Waynedale takes a bite out of Hillsdale in Wayne County Athletic League girls basketball
JEROMESVILLE — After their 32-game league winning streak was snapped by Smithville two weeks ago, the Waynedale Girls Basketball Team was eager to begin another one.
And the WCAL streak now stands at one game as the Bears traveled to Hillsdale Thursday evening and won in convincing fashion, 54-13.
A combination of solid defense and steady offense were the keys according to head coach Rick Geiser.
“We’ve really been emphasizing our execution and details, both offensively and defensively,” said Geiser. “And this team has been kind of streaky with this so far jelling a new team with new kids with new responsibilities. But tonight I thought we were able to execute some of those little details we’ve been stressing the last two weeks.”
Bears take control early
Jumping out to a 22-5 lead after one quarter, Waynedale (7-1; 3-1) used a smothering defense to the tune of 8 fast-break points for the early advantage.
“We have been emphasizing whether it is off a defensive rebound or a steal to get out in transition,” explained Geiser. “Just try and find baskets before the other team’s defense gets set up. We knew we would see some zone tonight and we thought if we could score before we saw the zone, that would be one of our points of emphasis.”
“Waynedale has a very nice program and Rick does an outstanding job of coaching them,” said Hillsdale (3-7; 0-5) coach Chris Shenberger. “I was pleased with our girls tonight too although the score may not indicate it. I thought we played hard and in the second half we were able to reach some goals that we talked about at halftime like better rebounding and cutting down on our turnovers. We had 20 in the first half which was terrible, but cut that in half with 9 in the second half. They were headed toward 70 or more points and we kept them to 54.
“We can take those little baby steps and continue to build on it.”
The Bears had leads of 36-11 at halftime and 50-12 after three periods with a running clock for the final 11 minutes.
‘We always try to focus on defense’
Waynedale’s Jewel Persinger had 6 points, 4 rebounds and 3 steals in the victory and talked about her team’s defensive effort.
“The last week our game got canceled and we spent a lot of time on defense,” she said. “We made sure we were jumping to the ball and getting helpside and making sure our positioning is good. We always try to focus a lot on our defense because that is who we are.”
“I thought we played in the defensive passing lanes better than we have all year,” said Geiser.
Persinger knocked down a pair of shots beyond the arc as Waynedale hit 9 for the game.
‘We are definitely getting better at those shots,” she said. “We still have a lot of work to do as a team, but we are improving on it.”
Alyssa Geiser led all scorers with 16 points, including a trio of triples, 2 rebounds and 4 steals. Addesa Miller added 9 points with Kylie Geiser chipping in with 8 points.
“We really haven’t shot the 3 that well this season,” added Geiser. “But tonight was one of those nights where we made some shots.”
For Hillsdale, Shenberger can see some daily improvement.
“The girls continue to be positive,” he said. “They know it is a work in progress and they know it is going to take some time. It may be this year, it may be next year. They have done a really good job so far of staying focused and I appreciate that from them.”
Marissa Heldenbrand was a force inside for the Falcons as the senior finished with 10 points, 4 rebounds and 1 blocked shot.
“The kids have to keep echoing calls and work on timing,” added Geiser. “That’s been a work in progress for us this year so far, but tonight we were better.”
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Waynedale takes a bite out of Hillsdale in Wayne County Athletic League girls basketball
