Freshman Amalachi Wilkins came off the bench to lead a balanced Washburn attack with 13 points in the Ichabods' 90-54 road win at William Jewell. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn University women's basketball turned a tight first half into a commanding victory Saturday at Lee Arena, riding a dominant third-quarter burst to a 66-44 win over Metropolitan State Denver in the wrapup of the Washburn Classic.
Senior Gabi Giovannetti notched her first collegiate double-double with 17 points and 10 rebounds in Saturday's 66-44 Washburn win over MSU Denver. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
The Ichabods moved to 3-1 on the season with their third straight win, using a balanced offensive effort and the dominant third-quarter stretch.
After taking a 33-23 lead into halftime, the Ichabods blew the game open with an 18-0 run in the third stanza, outscoring the Roadrunners 25-7 in the quarter.
"We had a nice run there,'' Washburn coach Lora Westling said. "I thought Nia McKenzie had some unbelievably impactful minutes off the ball defending and getting us in sytem. She's plus-29 on the day in 17 minutes and I thought she was the steady hand we kind of needed.
"What's really special with this team is how high the ceiling could be. They want to get better every day, we got good momentum going and hopefully here comes the fun part.''
Washburn shot a blistering 66.7 percent (10 of 15) in the third while holding MSU Denver to just 2 of 13.
By the end of the quarter, the Ichabods had extended their advantage to 58-30, their largest lead of the game at 28 points.
Senior Gabi Giovannetti led all scorers with 17 points, including a pair of momentum-changing treys in the third quarter, and added 10 rebounds and three steals, recording her first collegiate double-double in the process.
Senior Payton Sterk finished with 14 points, connecting twice from long range, and Britany Kogbara delivered 12 points and five rebounds off the bench.
Senior Yibari Nwidadah added seven points and eight boards and was named to the all-tournament team along with Giovannetti.
"We're still building our character,'' Giovannetti said. "We've got a new point guard mixing in, so we're just trying to stay as sharp as we can, just to get to a championship level of play.
"We wanted to come out this weekend and defend our homecourt, especially with it being new, and there's just a lot of motivators.''
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Freshman Amalachi Wilkins came off the bench to lead a balanced Washburn attack with 13 points in the Ichabods' 90-54 road win at William Jewell. [Photo by Rex Wolf/TSN]
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Ichabod soccer will square off with tournament host and No. 1 Central Region seed Minnesota State at 1 p.m. Sunday in Mankato, Minn.
Leah Henke, Washburn University
Kate Hinck, Washburn University
The Ichabods are 12-3-5 while Minnesota State is 18-1-3.
No. 4 seed Washburn is coming off a 2-0 first-round win over No. 5-seed Missouri Western while Minnesota State advanced with a 2-0 win over No. 8 Harding.
Freshman Leah Henke had a goal, her 10th of the season, and an assist in Friday's win while freshman Kate Hinck had Washburn's first goal of the game, her sixth of the season.
Sophomore Sam Searcey had the assist on Henke's goal against the Griffons and has five goals and four assists on the season.
The Ichabod defense recorded its 12th clean sheet of the year while freshman goalkeeper Lili Everley made a career-high eight saves in the match.
Defenders Rilyn Snyder and Shaye Taylor played all 90 minutes against Missouri Western and are one-two in minutes played for the Ichabods this season.
Minnesota State enters Sunday's match on a five-match unbeaten strea.
The Mavericks won the NSIC regular-season and conference tournament titles. They have three players tied for the team lead in goals with five apiece.
Sunday will be the first meeting between Minnesota State and Washburn.
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By RICK PETERSON
TopSports.news
Washburn Rural, which captured the Class 6A state championship, leads the 2025 Topeka All-City boys soccer team with five first-team picks.
The Junior Blues are represented on the 16-member first team, selected by city coaches, by seniors Draden Chooncharoen (midfield), Brandon Hamilton (defense), Liam Morrison (defense) and Dylan Willingham (forward) and junior Brodye Kocher-Munoz (forward) while Rural coach Brian Hensyel was voted the city coach of the year after the Junior Blues posted a 19-1-1 record.
