TOPEKA, Kan. – The Washburn Rural girls went more than six minutes at the start of Friday night’s game against Topeka West without a field goal, but the Junior Blues made up for it with a dominant second quarter in a 55-18 win.
Washburn Rural’s first basket came on Riley Bagshaw’s jumper from the baseline at the 1:40 mark of the first quarter, sparking a 9-0 run that the Chargers couldn’t overcome.
“We haven’t seen a lot of zone this year, and we didn’t attack it very well early. We were stagnant,” said Washburn Rural coach Kevin Bordewick. “Once we started attacking the gaps of their zone and started hitting some shots, we started playing pretty well on offense.”
Trailing 10-5 early in the second quarter, Topeka West pulled within three on McKinsey Jones’ layup, but the Junior Blues outscored the Chargers 15-2 during the final four minutes of the second quarter and led 25-9 at the half.
Washburn Rural scored the final 10 points of the second quarter, including two 3-pointers from MaRyah Lutz and a trey by Campbell Bagshaw.
During a seven-minute stretch in the second and third quarters, the Junior Blues scored 18 straight points to build a 24-point lead.
“We were aggressive and played well on defense,” Bordewick said. “I’ve really enjoyed coaching this group, and I’m interested to see what we do in the postseason. It’s one of the hardest-working groups I’ve had, so it’d be nice to see them do well next week.”
Brooklyn DeLeye’s layup two minutes into the fourth quarter gave Washburn Rural a 30-point lead, and the teams played the final six minutes with a running clock.
Lutz led the Junior Blues with 11 points, while DeLeye had nine points. Kasey Hamilton and Emma Krueger each added eight.
Jones scored eight points for Topeka West.
RURAL GIRLS 55, TOPEKA WEST 18
Washburn Rural;8;17;15;15;—;55
Topeka West;5;4;5;4;—;18
Washburn Rural — Lutz 4-7 0-0 11, DeLeye 4-7 1-4 9, Hamilton 4-11 0-0 8, Krueger 3-3 2-4 8, Rohn 1-2 2-2 5, C. Bagshaw 2-2 1-1 5, R. Bagshaw 2-2 0-0 4, Carlgren 1-1 0-0 2, Brogran 1-1 0-0 2, Hurtig 0-1 1-3 1. Totals 22-37 7-14 55.
Topeka West — Jones 4-5 0-0 8, Larson 2-14 1-6 6, Eldridge 1-1 2-2 4, Shima 0-3 0-0 0, Triplett 0-3 0-0 0, Anthony 0-1 0-0 0, Davis 0-1 0-0 0, Henderson 0-1 0-0 0, Benson 0-1 0-0 0. Totals 7-30 3-8 18.
