HIGH SCHOOL SUB-STATE CHAMPIONSHIPS West girls survive; Scots roll

Topeka Capital-Journal, The, Mar 5, 2000 by Rick Peterson Capital-Journal

--- Scott D. Weaver/The Capital-Journal

Cont. on page 5-G, col. 2

Hi Park

By RICK PETERSON

The Capital-Journal

Topeka West's performance in Saturday's Class 5A girls sub-state final at Highland Park wasn't particularly pretty.

Frankly, Charger coach Mike Goehring doesn't give a darn.

The bottom line is that West's performance produced a 53-42 victory over Seaman and earned the Chargers a berth in this week's 5A state tournament at the Expocentre.

West's girls will be joined by Highland Park's boys in the state tournament, with the Scots beating Seaman 63-47 in the boys final.

"Once you get to postseason you just want to win and move on," Goehring said after West's girls' win. "You just have to step up and play and hope that it's good enough to win."

West, now 19-3, was good enough Saturday, although 10-12 Seaman stayed in the hunt until the closing minutes.

Seaman never led in the second half, but the game was tied (24- 24) with four and a half minutes left in the third quarter and the Vikings were still within three with less than five minutes remaining in the game.

The Chargers took control down the stretch, however, with their final margin their biggest lead of the night.

"They stepped up when they had to," Goehring said of his team.

Topeka West hit just 16 of 29 free throws on the night, but hit nine in the final quarter, including five in the final 54 seconds.

The Chargers' guard tandem of senior Tisharria Huggins and sophomore Ariana Scales paced West, with Scales leading all scorers with 20 points and Huggins adding 15. Scales and Huggins also combined for 10 of West's 16 free throws, with Scales going 7 of 9 and Huggins 3 of 4 at the line.

"Overall, it wasn't one of our best performances, but as far as intensity it was one of our better games," Goehring said. "I thought we stayed intense for the full four quarters."

Sophomore Rebekah Mueller led Seaman with 10 points, while juniors Lori Leiker and Kelly Hainline added 8 apiece and junior Lindsey Gatewood 7 points.

West will be making its second state appearance in the last four years and will play its first-round game on Thursday. Pairings for the state tournament will be announced today.

Topeka West 8 13 15 17 --- 53Seaman 7 11 13 11 --- 42 Topeka West (19-3) --- Huggins 6 3-4 15, Bahner 3 3-5 9, Scales 6 7-9 20, Manns 0 1-4 1, Molander 1 0-0 2, Malmstrom 0 2-2 2, Davis 0 0-1 0, Gleason 2 0-0 4. Totals 18 16-29 53.

Seaman (10-12) -- Mueller 3 4-6 10, Leiker 3 1-7 8, Gatewood 3 0- 1 7, Barnaby 0 2-3 2, McDaniel 2 1-2 5, Lang 1 0-0 2, Speaker 0 0-0 0, Loomis 0 0-0 0, Hainline 2 4-5 8, Kramer 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 12-24 42.

3-point goals -- Topeka West1 (Scales), Seaman 2 (Leiker, Gatewood). Total fouls -- Topeka West 20, Seaman 20. Fouled out -- Barnaby.

Highland Park 63, Seaman 47

Highland Park dominated the game from the outset, jumping out to a 22-4 first-quarter lead and leading by as much as 29 in the fourth quarter before Seaman made up some ground in garbage time.

"For three quarters that's about as good as we can play," Highland Park coach Mike Brinsko said. "Seaman's a good basketball team, but we played very well.

"If we can play with that kind of intensity, even though there are four or five teams that should be favored ahead of us, I wouldn't want to play us right now. I like the way we're playing."

Senior standout Raphael Posey led Highland Park with a game-high 25 points. Posey was the lone double-figure scorer for the Scots, but nine other players scored as Highland Park improved to 17-5.

Highland Park also did the job defensively, holding the 11-11 Vikings to 26 points through three quarters.

Senior Jeff Martens was the lone Seaman player in double figures, finishing with 10 points.

"Maybe nothing will happen at state, but I think we have a chance to make something happen because we play such good defense," Brinsko said.

Seaman 4 13 9 21 --- 47Highland Park 22 13 17 11 --- 63 Seaman (11-11) --- Blanton 2 0-0 4, Shaw 2 2-4 7, Tinsley 1 4-5 7, Palace 0 0-0 0, Tritsch 1 3-4 5, Blake 1 2-3 4, Martens 5 0-1 10, Carlson 2 5-6 9, Child 0 1-2 1, Boleski 0 0-0 0, Bates 0 0-0 0. Totals 14 17-25 47.

Highland Park (17-5) --- Posey 8 8-9 25, Johnson 4 0-0 8, Jones 1 0-0 3, Swopes 1 0-0 2, Dahlene 2 0-0 6, Clemens 1 3-4 5, Anderson 2 0- 0 4, Townsend 1 0-1 2, Merriweather 2 0-0 4, Hurst 2 0-0 4, Adams 0 0- 0 0, Liger 0 0-0 0. Totals 24 11-14 63.

3-point goals --- Seaman 2 (Shaw, Tinsley), Highland Park 4 (Dahlene 2, Posey, Jones). Total fouls --- Seaman 13, Highland Park 22. Fouled out --- Hurst.

Cont. on page 5-G, col. 2

Heights

By RIC ANDERSON

The Capital-Journal

In a way, Shawnee Heights' boys team won its Class 5A sub-state championship on Saturday by being generous.

The T-Birds' gifts were lessons in defense and poise, which they demonstrated time and again to their young opponents from KC- Washington in their 60-44 victory.

"I feel really confident about my team right now, the way we stayed together toward the end," said senior point guard C.T. Bryant, who provided a game-high 17 points and several doses of stability to the T-Birds.