Jayne Appel had a career-high 46 points and 16 rebounds in the third highest-scoring performance in NCAA tournament history, overwhelming Iowa State’s helpless defense and carrying Stanford back to the Final Four with a 74-53 victory in the Berkeley Regional final on Monday night.  Stanford’s physically imposing center with neon-pink fingernails and a dancer’s grace also surpassed Candice Wiggins’ single-game scoring record for the Cardinal (33-4), leaving little doubt about Stanford’s eighth Final Four berth.  Only Drake’s Lorri Bauman (50 points in 1982) and Texas Tech’s Sheryl Swoopes (47 in 1993) have scored more points in an NCAA tournament game.  Amanda Nisleit scored 17 points for the Cyclones, who couldn’t hit enough 3-pointers to overcome Appel’s awe-inspiring effort. Iowa State has made the regional final twice, falling short in 1999 and again this season.  The Cyclones end their season at 27-9.

Sophomore Blake Griffin of Oklahoma is a unanimous selection for The Associated Press’ All-America team, and senior Tyler Hansbrough of North Carolina is on the first team for a second consecutive year.  Rounding out the team Monday are sophomores DeJuan Blair of Pittsburgh, James Harden of Arizona State and junior Stephen Curry of Davidson.  Connecticut center Hasheem Thabeet leads the second team and is joined by Ty Lawson of North Carolina, Luke Harangody of Notre Dame, Jodie Meeks of Kentucky and Jerel McNeal of Marquette.  One player from the Big 12 conference made the third team with Kansas’ Sherron Collins.  The teams were selected by the same 71-member national media panel that votes on the weekly Top 25. The balloting was done before the NCAA tournament.

K-State has announced the festivities for their annual spring football game on Saturday, May 2nd, the first since legendary coach Bill Snyder returned to the helm.  The spring game will be played at 3:00 pm at Bill Snyder Family Stadium.  Tickets are five dollars for the general public, and a complimentary ticket is included with the purchase of a 2009 season ticket.  Children two and under are admitted free.  Other events include an inflatable carnival from 11:00 am to 2:45 pm, and a free concert presented by Kansas State cars.com headlined by national recording artist Luke Bryan.  On Friday, May 1st, the 25th annual Powercat Golf Tournament and Powercat Auction will be held.

The Big 12 Conference named K-State’s AJ Morris it’s Co-Pitcher of the Week.  Morris is the first Wildcat to receive a conference honor this season.  He earned his 7th straight victory to begin the season this past Friday night with a 10-strikeout complete game at Baylor. The 7-1 K-State victory was the Cats’ first in Waco over the Bears since 1966, and snapped an 18-game losing streak at Baylor since the start of Big 12 play.  Morris leads the Big 12 in ERA with a miniscule 0.39, is tied for first in wins, second with an opponents batting average of .163 and 46 and a third innings pitched, and fifth in the league with 49 strikeouts.  Morris is two victories away from tying the K-State record for a single season, and with 15 career wins, he’s tied for 7th in school history.  The K-State baseball team next hits the field tomorrow (Wednesday) night against Creighton at Rosenblatt Stadium in Omaha.  First pitch is set for 6:00 pm, with pregame coverage at 5:30 on SportsRadio 1350 KMAN.

Kansas State trailed 7-0 through three innings but outscored Northwestern 12-1 over the final six frames to complete a two-game series sweep over Northwestern with a 12-8 win Wednesday night at Tointon Family Stadium.  With the win, K-State (20-5) became the second fastest team to get to 20 wins in school history. It also marked the second come-from-behind victory when trailing after seven innings this season, both coming against Northwestern, which fell to 4-16 heading into its first weekend of Big Ten play.  Kansas State, which used seven pitchers on the evening, received solid outings from a pair of freshman right-handers in Dustin Hobbs and James Allen. Hobbs picked up his first career win after throwing two innings of one-hit ball with three strikeouts. Allen came entered with a non-save situation in the ninth and retired the side in order to preserve the win.  Senior shortstop Drew Biery tallied five RBI despite going 1-for-5, but his one hit of the night, a two-run single in the eighth, put the dagger into Northwestern. Redshirt freshman Matt Giller, who pinch hit in the fourth inning, was 2-for-2 with a pair of RBI, while Dane Yelovich finished the evening 3-for-4.  K-State heads to Baylor for a 3-game series this weekend.  Friday’s first pitch is set for 6:30 pm in Waco, with pregame coverage at 6:00.

