden Norman (5) and Washburn Rural's Jack Bachelor (12) try to corral a loose ball in the Junior Blues' 61-35 win Tuesday night at Rural. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
Washburn Rural junior JC Heim (25) grabs one of his nine rebounds in Tuesday's 61-35 Centennial League win over Topeka High at Rural. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
"I thought we were impatient early, we settled,'' Hutchins said. "I think we're a good shooting team and we like to get outside looks but I think that's all we were doing and weren't putting enough pressure on the rim and getting into the paint enough, but I do think our defense was pretty consistent throughout and kind of kept us in it early when we were being impatient on offense.''
It didn't take long for Washburn Rural (14-4 overall, 7-1 league) to turn its two-point deficit into a double-digit advantage, with the Junior Blues outscoring the Trojans (3-15, 0-8) by a 35-11 margin over the middle two quarters to take control.
