Top-ranked Topeka on mission to end long state title drought
TOPEKA, Kan. (BVM) — The Topeka Trojans are the No. 1-ranked girls basketball team in Kansas and they’re heading into the postseason with a great shot at ending a long state championship drought.
But they’ve been here before.
Just last year, Topeka was 23-0 as it reached the Class 6A semifinals before KSHSAA was forced to cancel the remainder of its state tournament due to the Covid-19 outbreak, dashing hopes of redemption for the Trojans, who lost the 2019 state title game to Washburn Rural.
“We were on a mission last year to get back there,” Topeka head coach Hannah Alexander said. “We really felt like we had more to prove because we didn’t feel like we played our best game in that championship.”
Two years have passed, but that feeling hasn’t really diminished, and the 2020-21 Trojans have picked up right about where last year’s team left off. Topeka won its first 18 games of the regular season before losing a non-district road battle with Bishop Miege, the No. 1-ranked team in Class 4A, on Feb. 23. And now with the postseason set to begin next week, the Trojans’ quest for their first state title in 39 years continues.
“I still just feel like we have this goal that we haven’t been able to fulfill,” Alexander said. “I think this senior class isn’t going to be satisfied until they bring home a state title.”
It’s a senior class that has been through a lot given how the past two postseasons have ended. But it’s a group that has been a first-hand witness to a substantial turnaround for a program that just four years ago could only dream of being any kind of title contender. Prior to 2018-19, the Trojans suffered through four consecutive sub-.500 seasons, which were Alexander’s first four years at the helm.
“It just takes the right kids to invest in and I think that was the big thing,” Alexander said. “My first few years here basketball was not a priority. Basketball was just kind of a sport that kids played just during school.”
But Alexander helped change the culture, and with buy-in from athletes who began dedicating time to the sport in the offseason as well as during the season, the Trojans began finding success. That success led them to the brink of a state title in 2019, which would’ve been the program’s first since 1982 when Topeka captured back-to-back championships.
The program’s history and the chance to make their own is not something that’s lost on the Trojans. Former players from those 1981 and 1982 teams even reached out to players on last year’s team as they made their march toward what they had hoped would be a long-awaited state title run.
“I think that was the big thing last year — they knew it was more than just a state title for them,” Alexander said. “They were bringing it back home to Topeka so I think it became more of a community thing than just for the school. It meant more. We were just on a mission and I think they still feel that way and want to get that job done.”
The Trojans certainly have the talent to get it done. Their biggest star is junior Nijaree Canady, who averages a double-double with 20.2 points and 12.2 rebounds. ESPN rates the 6-foot junior as a four-star Division I prospect and she’s the No. 15-ranked forward among the Class of 2022.
“She’s just a beast inside,” Alexander said. “It’s hard to guard her. She’s gotten so much better and each year I feel like she’s improved her game in some way.”
Sophomore Kiki Smith is Topeka’s second-leading scorer and often the team’s go-to player, averaging 16.9 points while shooting 43% from 3-point range. Kiki is the younger sister of senior guard Lilly Smith, the team’s third-leading scorer (9.2 ppg) who’s been playing varsity since her freshman year.
“It’s kind of a family affair and it’s exciting for those two with what they’ve done last year and now this year,” Alexander said of the sisters. “I know that they definitely want to leave their mark.”
The Trojans can leave their mark with five more victories which would give them that elusive state title. But even with as much success as they’ve had up to this point this season, the road back to where they’ve been the past two postseasons will be a challenging one.
Topeka (19-1) is the No. 1 seed for its five-team, sub-state tournament, but because KSHSAA didn’t take records (or rankings) into account when setting sub-state assignments this season, the Trojans will have to face one of the best teams in the state — and a familiar foe — before it can even reach the state tournament. No. 2 seed Washburn Rural (16-2), ranked No. 3 in Class 6A, hosts the sub-state tourney.
“I don’t feel like state this year is going to be a representation of the best in Kansas which is unfortunate,” Alexander said of the sub-state assignments. “I just hope we’re not one of those teams that’s going to be sitting at home. … I really think this just means that much more to everyone involved and we want to make sure that we get to that final step and do what we’ve been wanting to do for a few years now.”