Manahttan High officially hired only their third head varsity football coach in the last 36 years at Wednesday night’s USD 383 school board meeting.  The hiring comes from within as offensive coordinator Joe Schartz steps up to lead the program.  Schartz has spent the past five years on the Manhattan High football coaching staff, and also is a physical education teacher at the MHS east campus.  Schartz’s earlier coaching stops include Dodge City.  He replaces Butch Albright, who spent 11 years as the Indians’ head coach, following a 25-year run under longtime head coach Lew Lane.  You can hear from Schartz in an interview that will air on “The Game” Thursday from 4:00 to 6:00 on SportsRadio 1350 KMAN.

Down 3-1 through seven innings, Kansas State scored a pair in the eighth before Drew Biery led off the ninth inning with a walk-off home run over the right-field wall as the Wildcats recorded a 4-3 come-from-behind victory Tuesday evening at Tointon Family Stadium.  Kansas State, which improved to 19-5 on the season, tallied its first victory when trailing after seven innings this year and picked up its fifth one-run win of the season, including three in its last three midweek games. Northwestern fell to 4-15 with the loss.  Northwestern reliever David Jensen (0-3), who entered the game in the top of the sixth and retired six of the first seven batters he faced, ran into trouble in the eighth when he allowed a one-out walk to Adam Muenster. Carter Jurica was next and, on a full count, hit a towering two-run home run over the left-field wall to tie the game at three.  Kansas State reliever Thomas Rooke (3-0) entered the contest in the top of the ninth, giving up one hit to earn the victory.  The game would only last another two pitches, however, as Biery hit the game-winner to the opposite field on a 0-1 count.  Biery’s walk-off homer was the first since Justin Bloxom hit one in the 11th inning against then # 13 UC Irvine on April 23 of last season. Jurica paced the Wildcats at the plate as he tallied half of K-State’s six hits.

The Wamego boys basketball reached the substate championship and won a share of the North Central Kansas League title.  The Red Raider guys placed two players on the all-NCKL first team.  Junior forward Josh Dunback and junior guard Lane Lindhorst both were pegged to the ten-member first team.

In an up and down campaign, the Wamego girls basketball team finished a pair of players honored by the NCKL coaches.  Tera Ingalsbe (In-gulls-bee) was named first team all-NCKL, and Lindsey Leonard received honorable mention.

The Topeka Capitol-Journal named Josh Camacho to their 3A all-state third team earlier this week.  The Mid-East League coaches also honored Camacho by naming him all-league.  Mustang senior Kegan Rawhouser also was named all-Mid East League, along with Riley County’s Jacob Hagenmeier.

K-State baseball will look to bounce back from a tough weekend series loss to Oklahoma Tuesday when they host Northwestern.  The Cats couldn’t hold a 4-0 lead on Saturday, and the Sooner bats exploded in a 29-4 loss Sunday.  K-State coach Brad Hill says OU’s output though was pretty fluky, and  the Cats may have gotten too comfortable after a win Friday over Oklahoma.  The most important thing to Hill is to get his young pitchers back out there.  Northwestern plays in the Big Ten,  a respectable baseball conference, and the 4-14 Wildcats are struggling because they’re still getting used to playing outside after a rough winter in the Chicago area.  K-State baseball hosts Northwestern Tuesday night at 6:30 pm at Tointon Family Stadium.  Coverage on SportsRadio 1350 KMAN begins at 6:00 with Brian Smoller and Matt Walters.

Monday’s announcement of two daily round trip flights from the Manhattan Regional Airport to Dallas/Fort Worth will benefit many in the community including the K-State athletic department.  Currently, Wildcat coaches and potential recruits fly into Kansas City and drive to Manhattan.  K-State assistant men’s basketball coach Brad Underwood says the new service will be huge in recruiting, and will save the men’s basketball program a lot of time.  Underwood says the new flights to Dallas/Fort Worth will also allow head coach Frank Martin to do more in-season recruiting.   American Eagle Airlines, the regional affiliate of American Airlines will be offering nonstop service from Manhattan to Dallas/Fort Worth beginning August 25th.