By JUSTIN BURKHARDT
TopSports.news
The Topeka High girls made the more than five-hour trip to Liberal to face the 3-seed Liberal Redskins Friday night with a trip to the Class 6A state tournament on the line.
Topeka High girls basketball is headed back to the Class 6A state tournament after a 65-58 sub-state win at Liberal Friday night. [Photo by Justin Burkhardt/TSN]
The Trojans entered the matchup riding a 10-game winning streak and continued their winning ways with a 65-58 win at No. 3 seed Liberal to earn a state berth.
Coming off a perfect February that saw them capture the Centennial League title for the first time since 2022 the Trojans advanced to the sub-state championship after defeating Maize in the first round, setting up the showdown with Liberal for a chance to return to the state tournament for the first time since 2022.
The Trojans reached this same stage a year ago when they traveled to Wichita Heights with a state berth on the line but came up short.
One year later, however, the story has a different ending.
In year two under legendary coach Ron Slaymaker, the Lady Trojans are going dancing.
Senior Keimara Marshall opened the scoring with the first basket of the game to give the Trojans an early lead, but Liberal quickly answered when Shamari Lewis scored to tie the game at 2–2.
Topeka High responded with a 5-0 run to take a 7–2 advantage before Liberal found the basket again.
Sophomore Hailey Caryl helped the Trojans create separation late in the first quarter, scoring six of her 16 points in the final minutes to help Topeka High take a 15-7 lead into the second quarter.
Caryl opened the second with another basket and completed the three-point play at the free-throw line to make it 18–9.
Topeka High junior Ahsieyrhuajh Rayton, who was held to just two points in the first quarter, knocked down a 3-pointer as she began to find her rhythm offensively, pushing the lead to 23-13.
However, the Trojans became sloppy with the ball, allowing Liberal to go on a 7–0 run to cut the deficit to three at 23–20.
High senior Sasha Gotru stopped the run after drawing a foul and hitting the first free throw. On the second attempt, senior Trish Short grabbed the offensive rebound and put it back in to extend the Trojan lead to 26-20.
Rayton then knocked down two free throws late in the half to give Topeka High a 29–24 lead at the break.
Rayton had nine of her team-high 30 points by halftime.
“Shy will always show up. She could have the worst three quarters of her life, but she will show up in the fourth. She's absolutely a workhorse,” said Marshall about her teammate.
“We went into the locker room at halftime and I told myself I need to wake up and get going to help my team,” Rayton said.
The Trojans started the third quarter slowly as the Redskins opened with a 6-2 run to tie the game for the first time since it was 2-2 early in the first quarter.
But Topeka High quickly regained control.
Marshall attacked the basket for a layup, followed by another bucket from Gotru. Rayton then began to heat up, scoring on back-to-back possessions and knocking down consecutive 3-pointers to stretch the Trojan lead to 47-36.
“She was so far below what she normally plays, and I kept wondering what was going on with her,” Slaymaker said. “But I’m glad she got it going for us after halftime.”
Marshall added another basket late in the quarter as the Trojans carried a 49-40 lead into the fourth. Despite the nine-point advantage, foul trouble loomed large for Topeka High entering the f inal period, with three of the five starters carrying three or more fouls.
“We just kept saying that we need each other and that we can't play without one person,” Marshall said. “We need every single piece. So if somebody fouls out, we're in trouble.”
Rayton delivered when it mattered most. With Caryl getting six of her seven assists in the fourth quarter, the junior Rayton exploded for 11 points in the fourth quarter to help seal the victory.
With the win, Marshall will be heading to her first-ever state tournament in basketball.
“My team has a lot of heart and we definitely play for each other,” Marshall said. “As much as we might want to give up in hard games or when someone is struggling, we pick each other up and remember the bigger picture. Our turnaround is definitely something we did for each other.”
Topeka High’s turnaround came after the Trojans started the year 0-4 before catching fire late in the season.
“We dug a hole early in the season,” Slaymaker said. “We had a bad injury at the start, but I don’t like making excuses. You play with what you’ve got. The good thing is we didn’t stay in the hole. We dug ourselves out.
"We won 11 in a row against some pretty good teams -- Washburn Rural, Hayden and Manhattan -- so it hasn’t been against easy competition.
“I’m really proud of them. We need to play better than we did tonight, but that’s not a reflection on the other team because they came back and made it a game. We’re a pretty good shooting team, but we didn’t look like it tonight. And we’re also a pretty good defensive team.''
Liberal was led by Lewis, who matched Rayton for game-high honors with 30 points.
The Trojans will now await the bracket pairings to find out who they will face in the first round of the state tournament.
TOPEKA HIGH 65, LIBERAL 58
Topeka High 15 14 20 16 -- 65
Liberal 7 17 16 18 -- 58
Topeka High (17-8) -- Rayton 11-23 4-6 30, Caryl 7-10 2-3 16, Marshall 4-8 0-0 8, Gotru 3-7 1-2 7, Short 1-3 1-2 3, Whayne 0-0 1-2 1, Brown 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 26-52 9-15 65.
Liberal (18-4) -- Lewis 10-17 9-13 30, Mullens 5-11 2-4 12, Rhine 1-9 0-0 3, Alvarez 0-2 1-2 1, Olvera 0-2 1-2 1, Hammond 4-10 0-0 9, Cadena 1-1 0-0 2. Totals 21-52 13-21 58.
3-point goals -- Topeka High 4 (Rayton 4), Liberal 3 (Rhine, Lewis, Hammond). Total Fouls -- Topeka High 16, Liberal 14. Fouled Out -- none. Technical Fouls -- none.
