King reaches milestone in Waterford win
From staff reportsWATERFORD - It was one of those games on the Waterford Wildcats schedule designed to force them to execute, force them to play good basketball.
The Wildcats were more than up to the challenge the Alexander Lady Spartans presented Wednesday night at Waterford Elementary School.
In a game delayed a month by the weather the Wildcats finally got the chance to square off against the team considered to be the best in the Tri-Valley Conference Ohio Division.
The result was one of the best defensive games Waterford's played all year and a 54-38 Wildcat win.
"This is by far the best defensive game we've had," praised Waterford girls' basketball coach Jerry Close.
Steady defensive pressure against the Lady Spartans all night long forced 29 Alexander turnovers with the Lady Wildcats collecting 21 steals from six different players.
The only problem for the defense: the Wildcats committed 21 fouls, a tad more than they're happy with.
"We are an aggressive team but the fouling, the reaching, we could lay that on the low," said Waterford freshman Emily Brown, who recorded eight points and four of the Waterford steals while dishing out three assists.
While they committed their fair share of fouls, the Lady Wildcats aggressive pressure forced Alexander into many ill-advised shot attempts as the Lady Spartans were just 12-for-40 from the field.
Conversely Waterford was 23-of-55 from the field, including 2-for-4 from three-point land opposed to Alexander's lackluster 3-of-17 from behind the arc.
"Coach really wanted us to focus on pressure and I think that's what we did," said Waterford junior Sina King, who finished with 19 points, four assists and six steals.
Strong defense generated offense for the Wildcats, who opened the first quarter on a 9-0 run and never looked back.
The third quarter witnessed a milestone for King, who surpassed the 1,000 point plateau for her career on an offensive rebound and putback at the 5:35 mark.
"It was pretty exciting just because I know how hard our team has worked to get to where we are at," King said.
GIRLS
Capital 52,
Parkersburg 44
CHARLESTON - Class AAA No. 14 Capital. sparked by a 32-17 halftime cushion, handed visiting Parkersburg High School a 52-44 Mountain State Athletic Conference setback on Wednesday night.
Nelesha Cyrus notched a game-high 17 points for the Cougars (7-1), who led just 38-36 entering the game's final eight minutes.
PHS (3-5) drained 10 3-pointers in the contest, four of which came as part of Tiffany Mahoney's 13 points. Tori Wilson led PHS, which entertains Hurricane on Friday, with 15 points while Stacy Blake had nine points and three steals.
Greenbrier East 64,
Ripley 51
RIPLEY - Playing without leading scorer Tori Eagle, Ripley got outscored 20-10 here Wednesday night in the third quarter as visiting Greenbrier East upset the Class AAA No. 12 Vikings, 64-51, in a MSAC affair.
Viking Taylor Wilson produced a monster double-double, her seventh in eight games this season, by going for 18 points and as many rebounds. Alannah Sheets led all scorers with 23 points for the Vikings, who fell to 5-3 and play at South Charleston on Friday.
GE (6-2) was led by a trio of double figure scoring efforts, including Christine McClung's team-high 15 counters and 14 rebounds.
Wilson added three blocks in the loss and Sheets had four assists.
Braxton County 65,
South Harrison 37
SUTTON - Tiffani Huffman went off for 22 points to help lead Class AA No. 7 Braxton County (6-1) to an easy 65-37 Little Kanawha Conference South Division triumph against visiting South Harrison here Wednesday.
Huffman was joined in double figures by Eagle teammate Corri Phillips (12).
South Harrison, now 1-6, recieved a team-high 15 markers from Taylor Lipscomb.
St. Marys 60,
Doddridge County 38
WEST UNION - Class A No. 7 St. Marys limited host Doddridge County to just 11 points in the first half here Wednesday night as the Blue Devils cruised to a 60-38 LKC North Division win.
Kelsea Fickiesen had game-highs of 24 points, seven assists and five steals for the Blue Devils (4-3, 3-1 LKC North). Sara O'Neal just missed out on a double-double in the win, finishing with a game-high 13 rebounds and nine points. Katy Yeager chipped in nine points for the victors.
DCHS (5-5, 3-3) was led in scoring by Kristin Hutson's eight tallies.
Wirt County 55,
Calhoun County 36
MT. ZION - Savannah Church scored a game-high 13 points for host Calhoun County here Wednesday, but it wasn't nearly enough as the host Red Devils trailed 29-10 after one and never recovered in falling to Wirt County, 55-36.
The Tigers (4-4) had a balanced scoring attack led by Emry Shears with 12, Sam Kelley with 10, Taylor Davis with nine on a trio of 3-pointers as well as eight markers from Megan Ellison.
Emily Brady added eight points for CCHS (2-7) in the setback.
Memphis 80, Marshall 57
MEMPHIS, Tenn. (AP) - Antonio Anderson scored 17 points and Roburt Sallie added 13 as Memphis pulled away in the second half for an 80-57 victory over Marshall on Wednesday night in the Conference USA opener for both teams.
Tyreke Evans added 11 points and eight rebounds as Memphis (11-3, 1-0) used a 27-7 rally to put away the Thundering Herd in the second half. Memphis ended the night shooting 47.5 percent from the field (29 of 61), while holding Marshall to 28.6 percent (18 of 63).
Memphis has won 43 straight conference games, including the postseason tournament.
Markel Humphrey led Marshall (7-7, 0-1) with 14 points, while Damier Pitts and Tyler Wilkerson finished with 11 apiece. Wilkerson also grabbed eight rebounds.
Muskingum 77,
Marietta 64
NEW CONCORD - Marietta College could not overcome a slow start and its opponent's hot shooting as the Pioneers fell 77-64 to host Muskingum College in Ohio Athletic Conference (OAC) men's basketball action Wednesday night. With the win, the Fighting Muskies improved to 6-7 overall and 3-3 in league play. Marietta fell to 6-6, 1-4 in the OAC.
Pioneer freshman wing Trevor Halter paced the squad with 17 points, four rebounds and three assists. Junior post Daun Lutes from Frontier added 16 points and five boards and freshman Kevin Knab contributed 12 points in the loss.
Tyler Felt, one of four Muskingum players to finish in double figures, led the Muskies with a game-high 23 points.
Marietta finished the game shooting 50.9 percent (27 of 53) from the field. Muskingum connected on 62.3 percent (31 of 49) from the floor. The Muskies won the battle of the boards, 29-23.
Marietta is back in action Saturday afternoon when the Pioneers play host to John Carroll at 3 p.m.
