West Holmes rolls over Ashland ahead of big matchup with Mansfield Senior
ASHLAND — The Ashland High School girls basketball team drew to within 11 points of West Holmes in the fourth quarter before the Knights pulled away for a 52-31 win in Ohio Cardinal Conference play in Arrow Arena Thursday night.
West Holmes is now at 9-1 in OCC play and 16-1 overall with rematch at home against Mansfield Senior on Saturday. Senior gave West Holmes its only loss earlier in the season.
Ashland falls to 3-9 in the OCC and 3-15 overall with the loss.
West Holmes held a 17-4 advantage after the first quarter but both teams only scored seven points in the second quarter as the Knights held a 24-11 lead at the half. Ashland would out-score West Holmes 15-13 in the third quarter to trail 37-26 entering the final eight minutes.
We were down by 11 there at one point in the fourth, and I continue to see the fight, that’s growth, so it’s there, I see growth,” offered Ashland coach Renee Holt. “I looked at my starting lineup tonight — two freshmen, two sophomores, and a senior, playing against a tough top of the conference team. For them to fight back to within 11 in the fourth, that shows that growth and shows that fight but we’re still missing those little pieces, the toughness here and there.”
West Holmes was able to close out the game on a 15-5 run in a game that was sloppily played at times as both teams committed 22 turnovers.
“Not pretty, got a win, and we have a big game on Saturday,” noted West Holmes coach Lindsy Synder. “We did a couple of offensive things, ran some sets tonight, threw a couple of defensive things out that we hadn’t done, so that’s good to see trying some things out. And our kids were a little bit aggressive on the offensive end and it led to some turnovers but hopefully we can learn from those and clean that up for Saturday.”
Ashland had no one in double figures scoring-wise, as the Arrows were led by Makaree Chapman, Lauren Green and Alex Huckleberry, all with seven points. Camryn Cox scored five for Ashland and led the team with five rebounds.
“Turnovers, not boxing out, it goes back to fundamentals, and we have to go back to those fundamentals,” Holt said. “We’ve got to teach and reteach.”
Senior Ella McMillen led West Holmes with 16 points, including a pair of triples, as well as a game-high nine rebounds. Keegan Uhl also meshed a pair of 3s and added 11 points, with Chloe Patten and Aveona Yoder added seven each and Briar Cline tossing in six.
“I thought Ella played really well, obviously, she’s our leading scorer, but she’s figuring out when she doesn’t have a shot, make that extra pass, and I thought she did that really well tonight,” said Snyder. “When she didn’t have the shot she should have had, she moved the ball, and was a leader in that way for us as well.”
West Holmes shot 48% from the floor, netting 21 of 44 action attempts. Ashland sank 13 of 39 shots for 33%.
This article originally appeared on Ashland Times Gazette: Girls Basketball: West Holmes rolls to 52-31 win over Ashland
