Whiteoak earns 2nd consecutive sectional championship 

HILLSBORO — Following a first quarter where the Whiteoak Lady Wildcats had more than their share of struggles after not playing a game for two weeks, they eventually got the hot hand, made their baskets and left Hillsboro High School with the net, winning their second consecutive Division IV SE District Sectional championship. 

WHS gained that feat by defeating the Paint Valley Lady Bearcats, 51-32 at HHS in the Division IV game. The first quarter proved to be tough for both teams, but for Whiteoak — at least in the first half of the opening frame — they couldn’t get going, resulting in them trailing 4-0 with 4:32 left on the first-quarter clock. 

“A slow start is an understatement,” Whiteoak head coach Ron Harris said. “For us to have a game like that and have our main player not really score until the fourth quarter, it’s really good for us. Everybody stepped up, and anybody who was in the game gave us good minutes today.

“Last year, I had T-shirts ready and everything when we won the league and the sectional because it had been so long since it happened. Now that it happened already, it’s our standard, so they're happy, but not as happy as last year because we need to expect to be at this spot every single year from here on out.” 

Whiteoak scored their first points with 3:55 remaining in the first quarter off a put-back basket by Lydia Carr — who led WHS with 17 points — as that was the start of an 11-0 run for the Lady ’Cats, but it wasn’t until after a timeout with 2:50 left in the quarter where the game and pace of the game went in the direction of Whiteoak. 

When Paint Valley (3-20) called that timeout, it was Whiteoak trailing 4-2 in the game, but WHS came out of that timeout a whole new team with two straight baskets by Addison Roberts and Molly McMullen, followed by two free throws made by Carr and a 3-pointer from McMullen, resulting in WHS trailing by two points to them leading by seven points for an 11-4 lead as the first quarter came to a close. 

McMullen totaled seven points in the win, while Roberts totaled six points. 

Within the first three minutes of the second quarter, Whiteoak held a seven-point lead twice with baskets by Bri Hill and Kylee Hamm (who totaled nine points), and with 4:33 left in the quarter, Paint Valley’s Karris Dye brought PVHS back to within five points of the lead at 15-10 with a basket. 

Dye led PVHS with 24 points.

That field goal by Paint Valley was their last field goal of the quarter, as they didn’t make another basket from the field (except for free throws) until there were 48 seconds left in the third quarter. 

In that span of time, from the 4:33 mark of the second until the 48-second mark of the third, the WHS lead went from 15-10 to 36-17.

For the remainder of the second quarter, WHS added to their lead with a jumper by Hill and a 3-pointer from Carr with 2:46 left in the quarter for a 20-10 lead. After two free throws made by Dye, the Whiteoak squad ended the second with points by Hamm, Roberts and a 3-pointer by Carr for a 27-12 halftime lead. 

WHS (14-9) outscored PVHS 13-5 in the third to take a 40-17 lead when the third quarter came to a close. WHS started the third with a layup from Roberts, and later with 5:57 on the clock it was McMullen scoring two points for Whiteoak. 

After a Dye free throw — her third for the third quarter — Whiteoak had a 3-pointer made by Carr. Following a timeout with 2:15 left in the third, it was two points scored by Carr again that lifted the Lady Wildcats’ lead to 36-15 with 3:21 left in the third. 

Paint Valley scored their only shot from the field with 48 seconds on the clock off a basket by Delainey Mannion, but WHS ended the third with points from Hamm and Jaylie Parr for the 23-point lead. 

Whiteoak in the fourth led by as many as 25 points coming at the start of the fourth following a basket by Hill off a jumper with 7:23 on the clock for a 42-17 lead. 

The rest of the quarter saw WHS keep the pace with points by Parr, Kelsey Monteith, Carr and Hamm. 

For PVHS in the fourth, it was Dye scoring all 15 points for the Lady Bearcats.

Other final scoring totals for WHS included Hill (six),  Monteith (three) and Parr (three). 

PVHS’s final scoring totals included Kylea Spangler (four), Sophia Stauffer (two) and Mannion (two). 

As a team, PVHS totaled 11 two-point baskets, one 3-pointer (Dye), and they were 7-of-12 from the free-throw line (all Dye). 

WHS’s final totals were 16 two-point baskets, five 3-pointers (three by Carr, one each by McMullen and Monteith), and WHS was 4-of-7 from the free-throw line. 

Next for WHS is a Division IV SE District Semifinal game on Thursday, Feb. 22 at Wellston High School against the winner of Symmes Valley and Manchester. 

BOX SCORE


PVHS    04 08 05 15 — 32
WHS    11 16 13 11  — 51

WHITEOAK (51) — M.McMullen 2 (1) 0-0 7, K.Monteith 0 (1) 0-0 3, B.Hill 3 (0) 0-0 6, K.Hamm 4 (0) 1-3 9, L.Carr 3 (3) 2-2 17, A.Roberts 3 (0) 0-0 6, J.Parr 1 (0) 1-2 3. TOTALS: 16 (5) 4-7 51.

PAINT VALLEY (32) — K.Dye 7 (1) 7-12 24, S.Stauffer 1 (0) 0-0 2, K.Spangler 2 (0) 0-0 4, D.Mannion 1 (0) 0-0 2. TOTALS: 11 (1) 7-12 32. 

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