Capital City Standouts

<p>Topeka teams headed to the holiday break this week. Check out some of the fine performances this week:</p> <p>Aldridge and Roberts propel Highland Park to perfect start:</p> <p>The Scots entered the break 5-0 and rising in the rankings. Aldridge held off Seaman with a bucket at the buzzer Tuesday. The pair combines for about 40 points per game and gives Highland Park a ton of athleticism and versatile firepower.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="889508" first="Ty" last="Henry"] leads the Seaman guards:</p> <p>The Vikings lost a heartbreaker to Highland Park Tuesday, but bounced back to beat Washburn Rural. The 6-foot-4 Henry is a unique guard. He handles the ball and gets it to others on time and on target. He doesn’t have to score to be the best player on the floor. But in the marquee matchup with the Scots, Henry went for 23, including some athletic highlight-type plays. The Vikings’ [player_tooltip player_id="1080196" first="Kaeden" last="Bonner"] (17 against Washburn Rural) and [player_tooltip player_id="891929" first="Mateo" last="Hyman"] have both been impressive working with Henry.</p> <p><strong>Carter Olson</strong> is a powerful presence:</p> <p>Olson brings to the court the kind of toughness and power that make him a football beast. The 6-foot-7, 220 pound power forward can run the floor, attack the goal, and power up shots through traffic. His grit and explosiveness takes some of the attention off the T-Bird perimeter players. Olson put in 14 points and dominated the lane in a hearbreaking loss to Topeka West Tuesday.</p> <p>[player_tooltip player_id="1076260" first="Elijah" last="Brooks"] tops the 1,000 point mark:</p> <p>Brooks has been so good for so long, he topped a mark not often eclipsed at the big-school level. The Topeka West senior scored his 1,000^th point against Manhattan. Brooks’ attacking style draws a lot of fouls. He hit 10-12 from the line against the Indians to finish with 30 points Friday.</p> <p><strong>Quincey Kidd</strong> takes leadership of Washburn Rural:</p> <p>The 6-foot-2 Kidd waited behind a great Rural class of 2021 for his moment to shine. The senior has become the leader of the Junior Blues, and had a good final week of 2021. His 15 against Hayden was nearly half his team’s points in the defensive slugfest. He hit for 12 points, including two 3-pointers, Friday against Seaman.</p> <p><strong>[player_tooltip player_id="1195609" first="Zander" last="Putthoff"]</strong> beats former team:</p> <p>The perimeter specialist for Topeka West was questionable for the game Tuesday against his old school, Shawnee Heights. He was battling an illness, but toughed it out to play. He didn’t score until there was 1.7 seconds remaining. He was fouled on a putback and calmly hit two free throws for the 57-55 win. Putthoff was at Shawnee Heights through his sophomore season.</p>