Draden Chooncharoen, Washburn Rural
Brandon Hamilton, Washburn Rural
Dylan Willingham, Washburn Rural
Brodye Kocher-Munoz, Washburn Rural
Hamilton, Morrison and Willingham are all first-team repeat picks.
Shawnee Heights, Topeka High and Topeka West all put three players on the All-City first team, while Cair Paravel Latin and Seaman both put one player on the team.
Camden Granado, Shawnee Heights
Shawnee Heights is represented on the All-City team by seniors Camden Granado (forward) and Jason Slay (defense) and junior Mason Haas (midfield), with Granado and Haas first-team repeat picks.
Neri Diaz-Mayorga, Topeka High
Neri Diaz-Mayorga, Topeka High
Topeka High put three players on the All-City team -- seniors Neri Diaz-Mayorga (midfield) and Billy Lutz (goalkeeper) and junior Carlos Acosta-Martinez (midfield).
Lutz is a repeat first-team selection while Diaz-Mayorga made the first team in 2024 for Highland Park.
Valentin Del Real, Topeka West
Diego Gonzalez-Talavera, Topeka West
Giancarlo Valenzuela, Topeka West
Topeka West is represented on the first team by sophomore Valentin Del Real (midfield), junior Diego Gonzalez-Talavera (forward) and senior Giancarlo Valenzuela (midfield), with Del Real and Gonzalez-Talavera first-team repeaters.
Cair Paravel put senior Nathan Keys (forward) on the All-City team while Seaman is represented by senior Cody Quy (forward).
Willingham was named the Centennial League player of the year this fall for the second straight season while Rural's Chooncharoen, Hamilton, Kocher-Munoz and High's Acosta-Martinez and Diaz-Mayorga were also first-team picks.
Shawnee Heights' Granado was named the United Kansas Conference player of the year while Haas and Slay and Topeka West's Del Real, Gonzalez-Talavera and Valenzuela were all named to the All-United Kansas Conference first team.
2025 TOPEKA ALL-CITY SOCCER
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By VINCE LOVERGINE
TopSports.news
Since at least 2006, the Topeka West girls basketball program has not had a winning season. However, looking back at the last two seasons under head coach Angie Ketterman, the win total is adding up.
Senior Addaline Hall (13) is a top returner for Topeka West girls basketball. [File photo/TSN]
Teairra Gonzales (22) will be counted on for senior leadership this winter for the Topeka West girls. [File photo/TSN]
In 2023-2024 the Chargers won eight games and in 2024-2025, they had six wins. That’s 14 wins in a two-year span. Before that, it took West five years to notch at least 14 wins total. Not to mention, the last season where they had at least five wins before 2023 was 2016.
“Every school has seasons where they’re really good,'' Ketterman said. "Eventually, you’re going to fade back out and then you start coming back up. I really feel like we have kids coming in now and we’re on our way up.
"They’re starting to see it, they’re starting to believe it and that they can win, so it’s going to be a fun year.''
Ketterman played for the Chargers and also coached at one point before coming back. She said with this being the third year and the same coaching staff, the girls are starting to figure it out.
“They know what we expect. This year feels different because I feel we’re all on the same page. They come in and know exactly what we’re wanting,” Ketterman said. “We didn’t have any seniors last year and now we have four. It’s a good group.”
Ketterman is excited about what the seniors are bringing in terms of a leadership standpoint because the younger girls, especially the bigger freshmen class, are buying into that. That’s the route Ketterman wants this team to take.
“It’s a good mixture. I can honestly tell you, we don’t know who we’re starting, it’s a good problem to have, it’s kind of exciting,'' Ketterman said.
Seniors Teairra Gonzales and Addaline Hall have been in the program for four years and in the UKC with tough competition and Gonzales said it's their time to shine and grow.
“I like how everybody on our team is interchangeable. We’ve all played together for so long, play each part of the game and we can switch it up sometimes,” Gonzales said.




