Whiteoak Lady Wildcats open season with loss to Piketon
Lead Summary
By
Stephen Forsha-sforsha@gmail.com
MOWRYSTOWN — A new season opened for the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats on Saturday afternoon, as they hosted the Piketon Redstreaks and lost the non-conference game by a 54-24 score.
For Whiteoak (0-1), they struggled with their passing and catching the basketball, resulting in turnovers for WHS and points for Piketon, and as head coach Steve Smith stated, it was the difference in the game.
“I think we played harder, I think we’re more athletic and it’s an improvement over last year,” Smith said. “We’ve got a ways to go. We’ve got to get players to understand what we’re doing and when we’re in the offense where they’re supposed to be.
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“Passing, catching passes – not very many passes we’d catch. They’d bounce off our hands. Then you’re too late for the catch, too late for the screen. It’s just practice we’ve got to work on. I’m happy with the effort. That’s probably more points than we scored in 10 or 12 games last year. We’ve got to work a little harder on rebounding.”
Though the Lady Wildcats showed improvement from last season, they still trailed by a 12-5 score at the end of the first quarter and 25-9 at halftime in the home opener.
Piketon (1-0) began the game with an 8-0 run against Whiteoak, as WHS scored their first points of the season with two free throw conversions by Cylee Bratton with 1:59 left on the first-quarter clock. Next came a 3-pointer by Kara Ward, seeing the Lady ’Cats cut the lead of Piketon to 8-5. Ward finished the game with eight points (one two-point basket, two 3-pointers).
Bratton led WHS with 11 points, finishing the game with two two-point baskets, one 3-pointer and she was 4-of-5 from the free-throw line.
From there, though, that deficit was increased by PHS with four straight points by Savannah McNelly to end the first frame for a 12-5 score.
Piketon opened the second frame with a five-point run for a 17-5 lead with 5:06 left in the first half. WHS answered with a free throw make from Kensley Bailey, but the Redstreaks countered with a four-point run for a 21-6 advantage.
WHS came back with two free throws, but following those points, Piketon ended the first half by outscoring the Lady Wildcats, 4-1 to make the score 25-9 at the end of the second quarter.
Piketon dominated the third frame at 20-10 for a 45-19 lead after three frames, and the final quarter the Redstreaks added nine points to their total, while WHS had five points in the final eight minutes of action.
In the third quarter, Whiteoak’s 10 points came from a 3-pointer and two-point basket by Ward and a 3-pointer and two free-throw conversions from Bratton.
The fourth-quarter points for Whiteoak were scored by Bratton, with four of the five points collected, and a free throw conversion by Kayla Jones.
For the game, WHS was 7-of-11 from the free-throw line.
Smith spoke about the play from his seniors.
“We’ve got four seniors, but two of them haven’t played for two years, and we’ve really only got two girls back with experience playing,” Smith said. “Bratton and Kara Ward are the only two with any varsity experience. I look for them to get better all season long. Cylee played pretty good, had 11 points and shot free throws well.
“She had a couple of those passes that she didn’t catch clean, therefore it gets us out of our timing, but I think that’ll come with the season as we play a little more and get more practice.”
Piketon was led in scoring by Hayleigh Risner with 13 points, totaling six two-point baskets and one free throw make. Kennedy Jenkins was next for the Redstreaks with nine points (five free throws two two-point baskets). Ally Ritchie finished with eight points for PHS.
Next for the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats is an away game on Monday, Nov. 25 against the Paint Valley Lady Bearcats in a non-conference game.
“We play Monday at Paint Valley, so we don’t have any time in between to work on these things. Hopefully we can just go and get it done,” Smith said.
For Whiteoak (0-1), they struggled with their passing and catching the basketball, resulting in turnovers for WHS and points for Piketon, and as head coach Steve Smith stated, it was the difference in the game.
“I think we played harder, I think we’re more athletic and it’s an improvement over last year,” Smith said. “We’ve got a ways to go. We’ve got to get players to understand what we’re doing and when we’re in the offense where they’re supposed to be.
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“Passing, catching passes – not very many passes we’d catch. They’d bounce off our hands. Then you’re too late for the catch, too late for the screen. It’s just practice we’ve got to work on. I’m happy with the effort. That’s probably more points than we scored in 10 or 12 games last year. We’ve got to work a little harder on rebounding.”
Though the Lady Wildcats showed improvement from last season, they still trailed by a 12-5 score at the end of the first quarter and 25-9 at halftime in the home opener.
Piketon (1-0) began the game with an 8-0 run against Whiteoak, as WHS scored their first points of the season with two free throw conversions by Cylee Bratton with 1:59 left on the first-quarter clock. Next came a 3-pointer by Kara Ward, seeing the Lady ’Cats cut the lead of Piketon to 8-5. Ward finished the game with eight points (one two-point basket, two 3-pointers).
Bratton led WHS with 11 points, finishing the game with two two-point baskets, one 3-pointer and she was 4-of-5 from the free-throw line.
From there, though, that deficit was increased by PHS with four straight points by Savannah McNelly to end the first frame for a 12-5 score.
Piketon opened the second frame with a five-point run for a 17-5 lead with 5:06 left in the first half. WHS answered with a free throw make from Kensley Bailey, but the Redstreaks countered with a four-point run for a 21-6 advantage.
WHS came back with two free throws, but following those points, Piketon ended the first half by outscoring the Lady Wildcats, 4-1 to make the score 25-9 at the end of the second quarter.
Piketon dominated the third frame at 20-10 for a 45-19 lead after three frames, and the final quarter the Redstreaks added nine points to their total, while WHS had five points in the final eight minutes of action.
In the third quarter, Whiteoak’s 10 points came from a 3-pointer and two-point basket by Ward and a 3-pointer and two free-throw conversions from Bratton.
The fourth-quarter points for Whiteoak were scored by Bratton, with four of the five points collected, and a free throw conversion by Kayla Jones.
For the game, WHS was 7-of-11 from the free-throw line.
Smith spoke about the play from his seniors.
“We’ve got four seniors, but two of them haven’t played for two years, and we’ve really only got two girls back with experience playing,” Smith said. “Bratton and Kara Ward are the only two with any varsity experience. I look for them to get better all season long. Cylee played pretty good, had 11 points and shot free throws well.
“She had a couple of those passes that she didn’t catch clean, therefore it gets us out of our timing, but I think that’ll come with the season as we play a little more and get more practice.”
Piketon was led in scoring by Hayleigh Risner with 13 points, totaling six two-point baskets and one free throw make. Kennedy Jenkins was next for the Redstreaks with nine points (five free throws two two-point baskets). Ally Ritchie finished with eight points for PHS.
Next for the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats is an away game on Monday, Nov. 25 against the Paint Valley Lady Bearcats in a non-conference game.
“We play Monday at Paint Valley, so we don’t have any time in between to work on these things. Hopefully we can just go and get it done,” Smith said.